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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
This Graphic novel deserves more hype PERIOD.
The whole time I read this I just kept thinking about how cool a cartoon or movie would be of this hopefully that happens in the future. Also Lola is a precious cupcake that should be protected at all costs. I absolutely loved seeing her do maintenance on shit in skirts an dresses lol.
I need more of their love story just give me MORE.
I tried my best to stretch the days out, and savor out this story lol. Domino is pretty lost in who she is.. And I can't wait for her to discover more about herself, where she came from, and where she's going .
The whole time I read this I just kept thinking about how cool a cartoon or movie would be of this hopefully that happens in the future. Also Lola is a precious cupcake that should be protected at all costs. I absolutely loved seeing her do maintenance on shit in skirts an dresses lol.
I need more of their love story just give me MORE.
I tried my best to stretch the days out, and savor out this story lol. Domino is pretty lost in who she is.. And I can't wait for her to discover more about herself, where she came from, and where she's going .
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a really neat and bubble-gum future take on the well-trodden path of stories about racing and the sport of racing, legal or otherwise. Gotta give mighty props to the comic's use of color, both just in general and to show how fast these racers are going, especially in the last final cliffhanger ending of this book.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
Omg!!! So good, can't wait for the 2nd volume to come out
Motor Crush Vol. 1 collects issues 1-6 of the ongoing, sci-fi/action series, written by Brenden Fletcher and illustrated by Babs Tarr. It follows Domino, a young bike racer who has her first upcoming legitimate race. However in order to live and race, she needs Crush, an illegal narcotic that affects her differently from other people. Domino acquires Crush by racing in the illegal Cannonball races, but things start going bad when her former girlfriend comes back into the picture; and so does the mafia.
This is a very fun, fast paced series. The art is absolutely gorgeous; Tarr has a real grasp on characters, and all of her designs are colorful, unique and interesting. The races move fast, the composition of the page guides your eye in the intended direction. I again, have to give props to colorist Heather Danforth, for injecting some much needed vibrancy in the panels; her colors are bright and pleasing to the eye, there’s a real sense of the different locations and moods between the different scenes, and she helps make Tarr’s art pop.
If I have one complaint about the art, it’s that a lot of the young male designs look very similar. There’s a scene at the very start of issue one, where one of the drivers Uri dies, and I legitimately thought he was the same person as Lan, Domino’s mechanic, and I was disappointed that it wasn’t a Driver X type reveal.
I generally really enjoyed the design of all the issues; a lot is conveyed about the story and setting just by the way we are consuming this story. There are pop up captions during races with the names and attributes of the drivers, and small details like ‘click here to book a hotel for the race’, or general commercials and advisories as part of the setting. This helped capture the feeling of an intensely commercial industry where everything in it is done for some kind of profit, from the robo-ball that follows Domino around asking for her statements, to Uri essentially committing suicide because he knew his management would cut him off after a bad race. It’s very similar to Street Racer, at least in terms of the setting, but the story is admittedly different.
The big flaw with the story is that there’s just too much happening at once. We have Domino’s bid to qualify for the WGP, and beat Decimus Wexler, there’s her mysterious illness that she cures with Crush, there is her missing backstory, her relationship with Lola, how the Crush and the other driver tie in with her backstory, and the Cannonball races themselves. All of these plots are interesting, but they just happen too quickly for me to really keep track of all of them, and there’s just not enough room in 6 issues to meaningfully explore all of them.
Things aren’t helped with the fact that Domio as a character is very ‘act now, ask questions later’ and as a result, we often barge in from one problem to the next, without resolving anything. As such, when elements from previous issues come back, I felt like I’d forgotten what they were, even if they only happened an issue ago, because so much happens.
The ending is a cliffhanger, and it’s enough to make me want to continue on with the series. I’m hoping that the pace will slow down, at least slightly, so we can actually develop some relationships. As is though, this is a beautifully illustrated and pretty entertaining series, and I enjoyed this first volume as a foundation for a bigger story.
