By Jonathan Edwards
I read the first story arc of Motor Crush and liked it well enough. It wasn't anything ground breaking, but it was fun, stylish, and had a decent enough dose of intrigue. Plus, it left off on a pretty big cliff hanger. So let me say up front, this issue does not resolve that. In fact, it does the opposite. Motor Crush #6 is a prequel issue focusing on Sully while Domino's still a child. It also happens to touch on how Sully lost his leg and the rise of Crush in Nova Honda. All in all, it feels more like a standalone story than the beginning of a new arc. And though it does do a pretty good job of showcasing Sully's character, it does feel somewhat at the cost of Domino losing some of her own agency.
We start with younger Sully and child Domino on their way to see the character, Julianna. However, since this is the first time meeting or even hearing about her, it becomes pretty obvious that, for one reason or another, she won't be around anymore by the end of the issue. But at this point, I'd wager that's come to be an expected trope of these kinds of prequel stories. Furthermore, at least here it feels relatively organic, and it actually does something significant for the overall story.
Anywho, we come to find out that Sully borrowed some money from the Producers, and in typical mob fashion, they want a favor, not just the money, in return. And Sully, in typical protagonist fashion, doesn't want to do it but fears he might have to in order to protect his loved ones. That's our primary conflict here. Just throw in some brief discussion about Domino's "condition" and the aforementioned origin of Crush's prevalence, and that's pretty much the whole issue.
The art has always been one of the stronger aspects of this book, perhaps even the strongest. And, that's no different here. The character designs are all distinct and quite emotive, the inks and shading do a great job of capturing the tone of the more dramatic scenes, and I love the pink-centric color palette that's been maintained since the first issue. It all goes a long way in making the somewhat typical story read far more engagingly.
In conclusion, the only real problem I've ever had with this book amounts to little more than a nitpick. I just find the "future slang" (at least that's what I think it's supposed to be) comes off as obnoxious more times than not. I get that it's supposed to be there for the sake of world building, but it happens enough times per issues, and with enough different words, that it instead ends up being really distracting and pulls me out of the story. But like I said, that a pretty minor complaint to have in the grand scheme of things. As a series, Motor Crush is still enjoyable, and issue #6 is entertaining read that gives a little bit better context to the world. Plus, I'd say this is likely a better jumping on point. New readers can ease in a bit instead of immediately dropping them in with Domino dealing with the whole timeskip situation.
Score: 3/5
Motor Crush #6
Story: Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr
Writers: Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart
Artist: Cameron Stewart
Colorists: Babs Tarr, Heather Danforth
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Publisher: Image Comics