REVIEW: Psycho Bonkers #1

Today at the HCB, we’ve decided to mix things up a bit and have feature writer Art Bee and his daughter Ally (age 8) review the same book. Look for more amazingly amazing innovations from the Hammond Comics Blog in the near future, but without further ado here’s The Hammond Comics Blog Super-Hero Father/Daughter Team-Up!

Story: Vince Hernandez
Artwork: Adam Archer
Colors: Federico Blee
Reviews: Ally Bee (1st) & Art Bee (2nd)

First Review-
I really liked Psycho Bonkers. The artwork is very outstanding. The colors are pretty, and there is a lot of detail. The cars look really cool, too. Shine, the main person, lost her Mom and her Grandpappy, but she was as good a bonk racer as her Grandpappy. The best part about the comic is the futuristic racing.

Second Review-
Prior to this book the only other exposure to Aspen Comics I have had was Fathom, Vol. 1. Fathom had some truly awesome artwork, but the story was dry, slow, and a bit torturous. Psycho Bonkers has given me some hope on the latter for Aspen.

Shine is the main character of Psycho Bonkers. She is a third generation bonk racer, and her bonk, which is a robotic, sentient racer, is named Shiza after her mother. There is not a lot of depth to Shine, but she does have a colorful personality. I can understand how children, like Ally (8 years old), can really get behind this character.

The writer has set up the start of an entertaining story. The hero is very relatable to the apparent target audience, children. The antagonist is Shine’s father’s bonk, Fuel. I think my favorite character is Shiza. That bonk has an interesting personality and I like the video emoticons the car uses to convey feelings and meanings. Vince has done a good job introducing the characters and some of the back story, but I really feel like there is a lack of direction and, um . . . what do you call it . . . oh yeah . . . a definitive plot.

I have to stand and applaud the work of Adam Archer and Federico Blee. The artwork is gorgeous! Archer includes such a level of detail without going overboard. His lines are playful and deliberate while is style is a blend of cartoonish realism. That is before Blee gets a hold of it. This guy does not just color the art, he bleeds life into it. The colors are vivid and jump out at you. He also does not blend colors but his shading uses hard colors with hard edges. Trust me, it works. I would have not believed it unless I saw it.

This comic was fun to flip through, but it was a bit dull for me to read. There is no rating on it, but it is definitely rated E for everyone, which translates to kids. That is why I like my rating turned on the side as M for mature audiences.

Kid approved. Parent approved JUST for kids.