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Icon & Rocket: Season 1 #2
Publisher: DC
Writer: Reginald Hudlin
Artist: Doug Braithwaite
Inks: Andrew Currie
Colors: Brad Anderson
Letters: Andworld Design
Cover: Taurin Clarke

The first issue of Icon & Rocket felt like a retread of the original whereas this one hits the ground running as Hudlin raises the stakes. With both heroes attracting a lot of attention for cleaning up their neighborhood, the police want to put a stop to them as do the criminal types they’ve been wrecking since their debut. Not only this, but we get to meet a character from Augustus Freeman’s (Icon) past who actually seems like a credible threat and interesting villain. Let’s face it, heroes are great but only greater when facing off against a worthy opponent.

Hudlin uses the community as a character as we get a glimpse of the world around Raquel and Augustus. It’s obvious some of the residents know who they are but it’s great to see them pretending to not know a thing when confronted by the cops and reporters. This series of exchanges and the human element definitely raise the bar here. Hudlin is also establishing a solid group of secondary characters who help flesh out this issue and add some more depth to our heroes here. For example, we have the appearance of the mysterious Benedict Lord, a character with presence and all the trappings of a potentially great villain. His introduction reveals a feud with Augustus that began back in the 1800s after a particular revolution in history. My only gripe with the story is Raquel destroying that woman’s apartment in the attempt to save her. You might want to chalk it up to her being young and impulsive but c’mon! The action could have been dialed up without things going down the way they did.

When it comes to the visuals, Braithwaite delivers quality line work while Curie and Anderson punch it up to give us panel after panel of great storytelling. The action sequences steal the show every time here and it was nice to see that Icon’s original color palette is being used for his costume instead of what we saw in the promo shots. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right? Now as good as the art is, one particular page stood out from the rest. Augustus’ triumph during the flashback is such an impactful full page scene because I can’t remember us ever seeing him in that state. It’s brutality with a message and within the context of the narrative, its meaning is that much more powerful.

The nostalgia of Icon & Rocket is what got me to pick up this relaunch but I wanted to make sure it’s not what kept me here. However, it’s issues like this where the creative team is delivering fresh, new stories that will cement Icon & Rocket a place in my read pile!

Infinite Speech
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