Title: Rocket Girl
Authors: Brandon Montclare and Amy Reeder
Publisher: Image Comics
Published By: July 22, 2014
ISBN: 9781632150554
Synopsis from Goodreads:
A teenage cop from a high-tech future is sent back in time to 1986 New York City. Dayoung Johansson is investigating the Quintum Mechanics megacorporation for crimes against time. As she pieces together the clues, she discovers the “future” she calls home – an alternate reality version of 2014 – shouldn’t exist at all!
Rocket Girl is a fast-paced, exciting read with a protagonist who’s impulsive, intelligent, physically fit, and incredibly quick on her feet. Dayoung comes from the future and is torn between doing what right to save the course of human history and doing what is legal to stay within the law. Although she is only 15, she has a devotion to the well-being of humankind and a drive for a better future that is rarely seen, even in those twice or three times her age. All in all: an excellent female protagonist.
The story moves quickly, jumping back and forth between what is the “present,” 1986, and what is Dayoung’s (aka Rocket Girl) “past,” 2013. Due to the advances of the corporation Quitum Mechanics, there is a significant difference in the tech between each era. We see the 1986 that we recognize, but the 2013 is not the one we know, but a futuristic world with a teenage police force, hovercrafts, and flashy weapons. I really liked the fact that 2013 is established as “the past,” but it’s hard to think of it as such. Dayoung lives life, time-wise, in reverse. The movement between each era creates a sense of urgency and really defines the drastic difference between each world. Visually, we are able to see the change that Rocket Girl experience moving from one world to the next. The graphic medium shares with us her disorientation and her struggle to fully understand the new world that she inhabits. It’s an excellent story to be shared via graphic novel.
The only thing that I wasn’t too keen on was that I felt as though I didn’t fully understand the effects of Quintum Mechanics’ crimes against time that Deyoung is so desperate to stop. I did read this galley on my laptop and that may have had something to do with my misunderstanding, or it may have been the very quick moving plot line, but I felt pretty confused about the main conflict in the text. I think if more time had been taken to establish this conflict in a clear and concise manner, the text would have benefitted greatly.
Overall, it was a good comic. I really enjoyed it and I’m definitely curious to see more in volume 2!
Worn Pages and Ink 
I read the first two issues of this when it first came out and well I loved the art and the characters I couldn’t get into the story. Maybe it would be better if I tried to read the plot arc in one go.
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