What made Petrol Head #1 such a success — aside from all the dope future cars and sweet junky robots — was the overarching sense of heart and determination. Writer Rob Williams and artist Pye Parr have lovingly crafted both a novel bit of sci-fi and a properly human tale of love, grief, and survival.
Issue #2 may not be quite as full speed ahead, but it’s a really novel development nonetheless.
That’s a mostly ironic statement considering the bulk of the issue is an extended car chase. And, from a purely action standpoint, Parr does another bang-up job in giving us some really solid set pieces to enjoy. There’s sweet driving from our hero Petrol Head; lots of nuance and rich context to the city that helps with our continued immersion; and generally a buzz about this issue that pulls us along at 90-ish miles per hour.
Again, it didn’t have some of the same oomph as the big race in #1, but then these were two entirely different functions — this “race,” as it were, was about keeping our interest but mostly giving space to the narrative and characters to develop hand-in-hand. (And, once more, Parr really deserves extra points for his coloring; there’s so many great textures and general life portrayed in the interplay between neon insanity and a more grim, dystopian palette.)
Courtesy of Image Comics.
Plus, there was just so much more overt emphasis on people’s faces here; be it Lupa (the daughter) and her Disney princess-esque eyes, or even the subtle turns of Petrol Head, the emotion feels as gripping as any slick donuts being performed. So while it’s not as showy or explosive, it instead it feels like action in sustained service of what this book does best of all.
Which is, once again, sort of funny to say given that in most other instances, I’d unusually opt for exploding robots over poignant moments of humanity. But just as Parr’s work seems to create space for the emotionality, the story from Williams understands that it’s trying to do its own thing amid the chaos of a high-speed pursuit.
And in that sense, we get a lot of muscle car-like heft and efficiency in getting characters to emote and further the story. Whether it’s Lupa having a perfectly devastating moment that explains her initial apprehensions with Petrol Head, or a quiet moment of subsequent payoff between Lupa and Dave the robo-parrot, these instances smash into our sensibilities head first. They land with devastating effect and without ever taking away from the fun that’s meant to be had with “post-apocalyptic robot races.”
And the same goes for the actual plot: it builds in a slow, subtle way to inform the racing angle and the robot/human dynamic, and I love that there’s an importance imbued to the plot’s development without bashing us over the heads or stopping for a moment to explain a damn thing (that isn’t still utterly revealed in true heartbreaking effectiveness).
Courtesy of Image Comics.
There’s also a couple other interesting developments across this issue that speak to the same ideas and overall level of success. Namely, the introduction of Lupa and Dr. Linton’s mom and wife as well as Satnav Sid (who is Petrol Head’s silly AI GPS). These two characters serve wildly different functions, but compared together they draw out some shared sentiments/ideas. One, that the cast can grow organically and without overriding the sharp dynamic of Petrol Head/Dave/Lupa.
But mostly, it’s the way their sense of humanity is emphasized or de-emphasized accordingly, and what that says about this book’s efforts to play with those sensibilities to get us to consider our connections to these folks. That, and they extend the story’s larger theme of how the people in our lives inform and shape us, and how we’re always trying to sort through these bonds to move forward in the world.
Sure, issue #2 didn’t feel like getting blasted by a nuclear-powered super hot rod. (Even as it clearly brought a rather decidedly high-octane brand of fun and intensity.) Still, it managed to drive circles around the competition for that rich core of humanity and how it existed in this rather specific context. It’s a racing story as much as it is a story about life as this endless race for something decent and worthwhile. Don’t think about how fast it’s going but the direction it’s taking readers with each and every new twist and turn on the track.
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