BubbleGun #3 literally starts where we left off in issue #2, with Devyn digitally comatose and Craine’s team posing and parkouring their way across town to Molli and company. The first panels waste no time in throwing us into the thick of things and laying the smack down. Visually speaking, this is exactly what I signed up for with BubbleGun: High stakes fights between amped up combatants. No matter that one of our heroes is the walking wounded, he still manages to take out one of the cyber ninjas with relative ease.
Did you just start singing the TMNT theme in binary? .. Just me, then? Ok.
Things come to a head as Devyn is taken hostage and Molli has no choice but to let her go. It is at this point that we learn a little more about the man behind Craine, the one pulling the strings. His motivation seems simple enough, but as we all know by now, nothing is quite how it appears. Roman will no doubt learn a thing or two at this mans side, and none of it for the betterment of mankind. I’m looking for a Sith apprentice-like relationship blossoming between the two; a vehicle for potential future story arcs.
Meantime, Molli and team are left to evaluate their rather drab situation and Molli is beginning to feel the weight of failure, at least in her eyes. Her sister kidnapped and their home all but destroyed, she will have to buck up and start thinking like her sister to get out of this fine mess. Lucky for her that Kyo and Zuse are around. She might be bits and pieces otherwise.
I wonder what conditioner Molli uses? Head and Cybers? Her hair is never out of place..
The art in this issue is all around solid, with the vibrant colouring scheme we’ve come to expect from Curiel. Roslan’s pencils are maturing in the detail department and he seems to have few issues with the tech, save for generic design. The action sequences themselves are well thought out, even though the silhouettes can read a tad too posey at times. But that’s a personal gripe. The style works for the format and nature of the story.
Certain elements seem like familiar ground is being tread but BubbleGun has more than enough action and cool gadgetry to surprise the most jaded of sci-fi fans. This episode does an admirable job of advancing the plot, as well as giving us some cool fight scenes.