Review – Icon and Rocket: Season One #4 – Dakota vs. Aliens

Icon and Rocket: Season One #4 – Reginald Hudlin, Leon Chills, Writers; Doug Braithwaite, Penciller; Andrew Currie, Inker; Brad Anderson, Colorist

Ray – 8.5/10

Ray: As we enter the back half of the best Milestone book and head towards the second wave, this issue is probably the least ambitious of the run—and still not really a dip in quality. Last issue saw Rocket’s mother attacked by an assassin from Mars, bringing the threat into her neighborhood. This makes this a more down-to-earth issue, as the mysterious Xiomara tries to protect Ms. Ervin from certain death while the neighborhood reacts in its own inimitable way. There’s a clever conversation about the best sports player of all time happening amid an alien invasion, and we’ve also got some unlikely allies in the battle against the aliens. One thing I like about this comic is the way Rocket is allowed to be genuinely messy. She’s a teen hero thrown into an interstellar conflict, and she makes some genuinely bad calls that we’re allowed to see the consequences of without condemning her.

The other part of this issue that’s a lot of fun is the presence of Ms. Ervin. While she could have easily been a wet blanket or a routine damsel in distress, it’s genuinely entertaining and touching to see her go from deeply suspicious of Icon to trusting him with her daughter. She understands him in ways her daughter really can’t, due to her greater experience, and she asks him some of the uncomfortable questions readers have brought up. There are a lot of characters lurking in the background, and not all of them are compelling yet, but this series is never stronger than when it’s focusing on the two heroes at the core of this and the bonds that mean the most to them. This issue doesn’t have the hot topics of the previous three, which saw Icon and Rocket literally reshape the world at points, but it doesn’t need to. The personal edge keeps us invested in this run no matter what they’re doing.

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

GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.