Chris Sims and Joe Hunter deliver some fast times at Ramp City High.
And exploding times.
And skateboard times.
Uh, just read our review, I guess.
Written by Chris Sims
Illustrated by Joe HunterThe Break-Fist Club
KICKFLIP INTO ACTION! Ramp City High School has a big problem: students are turning into monsters whenever they’re faced with stress — and for teenagers, there’s stress around every corner. Good thing skateboard champ Theo and tech whiz Ria are there to stop them, but when the mid-term menace of Testor tears up the library, will they be thrashed before they even start?
Last year, I burned through the entirety of the Japanese Tokusatsu show Kamen Rider Fourze. It centered on a high school student dedicated towards becoming friends with everyone in his school, even while fighting them when they were transformed into monsters by mysterious abominations. It took up at least 24+ hours of my life and I lost a friend or two over my obsession with it. For months, I thought I had just wasted my time — but with “Radical Guardian: Skater X”, it turns out that my Kamen Rider expertise turned out to be pretty handy, since “Radical Guardian: Skater X” is basically just a westernized Kamen Rider Fourze.
Chris Sims is a huge fan of Kamen Rider (dude writes about it all the time over on ComicsAlliance) and that influence is proudly worn on the comic’s sleeve, what with the scarf-heavy design of Skater X and the general plot of a teen superhero befriending his classmates who have been turned into monsters by the stress of being a teenager. Plus, the climax to this issue’s boss fight is essentially the ending to Fourze‘s second episode. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; if there’s one property that could be expanded upon into a spiritual successor it’s Fourze — which is, again, an undeniably rad show. Sims shares my excitement too, as the script is quick to gloss over introducing any main characters to get right to the skateboard/homework fighting, with many of the comic’s more poignant moments being almost completely lifted from Fourze.
If you haven’t seen Fourze, the lifting will likely be a lot less obvious, but even then there are still some problems with the story. As I said before, there’s hardly anything that gives us a sense of who the characters are. I really hate to keep referencing Fourze because there’s honestly more to “Skater X” than that but it’s important to note when the protagonist, Kisaragi, befriends one of the bad guys it’s a poignant scene because the build-up has established Kisaragi’s determination to befriend everyone. He gets put down by bullies, he’s taunted by a girl he has a crush on, and hardly anyone wants anything to do with him. So when he sits down and tells the other bullied kid (who’s been transformed into the constellation Orion; don’t ask) to be his friend, it’s a moment that means something. It’s two loners who have been set against each other throwing that conflict away and becoming pals, even if one of them had to be kicked into space with a drill and motorcycle combination first (please, do ask).
In “Skater X”, the cool kid on the skateboard beats up the robot-teen having a breakdown and offers to get burgers with him. It’s a cool moment, but one that’s undermined by the lack of knowledge we have about these characters. The problem isn’t even poor characterization as much as it may be an attempt to rush into the big Fourze homage. The few hints from Theo’s character we do get are cool (him yelling at Testor saying “Nobody cares about your teen problems!” and then apologizing for the dick move is a nice touch) but they feel undercooked (not to mention his sidekick who gets approximately a second of screen time). Should everything be revealed in the first issue? Of course not, but the lack of focus upon characters and setting doesn’t help “Skater X” feel like a world so much as a cool idea. A classic case of style over substance.
Thankfully, the style of “Skater X” is draw guy Joe Hunter who saves this book with a capital hallelujah. His design is flawless, with some villains who remind me ofCodename: Kids Next Door. Hunter is a funny illustrator and sells a lot of Sims’ pun-based humor with some great reaction faces. Even when Theo is in his Skater X garb, the body language Hunter infuses into his characters is enough to screenshot some images for my reaction image folder.
Continued belowHunter’s successes go beyond the funny, however. Though I’m not a huge fan of the big Skater X/Testor fight taking up most of the issue, it still makes for a pretty visceral first impression for the series. Pencil missiles and rail lighting collide for an eye-pleasing fight that proves “Skater X” is hardly afraid of its “Style > Substance” tone. If anything, it’s goddamn proud of it. That’s not to say Hunter is just pretty explosions – though his bright coloring definitely makes the book pop. I’ve listed a couple complaints about the rushed cool down scene between Testor and Theo but much of that could be just me being somewhat grumpy over Kamen Rider. A lot of the moments in that scene work so great under Hunter’s illustration (MUNCHMUNCHMUNCH) that I can’t fault it. Plus, having a chill down between two super powered beings who are still full costume, one of them being a giant pencil robot, is still a humorous visual.
I don’t know if I would recommend the first issue of “Skater X” to someone who hasn’t had experience with the Kamen Rider franchise. The book’s an unapologetic love letter and much of the first issue’s plot relies on you sort of just grunting and accepting that Theo’s backstory is probably similar to Fourze’s, what with the (defanged) bad boy wearing armor made by/discovered by a cool science girl. Still, there’s a heart in “Radical Guardian: Skater X” that beats for Tokusatsu television as well as the angst that so many teenagers go through that’s far too sincere to be considered a rip-off, really, especially since Hunter’s art brings the story to a place the (dubious) source material never did.
The premise isn’t all there but that may be an issue of pacing rather than content which, as far as I can tell, is as radical as the title. There’s still time for “Skater X” to develop into far more than a love letter to a relatively obscure Japanese show into something much greater. Chris Sims and Joe Hunter are two creators with powerful voices and I really hope they don’t mute them down for the sake of homage. With enough development, “Radical Guardian: Skater X” could turn into one of the more rad books out there.
Final Verdict: 7.2 – I mean the title of this issue was “The Break-Fist Club”. How could it possibly be more radical? I can’t wait to find out.
