Royals #1 reminded me I’m not the best gambler. I’ve only been to Vegas one time, and after losing $70 in about four and a half minutes, I decided that card games weren’t my specialty. That said, there are few things I love more than a good gambling movie. Rounders, Molly’s Game, hell, even Maverick are cable staples for a reason. I think that’s why I found the setting of Royals #1 so refreshing. I read a lot of comics and I can’t think of many, any really, that are set during a game of Hold ‘Em.
Royals tells the story of two brothers, Castor and Pollux (the two brightest stars that make the constellation Gemini), with a special bond. Literally, they’re able to communicate telepathically, and they use this gift to con people in poker. They’ve been invited to a special game in Seoul, South Korea with a huge prize pool. The two brothers are at the end of their ropes and need to win this game.
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Castor is the player and Pollux is the eyes, watching coverage and telling Castor when to raise, fold, etc.. While they’re twins who can talk without talking, they couldn’t be more different. Castor is the hothead, which is really just a polite way of saying he’s a huge jerk. He’s cocky, arrogant, and horny all the time (not that being horny makes him a jerk; the way he goes about it does). Pollux is the more introspective brother, wondering if this is really all he wants out of life. He’s more measured, considerate and sensitive, while also being a bit corny as well.
The tension between the two of them is what really drives this book. They can never agree on anything except that they really care about the other. It’s a nice story of brothers overcoming differences and uniting towards a common goal.
The external tension comes from who they’re playing against in this tournament, the casino owner, Daeshim, who may or may not be (but seemingly is very much so) a mob boss who runs an illegal cockfighting ring under his casino. This earns his gang the name… the Bloody Cocks.
And that’s the only real problem I have with Royals. It has moments that range from eye-rolling and childish to downright immature all in the name of funny. Sometimes it earns a chuckle, but more of a “wow I can’t believe they thought that was funny” chuckle.
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When Castor does it, it’s not enough to turn me off the book because him saying it is the point. When the immaturity is coming out of the jerk’s mouth, that means only a jerk would think that way. So, please, don’t confuse any of the books few inappropriate moments as endorsement and skip it because of that. That’s not how literacy works, and Royals seems to be taking advantage of that in its debut.
Those few bouts of immaturity are balanced by moments of tenderness, almost exclusively from Pollux. He has one conversation with a pastor he met on the flight over that I found pretty touching, and a meet cute with a woman at a takeout stand/bar that I found sweet and compelling.
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Royals #1 is a new series from Image comics that takes a pretty fun and underserved genre, card playing, and adds a slight super-power twist. The art is bubbly and fun, the conversation is natural sounding, and to be honest, it’s a little refreshing seeing people with a preternatural gift use it to be jerks and schemes of self-gain. There are moments of immaturity countered by moments of sweetness that show these characters are deeper than they seem. The final panel is no real cliffhanger but I’m curious enough about the story to see where it goes next month.
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