Review – Icon and Rocket: Season One #3 – Drug War

Icon and Rocket: Season One #3 – Reginald Hudlin, Leon Chills, Writers; Doug Braithwaite, Penciller; Andrew Currie, Inker; Brad Anderson, Colorist

Ray – 8.5/10

Ray: This continues to be the most intriguing of the Milestone revivals, because while Static and Hardware are primarily character-focused, this reinvention of Icon and Rocket has bigger things on its mind. From the start, we see that Raquel has convinced Icon not just to step out of the shadows, but to take on global threats—starting with the drug trade. And so the creative team asks the question—what would happen if we actually won the war on drugs? People don’t die of the drugs anymore, of course, and many people essentially enslaved to it are freed, but the economic consequences worldwide are devastating and grab the attention of prominent governments, including the U.S. They start to see Icon and Rocket as a threat—more so than they did when they were just freelance black superheroes. And as the two take out everything from opium fields to meth trailers, a plan is formed.

This book takes some controversial turns that the previous two didn’t, starting with the reveal that Icon’s arch-nemesis has been active on Earth for a long time—and creating no small amount of horror on his own. There’s an Easter egg in this issue that indicates just why this world is so different from the other ones we know in comics. But maybe more controversial will be the conversation between Augustus and Raquel near the end of the issue, as she challenges him and his practical approach in some very provocative ways. She can be frustrating, but I think that’s the point—she’s young and ambitious, and he’s seen more pain than she could even dream of. It’s a great look at an unconventional multigenerational friendship. The ending was a bit more conventional—did we really need to see Raquel’s mother threatened for the second time in this series?—but it’s a compelling and exciting read.

To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.

GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.