Darick Robertson gives us everything we need from this comic. The work he does is just fantastic. When hearing such a badass name like Ballistic, you have to bring in some badass art with it too. Then hearing about the premise of the comic; Butch and his sidekick Gun, yes a talking a gun, live in the futuristic place of Repo City where every piece of technology is living and they're all assholes. Butch’s goal is to leave behind his day job to become something bigger, badder, and better. I don’t really know what Gun’s goal is, but probably to help his best bud and score some amazing drugs along the way. So yeah, Robertson needed to be equally as great with the art as the story is. The first thing you have to get right is Butch and Gun. These two fouled mouth dudes look exactly the part. Butch is butch with his dark slicked back hair and rough and tough groove. Gun is mildly disturbing but hysterical at the same time. Then the time period is crazy with its talking technology. The coloring is very dark and exactly how you would picture a technology driven city. Every piece just fits, and I am never thinking that “oh that manta ray carrier doesn’t fit or can a cat really have humans inside their stomach.” It all works well together. When you have a team such as Robertson and Adam Egypt Mortimer balancing the comic, it for damn sure works. As for the story, it is insane. Every issue brings some next level shit that can only be described as shit hitting the fan material. Actually I think that is what Butch lives for. If there wasn’t some piece of pooh hitting some type of fan, his world would fall apart. Butch and Gun are inside a cat’s stomach speaking to a half man half carrot trying to find out what Bipower’s goal is. Butch fears that they want to own the city. And Gun is upset with Butch and vice versa. These two fight a lot for being so close but it makes their relationship a lot more fun. Meanwhile, Gennie is in all sorts of trouble. I don’t know why Butch hasn’t checked on her sooner, but she is about to change in a huge way.
Ballistic is a tough comic to just jump into or only to read an issue here and there. I almost wish I could read the whole story in one sitting than taking these long breaks wouldn’t affect me so much. But either way, you need to start from the beginning. There are layers of stories that can’t just be taught with one issue.
Back to the plot, the story is huge with action this week. Butch and the now changed Gennie are going into Biopower. What they discover is that their plan must get a little more complicated after what they see. Butch takes a drastic measure and tries his best to fight them off. Man I just love every second of this month’s issue. The action is crazy, Butch is off the chain, and of course Gun has some good shots and shoot ups. Definitely a comic worth reading in a hell yeah kind of moment.
Score: 5/5
Writer: Adam Egypt Mortimer Artist: Darick Robertson Publisher: Black Mask Studios Price: $3.50 Release Date: 6/18/14 Format: Mini-Series, Print