Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Ryan Parrott
Art: Abel & Francesco Mortarino
Colors: Chris O’Halloran
Letters: Becca Carey
Ever since the release of Invincible the standards for a fun and yet captivating story subverting the superhero genre were raised. Rogue Sun arrives in time with the hype for the second season of the animated adaptation of Image’s iconic character.
The first issue of this series dedicated itself to establishing the usual elements needed at the starting of a new comic book but it also conveyed something very clearly: Dylan, the protagonist, is not your usual hero type. He’s shown to have no actual redeeming qualities. At home he’s the typical angsty teen towards his mom (who deals with it quite well) and at school he’s a bully. In fact it is not yet clear whether his best friend is actually friends with him or just completely afraid of him.
However, this second issue seeks to establish that Dylan does indeed cares about something more. He had this huge responsibility thrusted on him by his late father and yet he didn’t refuse. Sure, having superpowers and saving people sounds cool but this issue shows us that Dylan doesn’t really have a knack for it but he keeps moving forward when he could just surrender the stone to one of his siblings. It’s a fascinating approach to superhero comic book protagonist which grabbed my attention from the very beginning.
I’m not really familiar with writer Ryan Parrot’s work. From the two issues of Rogue Sun I’ve read so far I like it a lot! The characters are well presented in the first issue and are consistent but explored a little more on the second one. Dylan maintains the jerk facade bullying his high school colleagues but I’m hoping this will make his development a lot more engaging in future issues. One thing I liked a lot about issue #2 is how it showed the similarities and the differences between Dylan and his half-siblings. While all three similarly resent Marcus, their father as a terrible parent, only Dylan fails to see how important his work as Rogue Sun really was.
I loved Abel’s art style from the instant I laid eyes on it. His style reminds me of Greg Capullo’s work except it looks way more finished. His facial expressions are passable but what I really like were the action sequences. The motion depiction relies mostly motion lines and feature distortion but does so in a subtle manner that really drives the action forward. The colors by O’Halloran are to die for. All of it is pretty on point but I especially liked the fire from Rogue Sun’s armor that just pops against the night scenes. Beautiful stuff.
Letters by Becca Carey add a nice later of immersion to the comic with a lot of expressive growls and shouts. She also added a discreet orange outline to Marcus’ speech bubbles which, for me, brought forth a sense of ethereal, since he’s practically a ghost.
Rogue Sun is off to a great start. Though the story has much yet to progress the team seems to have a nice grip on where they’re headed and I’m pretty hyper about the mystical approach to the story so far. Definitely recommend checking it out.
Rogue Sun #2
Rogue Sun is off to a great start. Though the story has much yet to progress the team seems to have a nice grip on where they're headed and I'm pretty hyper about the mystical approach to the story so far. Definitely recommend checking it out.
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