Broken Frontier

Velocity #2 is even better than the first issue.  It will make you upset that there are only two more issues left in this run.  The art and story of this issue mesh perfectly to create a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.  Although the depth of the conflict didn’t really advance a lot, the dynamic characters and wild action scenes more than make up for that. 

Kenneth Rocafort was born to draw speedsters.  While many other artists simply draw super speed using blurs and "ghost" figures, Rocafort truly captures the manic energy of a person who can move faster than the world around them.  Instead appearing as an intangible blur that zips around people moving at normal speed, Velocity appears to be everywhere at once and performing complex actions.  This makes for a much more engaging experience and gives the character much more substance.  The way Rocafort starts with a panned out image of Velocity in the middle of an action and then layers more in-your-face-actions on top makes Velocity feel like she’s jumping off the page at the reader instead of zipping around them. 

The image and page designs are also stunning.  Gritty and chaotic, this story takes a fairly light-hearted character and juxtaposes her onto a world the reader can just barely get a grip on, but Velocity feels right at home in.  As a result, Velocity as a character earns a certain amount of respect from her audience.

Writer Ron Marz includes a lot of subtle things that readers will really appreciate, like a speedster differentiating between 44 and 45 minutes, and placing Velocity in a delusion where she’s late for something to throw her off balance.  While poison darts, robot lookalikes, and easily dispatched guards are generally considered tired plot devices, Marz manipulates them masterfully to construct a series of events that doesn’t rely on any one aspect to drive the movement of the story forward.  The result is a story that remains exciting and captivating the whole way through.

As I mentioned earlier, fans of this series will most likely be upset at the end of this issue because, with only two issues left, it seems like the entire run will be focused on solving this one dilemma involving the poison darts.  This is upsetting because Velocity’s character deserves much more exploration, but it does provide the added bonus of removing the rest of Cyberforce for the entire run, allowing the focus to lie solely on Velocity.  This is good, because with the energy and life Rocafort and Marz bring to her character, there’s scarcely room for even secondary characters.