Issue Four of Junkyard Joe lurches and whirrs along the terrific narrative track established in this Image title. It all clicks.
The story, briefly, is that Muddy Davis has retired. He was drawing the fictional adventures of a robot soldier named Junkyard Joe. But he has retired, and there ya go. But the fictional Junkyard Joe has suddenly appeared at Muddy Davis’ door, mutely working his way into Muddy’s life. But someone is looking for Junkyard Joe.
It’s strongly written by Geoff Johns, and very capably illustrated by Gary Frank. The scenes unfold in a clever blend of ‘make believe’ and ‘real’, producing a fascinating blend of the two: the interspersing of real and imagined comic strips into the story help us jump the barrier of disbelief. Meaning that we can ‘buy into’ the idea that robot super soldiers can coexist among humans, and that the membrane separating science and fiction is mighty thin, soldier.
The family moments, the silent moments, the ‘light bulb’ moments all add up, panel by carefully planned panel, until we are firmly entrenched and entranced by the story. I highly recommend this one, it has all the moving parts, and is well-operated and maintained by a crack team of comic creators.
Brad Anderson on colours, Rob Leigh on letters, Brian Cunningham editor.
Image Comics, Junkyard Joe #4, $3.99 for 20 pages of story content.
Newsdesk