The past is always present.
Creative Staff:
Story: Dave Dwonch, Brockton McKinney
Art: Magenta King
Colors: Arnaldo Robles
Letterer: Dave Dwonch
What They Say:
Sex, Drugs, and Giant Monsters!
It’s a media circus as Team Zeros entire crew kicks off their PR tour of Japan, and Jenny is reunited with Uncle Fuji and everyone’s favorite weapon, Nemo! Meanwhile, director Santos megalomaniacal intentions are made clear, as we see the correlation to her motives and the incident that spiraled our drunken hero into her darkest times. All this, plus the affair that will have EVERYONE talking, and the debut of Jenny’s brand-new costume!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Dave Dwonch and Brockton McKinney delivered well with the previous four-issue series back in the summer of 2021 and this second run at the series has moved us along well while also giving us some solid backstory. Almost to the point of me enjoying that more than the present-day storyline. As I’ve said previously, the book is a crazy mix of western comics and Japanese manga with a flair of European style mixed in that definitely worked well both in the story and visual design. Magenta King and their artwork continue to be one of the best parts of the series and that definitely plays to the mix of styles in a good way with a lot of detail and some solid flow to the panels and layouts.
This issue works to fill in more of the blanks and work some character material, which is welcome, but it does the back and forth in time thing that can be frustrating for really trying to follow the narrative. Events in the present are pretty straightforward overall as Jenny is back in Japan, wearing the new ASP suit that was co-developed with the British, and making public appearances to show her commitment to protecting people from the evil that’s out there. Fujimoto is waiting for it all to blow up while Dana is doing her best to keep Jenny on track. It goes pretty well but the curveball comes with her going out with Major Alpha and her waking up in his bed later on without remembering how she got there. She wasn’t on drugs, at least, but had too many drinks. This may not seem like a win yet it is for Jenny, even as it complicates her life more now.
The flashback side works some interesting material overall as we get to see some time with her father when he’s older, a bit of legacy time in a way, and even some time going back further to when her father was struggling with the whole fighting crime thing and being drawn into this new world. Most of the book is spent in 2018 with Jenny doing the crime-fighting gig but with extra confidence that came from growing up in this world and avoiding serious challenges in her life. And the dragon ash drug as well. We see how she’s just freewheeling it through danger and not listening to anything that the ASP people are providing which leads to a really bad sequence events and a lot of deaths. And her being quietly washed out of the program. It’s what sets up for her brother to take over which we saw the eventual fallout from before but seeing how jenny blew everything up so spectacularly like this is a sight to behold.
In Summary:
Though there are some moments where I had to remind myself which point in time events were taking place, this issue covers a lot of ground and helps to cement more of who Jenny is and why she’s been the way she has since the start of the larger property. It’s the kind of piece that makes you want to go back and reread everything right away just to get a better sense of the context of it all. It’s a good read with some fun and interesting moments while also continuing to have a distinctive and neat feeling with the artwork. I’m excited to see what comes next even if it will come with a body count.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: July 27th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