This is a very fun, fast paced series. The art is absolutely gorgeous; Tarr has a real grasp on characters, and all of her designs are colorful, unique and interesting. The races move fast, the composition of the page guides your eye in the intended direction. I again, have to give props to colorist Heather Danforth, for injecting some much needed vibrancy in the panels; her colors are bright and pleasing to the eye, there’s a real sense of the different locations and moods between the different scenes, and she helps make Tarr’s art pop.
If I have one complaint about the art, it’s that a lot of the young male designs look very similar. There’s a scene at the very start of issue one, where one of the drivers Uri dies, and I legitimately thought he was the same person as Lan, Domino’s mechanic, and I was disappointed that it wasn’t a Driver X type reveal.
I generally really enjoyed the design of all the issues; a lot is conveyed about the story and setting just by the way we are consuming this story. There are pop up captions during races with the names and attributes of the drivers, and small details like ‘click here to book a hotel for the race’, or general commercials and advisories as part of the setting. This helped capture the feeling of an intensely commercial industry where everything in it is done for some kind of profit, from the robo-ball that follows Domino around asking for her statements, to Uri essentially committing suicide because he knew his management would cut him off after a bad race. It’s very similar to Street Racer, at least in terms of the setting, but the story is admittedly different.
The big flaw with the story is that there’s just too much happening at once. We have Domino’s bid to qualify for the WGP, and beat Decimus Wexler, there’s her mysterious illness that she cures with Crush, there is her missing backstory, her relationship with Lola, how the Crush and the other driver tie in with her backstory, and the Cannonball races themselves. All of these plots are interesting, but they just happen too quickly for me to really keep track of all of them, and there’s just not enough room in 6 issues to meaningfully explore all of them.
Things aren’t helped with the fact that Domio as a character is very ‘act now, ask questions later’ and as a result, we often barge in from one problem to the next, without resolving anything. As such, when elements from previous issues come back, I felt like I’d forgotten what they were, even if they only happened an issue ago, because so much happens.
The ending is a cliffhanger, and it’s enough to make me want to continue on with the series. I’m hoping that the pace will slow down, at least slightly, so we can actually develop some relationships. As is though, this is a beautifully illustrated and pretty entertaining series, and I enjoyed this first volume as a foundation for a bigger story.
I always struggle to get my feelings together about graphic novels because I read them in like an hour and it always feels like a fever dream and I have to actually think about what I have to say about them.
But with Motor Crush I feel like reviewing it feels a lot more difficult than reviewing any other graphic novel. Because so much happens in one short volume and I read it all and I think my brain processed it but when I sit down and try to make words about it to put into this review, the only thing my brain can come up with is,, "pretty girl drives motorbike and also has a secret past." But I will try to go a little more in detail.
Motor Crush follows a motorbike racer and is set in a world where motorbike races are a pretty big deal. From what I can tell, it's a sort of near-future sci-fi world with some new chemicals/substances that have been discovered/made. Case in point: crush, which is a new fuel that you can use to power your bike, except it's illegal in races. And also if a human drinks it, they die. But when our main character, Domino, drinks it, she doesn't. *Mystery and drama ensues*
I did really like Domino and I'm very intrigued to learn more about her past because right now, it's all very mysterious. She's an up-and-coming racer and also the daughter of one of the more famous racers. Except is she actually??? Dun dun dunnnn. I liked her determination and also her ability to act like she doesn't give a shit when she actually does. Also, she's pretty and, as is the recurring theme in all of my reviews, I read graphic novels for pretty girls.
Domino is also sapphic and this volume has the beginnings of what seems to be a second chance romance which has me very very intrigued because the second chance romance trope is one of my favorites and I do not read nearly enough books with that trope in it. Also her love interest is also a pretty girl, which is an added bonus.
The plot of this story is really where it all went a bit downhill for me. It felt very disjointed and I didn't really know what it was trying to get across until we got to the end and by that point it was a little too late for me to be figuring things out. There are a couple different plotlines that the authors try to thread throughout this volume and I think that the way they went switching between those storylines was a little bit confusing..
But overall, this was really enjoyable and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more in this series!
But with Motor Crush I feel like reviewing it feels a lot more difficult than reviewing any other graphic novel. Because so much happens in one short volume and I read it all and I think my brain processed it but when I sit down and try to make words about it to put into this review, the only thing my brain can come up with is,, "pretty girl drives motorbike and also has a secret past." But I will try to go a little more in detail.
