4 out of 5

While we’re all big fans of those animated flicks that work on multiple levels for kids and adults – Brad Bird’s movies, Rango – or the vibe of modern cartoon fare like Adventure Time that embraces a particular brand of ridiculousness that similarly appeals to different age ranges, there’s a particular genre of family-friendly fare that doesn’t appear so much anymore: the kid-friendly adult flick.  And obviously I don’t mean Heavy Metal, but rather those unique action/adventure blends like The Goonies or even the appeal of old school Disney cartoons, which, though certainly designed for children, featured adult characters acting, generally, like adults.  Sticking to animation, one of the last efforts to try to pull that style off was the underrated Don Bluth movie Titan A.E., which, being sci-fi, absolutely came to mind while reading Rocket Salvage.  But Salvage is actually much better paced and written that Titan, and I also don’t want to mislead: it is, first and foremost, a comic.  So while I might describe it as an amazingly fun and deep animated adventure, credit is due to writer Mercado, artist Bachan, colorist Jeremy Lawson, and letterer Deron Bennett for creating for their format and designing their story so that it feels fully realized and at home on the printed page, as well as creating a rare instance of that kid-friendly adult genre for the same.

In some unspecified future of flying cars and alien races mingling with humans, Primo Rocket leads Rocket Salvage – pretty much what it sounds like, a parts salvaging operation – with his kids Beta, a clone, and Zeta, his daughter.  Primo’s reception around his home burgh of Rio Rojo ain’t that great, and, as told through sliced up flashbacks spread throughout the series, we learn how Primo was once a well respected rocketship racer, thanks in no small part to his “mechakinesis” ability to ‘speak’ to machines, a career that ended in a bloody, body-count causing crash, which in turn preceded the collapse of the racing industry as the galaxy became embroiled in a turn scuffle between the machine-led Republic of Galaxies and the Galactic Republic…  Sound complicated?  It’s presented in a fantastically slick and streamlined fashion, the world-building done casually between panels and slipped in to dialogue, our focus instead on Rocket and his family and a seemingly smaller scale conspiracy that has them tracking down an old acquaintance in a prison… which, yeah, does expand beyond the smaller scale, but again, Mercado and crew ramp this up ridiculously well.  The five issues are all well-packed with both character building and action, such that even the last double-sized all-brawl issue doesn’t feel like just an action-filled cop-out.

Which is why, for all of the work done to create such rewarding characters and a fleshed out world, the happily-ever-after that concludes things (with walk-into-the-sunset codas for every character…) feels so out of place.  Rocket Salvage deserved a happy ending, but Rocket’s involvement in events ends up being so massive that to have things rattle down as quickly as they do in the final pages – and written as though there won’t be lasting consequences – is a bit silly, especially given the final issue’s cover, which misleadingly suggests there will be some tragedy to behold.  This doesn’t ruin things: the main story does conclude well.  It’s truly more of an epilogue that just felt unnecessary, or at least required someone casting a bit of a shadow across it.

That aside, the genre accomplishments I praised hold firm.  Colorist Lawson deserves special note for making the world of Salvage so appealing and clear.  Bachan’s art obviously brings the characters to life, and Mercado’s words are the driving force, but there panels are populated with so much eye candy that getting the right blend of colors to make the right things pop and the rest look great but not distracting is a tough chore, but Lawson rocks it.  He’s also a master of the Archie Comics style of color splash in lieu of backgrounds; this particular skill is harder than (to me) just tossing a color on the background, as the color chosen has to sync with the page but prevent the panel from seeming bland without any background detail or to stand out too much for the same reason.  Lawson often chooses a completely juxtaposing color to the page scheme for these panels, but it always works.

Okay.  I’m done talking.