M1: Monster Racing League #5 // Review
Dev’s kind of in the middle of something when her mother shows up. For the first time in a long time. It’s been half a decade. What Dev says to her mother might sound rehearsed, but her mother DID leave her and her father without warning. There hadn’t been any contact at all for five years. Naturally, she’s going to be a little bit more than just upset. Naturally, she’s going to want to vent in M1: Monster Racing League #5. The writing team of Lily Windom and Robert Windom continue their futuristic horror fantasy family drama with artist Jae Lee and colorist June Chung.
To make matters all the more complicated, Dev’s mother is telling her that there’s so much that she doesn’t know. She’s telling Dev that she wants to tell her. everything. And to make matter worse, she’s selling the drug that’s turning everyne on the circuit into literal monsters. Things get a little complicated before she's able to actually communicate anything. Before one, they separate. Again. Dev’s looking for answers from her father ,but he didn’t even know that his ex-wife was IN Tokyo. And now Dev and her friends are going to try to track her down...
The Windom’s had done a good job of developing the emotional center of the story. As a result, there's a really strong hit from the family drama that serves as the center of the series. The futuristic racing that he is referenced in the title doesn't exactly get a very close look. And this is beginning to become a very clear situation. Which is really too bad. The narrative potential of the racism themselves have an ability to engage the page in a way that would likely feel much more original than the family drama of that serves as the center of the story.
Lee’s art service as a powerful amplification of emotion. The over the top rendering of emotional intensity on the page serves the family drama well. Lee's distinctly stylish rendering continues to serve the visual reality of the series quite well. The fashions. The emotions. The beauty. The ugliness. It's all so very appealing. Lee even manages to get some action onto the page in a way that feels suitably kinetic. Chung’s colors cling to it all with a deft sense of volume and luminosity that rounds-out the immersiveness of the visual world of the series.
Some of the dramatic weight of the series feels as though it would be served better by more patient on the part of the storytellers. Some of the emotional realities that are being explored outside of the family might have been better served by a longer period of time working with the actual social dynamic of the racing circuit and everybody in it. That being said, the family drama at the heart of everything continues to be very compelling. Dev remains a very appealing character on many different levels. It's a fun series. It's a fun issue.
