Written by Jason Inman &
Ashley Victoria Robinson
Illustrated by Ben Matsuya, Jorge Corona
Published by Action Lab Entertainment
I’m not certain whose idea it was to combine the Rocketeer with Squirrel Girl but in a nutshell (pun intended) that’s what Jupiter Jet is.
Jason Inman and Ashley Victoria Robinson are the writers of this all ages collection. Ben Matsuya does the somewhat uneven artwork.
Jacky is a teenage girl in a world much like our own turned sideways. It’s set in the past or perhaps a past-like present.
Jacky lives with her genius little brother Chuck, and after their father’s death, they’ve been trying to run his repair shop.
When they inherited it, their dad had been in debt to the mob and Jacky and Chuck use a secret jet pack they found to steal from bad guys to keep the mob at bay.
Only the unpredictable jet pack is powered by an unknown power source lusted after by the villainous Praetor Pluto who is willing to kill to get it.
And then just when you think you’re keeping up with where this story is going, you get a completely unexpected plot twist that literally changes everything.
Uneven or not, the art carries the well-paced story along quite nicely, balancing the character bits with the action sequences and giving many of the characters extremely expressive faces. One of my favorite characters, in fact, is Chuck’s very expressive cat.
Jacky bears more than a passing resemblance to some of the more recent depictions of Marvel’s popular Squirrel Girl. I’m going to assume that’s probably not an accident but I don’t really have a problem with it, either.
The writing also strikes a good balance between suspense, tension, action, and light-hearted humor. In the end, while it may not win any awards, I’d say Jupiter Jet is a nearly perfect example of a just plain GOOD comic book! Anyone of any age just looking for an enjoyable read for a little while that’s no brain strain will appreciate Jupiter Jet.
Booksteve recommends.