Motor Crush follows a motorbike racer and is set in a world where motorbike races are a pretty big deal. From what I can tell, it's a sort of near-future sci-fi world with some new chemicals/substances that have been discovered/made. Case in point: crush, which is a new fuel that you can use to power your bike, except it's illegal in races. And also if a human drinks it, they die. But when our main character, Domino, drinks it, she doesn't. *Mystery and drama ensues*
I did really like Domino and I'm very intrigued to learn more about her past because right now, it's all very mysterious. She's an up-and-coming racer and also the daughter of one of the more famous racers. Except is she actually??? Dun dun dunnnn. I liked her determination and also her ability to act like she doesn't give a shit when she actually does. Also, she's pretty and, as is the recurring theme in all of my reviews, I read graphic novels for pretty girls.
Domino is also sapphic and this volume has the beginnings of what seems to be a second chance romance which has me very very intrigued because the second chance romance trope is one of my favorites and I do not read nearly enough books with that trope in it. Also her love interest is also a pretty girl, which is an added bonus.
The plot of this story is really where it all went a bit downhill for me. It felt very disjointed and I didn't really know what it was trying to get across until we got to the end and by that point it was a little too late for me to be figuring things out. There are a couple different plotlines that the authors try to thread throughout this volume and I think that the way they went switching between those storylines was a little bit confusing..
But overall, this was really enjoyable and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more in this series!
Come for the creative team and stay for the flawless story, art, and FEELS that you'll have after Motor Crush Vol. 1.
I am a big time fan of this creative team, having read Batgirl start to finish (and not continuing after they left...It is NOT the same). This team is known for stretching the boundaries within the traditional comic world, something those of us who are not male or not white (or, heaven forbid, both - yay for a WOC lead who likes girls!) desperately yearn for.
Motor Crush is set in a sci-fi futuristic world where technology is a regular part of your life...and by regular I mean in your face. Little video balls follow the racers around, capturing their lives off the track. Kind of creepy-annoying - a feeling our main character makes well known.
Speaking of main character, Domino is on her way to being the world's greatest. She is kicking ass and taking names - and will constantly have you on the edge of your seat. She has a bit of a chip on her shoulder, which is easily eroded as you see her interact with the people she cares for. She also has a couple of bad habits that keep readers on the edge of their seat. See, there's Crush, the highly valued (but mysterious) substance that helps boost riders past the finish line. Domino is on a mission to collect it...For more than what's on the surface. This book can be dark and twisty, which is portrayed through Babs Tarr's choice of colors.
This race to find Crush becomes a central plot point, where fast cars, cute girls (helllooo Lola), and Domino's recently uncovered past play a role. We are left with a huge cliffhanger at the end of issue 5 - and a long wait till issue 6!
I am a big time fan of this creative team, having read Batgirl start to finish (and not continuing after they left...It is NOT the same). This team is known for stretching the boundaries within the traditional comic world, something those of us who are not male or not white (or, heaven forbid, both - yay for a WOC lead who likes girls!) desperately yearn for.
Motor Crush is set in a sci-fi futuristic world where technology is a regular part of your life...and by regular I mean in your face. Little video balls follow the racers around, capturing their lives off the track. Kind of creepy-annoying - a feeling our main character makes well known.
Speaking of main character, Domino is on her way to being the world's greatest. She is kicking ass and taking names - and will constantly have you on the edge of your seat. She has a bit of a chip on her shoulder, which is easily eroded as you see her interact with the people she cares for. She also has a couple of bad habits that keep readers on the edge of their seat. See, there's Crush, the highly valued (but mysterious) substance that helps boost riders past the finish line. Domino is on a mission to collect it...For more than what's on the surface. This book can be dark and twisty, which is portrayed through Babs Tarr's choice of colors.
This race to find Crush becomes a central plot point, where fast cars, cute girls (helllooo Lola), and Domino's recently uncovered past play a role. We are left with a huge cliffhanger at the end of issue 5 - and a long wait till issue 6!