REVIEW: 'Suicide Jockeys' #1 by Rylend Grant, Davi Leon Dias, and Iwan Joko Triyono

 Giant robots. Kaijus. Mechanized tanks assemble. If 'Pacific Rim' was now it'd be 'Suicide Jockeys'

SUICIDE JOCKEYS #1

Writer: Rylend Grant

Artist: Davi Leon Dias, Iwan Joko Triyono

Letterer: HdE

Publisher: Source Point Press

Release Date: August 25, 2021

Cover Price: $3.99

Ten years after a catastrophic mission gone wrong, Denver Wallace, leader of the Suicide Jockeys - a poor, usually drunken, almost certainly mentally ill crew of monster-fighting, tank-and-aircraft-piloting suckers - must pick himself up off of the proverbial and literal floors, slap his estranged, desperately-fractured team back together and right what once went wrong. From screenwriter/Ringo award-winning comic creator Rylend Grant!

Score: 

★★★★1/2 (4.5/5)

'Suicide Jockeys' posits what if 'Pacific Rim' took place in the present and not in a faraway dystopia. Dystopia being a relative term as writer Rylend Grant proposes that we've been in a society in which there is great suffering or injustice already. The last four years are especially convincing in favor of his argument. Throw in supervillain billionaires and well, Grant is ever prescient. 

The aftermath of one mission involving these pilots of flying mechanized war machines aka Suicide Jockeys has recuperations across time and space. It profoundly affects the team's leader, Denver Wallace, so the narrative comes from his perspective. Denver's a crass washed-up drunk living in a convention center while selling his autograph at a pop culture convention. It's a trip seeing a con when so many in real life have been canceled over the last eighteen months. We're reminded of the atmosphere full of booths, autograph alley hierarchy, overzealous fanboys, and the bitter contempt of dwindling D-list "celebrities" like Wallace. 

It may seem pretty one-dimensional on the surface but the bombastic, eye-popping battle between Wallace's team and one billionaire's time-traveling giant robot sets the stage for everything to come in the issue. Artists Davi Leon Dias and Iwan Joko Triyono create a mind-blowing sequence that's cinematic and adrenaline-fueled. It's right out of a Michael Bay film, full of firepower and explosions. You can almost hear the AC/DC soundtrack as it's happening. It's even enhanced with character name intros emblazoned on panels by HdE. It's an impressive display and it's balanced with the rest of the issue that deals with mostly characters talking. 

With a chance to rewrite history, Wallace's prickly demeanor is explained and in doing so, Grant gives him more depth and dimension while also setting up a spectacular second issue. It's quite the character arc in one debut issue but it works to have readers rooting for Wallace's redemption. 

'Suicide Jockeys' #1 opens up a world where fighting kaijus and robots exist and only pilots crazy enough to do the job can become legends. For Denver Wallace, a catastrophic battle changes everything for his team. It's a sci-fi Tokusatsu-inspired thriller told through the lens of 80's action movies. Grant and company have created a summer blockbuster you can hold in your hands. Recommended.