M1: Monster Racing League #3 // Review
Dev isnβt feeling good. She and Kaito were the top racers in the Tokyo street racing circuit. Now theyβre struggling to keep-up. Evidently there are performance-enhancing genetic modifications that are turning some racers into monsters with a clear edge over the rest of the racers. Dev was the top of the circuit. Now sheβs losing to literal monsters of the circuit. Whatβs a displaced American to do? Sheβs got important decisions to make in M1: Monster Racing League #3. The writing team of Lily and Robert Windom continues its journey with artist Jae Lee and colorist June Chung.
Dev is knocking on the door. It isnβt just her knocking on the door, though. In order to do so, sheβs got to is a knocker big enough to be a weapon on a huge set of double doors. So it turns out that sheβs made best friends with someone who happens to be kind of wealthy. This is kind of interesting, but it's not a great importance to her. What is a great importance to Dev is reclaiming her top spot in the circuit. It's not going to be easy. But she refuses to use anything that's going to mess with her genetics. This is going to make it particularly difficult.
It's kind of fun to have a science fiction or fantasy or horror. Look at the concept of a sport involving performance enhancing drugs. The cyberpunk end of it being genetic modification is kind of fun. But it would be a lot more interesting. Given the background if the performance enhancing drugs in the question were actually a matter of conjuring real demons from another plane of existence or something like that. It's actually kind of a disappointment that that's not the case. They're pretty clearly leaning in the direction though genetic modification here.
These art is as distinctive as ever. It feels like Charles Vess fused with MΕbius by way of some really elegant manga artist. It would be really interesting to see the actual races. Or some kind of graphic representation of them. As it is, the script focuses solidly on the drama and the atmosphere. This is perfectly cool and everything. It's just kind of strange to have something that focuses so much on a sport that it seems so little in the actual pages and panels of the story in question. As always, Dev comes across as a really appealing character. She really is the heart of it and it's a lot of fun seeing her go through the stress that she's going through.
Or it could be a video game. It's a premise that works really well for a video game. As it is, though, Dev is an appealing enough character to service the center of the series. And given how little we're getting of her personality, the series could run for a very long time without her ever seeming anything other than very interesting. The creative team manages to focus the entire series on her without really giving too much away. The mystery remains even three issues in.
