Broken Frontier

Andy Oliver read an advance copy of next week’s Gearhead #2 from Arcana Studios and felt it’s a huge improvement over the first issue.

The solicitation for the issue reads: GearHead vs. Evil Ted's Bar of the Dead.  Our heroic hottie smashes the F*** out of an army of zombie barkeeps.  Grab the hose kids, it's gonna be a messy night.

Dennis Hopeless (W), Kevin Mellon (A), Eduardo Herrera (I), Alexey Strakhov (C)

Price: $3.95 – Diamond Order Code: JAN073377

In a post-apocalyptic future suffering the aftermath of a devastating super-hero war, most of the population lives in giant super-cities governed by the Super-Powers-That-Be. Car-loving teenager Shelby Cooper has discovered that her dead father was actually the violent vigilante known as Gearhead. This knowledge has come at a price though; her brother has been abducted by minions of the super-powered female President of America, Subtle-T, after obtaining mysterious “company secrets”. Taking on the Gearhead identity Shelby begins the search for her missing sibling.

In this second issue Shelby’s hunt for her brother starts at the Bar of the Dead where she comes into conflict with a number of her father’s super-powered criminal foes. These include the memorable Evil Ted who can split off separate zombie versions of himself, telekinetic Black Tuesday, Johnny Rocket and Oil Slick (whose powers speak for themselves). Meanwhile the President and her cronies continue to conspire against Shelby from the comfort of their sheltered city as the mystery of exactly what was leaked to her brother deepens.

Cards on the table time, I wasn’t exactly wowed by the first issue of Gearhead and said as much in the Fast Breaks  feature here at Broken Frontier. That opening installment focused far too much on action at the expense of characterization, meaning the reader wasn’t given a chance to invest in the main players enough to want to come back for #2. A first issue needs to grab you immediately and, if not make you relate to the characters, at the very least make you feel involved with them.

It’s very pleasing to be able to say then, that with Gearhead’s second issue the creative team of writer Dennis Hopeless, penciller Kevin Mellon and inker Eduardo Herrera have really turned things around and given the readership, if not an entirely flawless issue (and how often do we see one of those?), one that still shows off this book’s promise to a far greater degree.

Gearhead’s greatest asset for me is the world it’s set in and as such it was a huge shame that the first issue didn’t spend more time elaborating on the background of this post-apocalyptic environment. I feel sure that a greater level of scene-setting would have played to the series’ strengths more than the hectic but ultimately unfulfilling action scenes of issue #1.

The first couple of pages of this second issue give a potted history of the super-war, the ecological disaster it caused and the President’s seizing of power. Where issue #1 only hinted at the bigger picture, this second offering gives the reader a far greater understanding of the core concepts of the series and they’re intriguing ones.

Also a major improvement this issue is a lucid underlining of the direction of the book. It was a little difficult in the first issue to see exactly what Gearhead's raison d'etre was. Indeed I found it far clearer from creator interviews than I did from the printed page.
With #2 we have the "quest" storyline, in the shape of Shelby’s search, more fully established and the seemingly disparate events of #1are now firmly consolidated as part of a greater narrative dealing with Shelby, her brother, the secrets of the Gearhead legacy and the machinations of President Subtle-T. Posing questions and teasing as to how plot threads will eventually converge keeps the readers’ interest piqued.

Characterization felt very flat in the first issue. This was chiefly down to the fact that there was so much action and too little dialogue interplay between the characters beyond the perfunctory exposition needed to move the plot forward. Shelby’s lack of depth as a character remains something of a problem. It’s still difficult to empathize with her as much as we should. I can’t help but feel that if we could see inside her head a little more and gain some insight into her relationship with her father that this could be quickly remedied.

On a more positive note though, we are introduced to a number of more distinct personalities in the new faces who debut this issue both at Evil Ted’s bar and at the White House. The added opportunities for banter and verbal conflict between the cast, particularly between the patrons of Ted’s bar, involves the reader in the characters to a far greater degree. We also mustn’t forget the introduction of a memorable central villain in the presumably ironically-named Subtle-T (once you check out her costume you’ll see why). Let’s hope this is the beginning of an expanded group of supporting players, because giving Shelby a chance to interact with these colorful characters can only help to better define her as a character in her own right.

The art by Kevin Mellon and Eduardo Herrera is impressive throughout. I was particularly taken with Mellon’s outstanding use of perspective from panel to panel that makes the action scenes, in particular, really stand out. At the risk of using an obvious non sequitur they also ably bring to life Shelby’s stark and desolate surroundings. And there are some notably graphic zombie-slaying scenes. Who can ever tire of graphic zombie-slaying scenes?

Yes, it’s still slightly raw in places and there’s evidence of it being a learning experience for the creators as they progress but this is a marked improvement on the debut. In Gearhead writer Dennis Hopeless has intriguingly transported the super-hero ideal from its traditional comfort zone of skyscrapers, costumes and capes to a bleak, dystopian near-future where superpowers can leave you in the underclass and heroism is a rare commodity.

Gearhead #2 is essentially everything issue #1 should have been and is a far better showcase for the series’ concepts. The execution now matches the potential and if the first issue didn’t quite work for you then it’s worth investing the time in issue #2 and giving the book another go. You just may be rather pleasantly surprised!