Dawnrunner has been dazzling, to say the least, with kaiju action masterfully drawn by Evan Cagle. At first, it may have seemed too much like Pacific Rim, but the connection between two people across time is deeply intriguing. There’s also the element of kaiju battles played up for sport set in a world where these monsters once almost annihilated all of humanity. Given how Dawnrunner #3 ends, it appears humanity will get another lesson in humility.
Dawrunner #3 opens with the mysterious man inside the Dawnrunner mech, who we now know lived many years ago, but his brain is helping keep the machine running. He’s afraid, living in a wartorn world and reliving these memories. Slowly, Anita enters the story via slightly translucent dialogue balloons. She’s there with him, but barely. We see his kids are suffering and trying to survive with him. It’s a scary place and very different from how the world runs a sports ring around kaiju battles.
The mystery of the past is quite compelling as writer Ram V forces you to wonder how things were different. When the mysterious man points out the name people give kaiji, he reflects on how it makes them seem small. A smart change if you’re going to make a sport out of kaiju fights. There’s also a tantalizing hint at something more going on with him, though we’ll have to wait for answers in the next issue.
The duality of these characters is compelling.
Credit: Dark Horse
As Ram V slowly plucks at the mystery of this man, the action amps up with a full-on kaiju battle. The Dawnrunner is going co-op this time, and Cagle gloriously renders it. The high detail is spectacular and forces you to linger as you try to make sense of what an arm, a leg, or whatever is in the frame is. The kaiju in this issue is also spectacularly creepy. More battles take place in this issue, showing us how Anita devotes herself unhealthily to fighting, and Cagle captures the violent massacres well.
Capping off the issue is a stakes-raising sequence. As far as heroic arcs go, the Dawnrunner and Anita are more in tune than ever, and it’s been shown that they can take on any kaiju. Until then, the cliffhanger reveals that something different is coming for Earth. Given the excellent writing of Anita’s boss–who is clearly carefree and overconfident–it’ll be interesting to see how he switches gears. There’s a bit of commentary here on corporations worth checking out.
Dawnrunner #3 expands on what we know and raises the stakes tenfold. The duality of two lives connecting over many years is compelling, while a mystery brews that could go in any direction. Between the mystery and action, Dawnrunner is impossible to put down.
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