By: Levi Remington

The penultimate issue in Motor Crush's first arc sees Domino struggling to make sense of recent revelations. She is closer than ever to discovering more about her past, but not without repercussions. The further she plunges down this mysterious rabbit hole, the more isolated she becomes. 

While we've dealt with main characters trying desperately to uncover the truth about their past before, I have faith that Fletcher, Stewart, and Tarr won't hold back from letting things get weird in an interesting way. These creators are no stranger to innovation through execution. Take a look at their ambitious Batgirl run, for instance. Their characters and plots come attached with an air of familiarity, but through a heavily stylized implementation these tried and true archetypes are given new life. 

There is no better comic to pick up on International Women's Day than Motor Crush. When a large majority of comics hitting the stands exclusively feature white, male protagonists, it's refreshing to follow Domino Swift, a young, independent, respected black woman who is confident in her sexuality, not just a hollow sex-symbol for characters and readers to gawk at. 

This book continues to have a wealth of personality. Whether this is accomplished through Stewart's efficient panel layouts and dynamic action sequences, Tarr's sassy character expressions and Hotline Miami-inspired color palette, or the little details that make up Nova Honda that help immerse the reader in this world; Motor Crush is electric. The art still shines, but the small action in this issue does not come close to the visual splendor of earlier set-pieces. This is forgivable of course, as the main priority of this issue is to lay the foundation for some relationship friction and mystery. 

As someone who has come to care about Domino, it was difficult to watch her make so many careless decisions in this issue. Her current mindset, in light of circumstances, is pretty scattered, so this was not necessarily out of character for her. My hope is that she is eventually forced to face the consequences of these actions, because I don't see any other way she can reasonably grow from all of this. She's taking a lot of risks, damaging relationships, and playing fast and loose with morality. If future issues fail to deliver any serious ramifications upon Domino, then I'll be surprised how they go about justifying a change in heart, if at all.

As far as side characters go, they have not had a lot of time to develop beyond enablers/disablers for Domino. The one exception to this has been Lola, who I am liking more and more as the story moves forward. Her genuine honesty is a nice balance to Domino's stubbornness, and in terms of personality and dramatic potential, she closely rivals Domino. If future arcs switched up the POV every now and then, focusing on Lola first, I'm sure a lot of fans would be pleased with the result.

Motor Crush is fun, it's stylish, and it's told with such fashionable style that it's hard not to recommend it. Issue #4 asks a lot of questions, surely setting up a big payoff for next month's volume one finale. The central mystery around the Crush and the Dark Rider has been developed well so far, and I'm eager to learn more.

Score: 4/5

Motor Crush #4
Writers: Babs Tarr, Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart
Art: Babs Tarr, Cameron Stewart
Lettering: Aditya Bidikar
Publisher: Image Comics