Welcome back to Strange Times & Places, where we promise you’re not reading a repeat! Two things happened this week that lead to doing another ST&P: First, Kamen Rider Build ended on a game changing cliffhanger last week and I felt it better to see how it resolves before writing about the show. Second, it turns out that Gotham City Garage #1 hits stands Wednesday, so I thought we ought to take a look at it.
How’s It Different?
It’s a Royale with Cheese, taking place in a world that exists to justify the designs of the statue line it is based on. Said world ends up being a mix of Mad Max, Logan’s Run, and Judge Dredd and is much better fleshed out than you’d expect a comic based on sexy statues to be.
What’s The Story?
The world as we know it has ended but humanity hangs on in single, utopian city called The Garden. Utopia, however, comes at a price: every citizen is equipped with a “ridealong” implant that keeps them permanently pleasant, pliant, and placid. Ridealong technician Kara Gordon, daughter of a high ranking police official, is about to find out that this dystopia isn’t all it’s cracked up to be – and she’ll have to throw in with the rebellious bikers of Gotham City Garage if she wants to survive.
Best of Differences
- While characters previously designed for statues look predictably awesome, “new” characters (like Big Barda, Silver Banshee, Batman, and The Gardeners) fit in beautifully.
- Batman is channeling a Judge Dredd antagonist here, being a brutal servant of the law without much thought to concepts like “justice” or “public safety”. Timely, what with being in the midst of Dark Nights: Metal right now.
- The narrative wastes no time sending Kara out into the wasteland to meet the bikers of Gotham City Garage, which I found to be a welcome change of pace from the unfocused narrative of the previous comic based on DC Collectibles statuary.
- Issue one will be on our new issue rack this Wednesday, October 11, and I heartily recommend picking it! It seems like this one will be a fun ride.
Come Back Next Week for a New Tokusatsu Gesundheit (I Promise)!
