Dodge City, Vol. 1 Is A Quick Read That Will Leave A Smile On Your Face

Writer: Josh Trujillo / Artist: Cara McGee / Boom! Studios I am not the biggest sports fan. I’ve taken it upon myself to collectively refer to football, American football, baseball, and basketball as sportsball because in my head they’re all easily categorized in that way. I have a great respect for the athleticism required to do all of these activities as someone who struggles to work three days a week. That said, there is something about sports fiction that gets me really excited. I think it’s perhaps the deeper dive into the psyche of the different characters than the victory of the team. I think it’s telling that the sports icon I know have a “narrative” around them. And I think it should come as no surprised that I ended up loving every single page of Trujillo’s Dodge City.

Dodge City is your predictable coming of age of story told through the metaphor of an intermural dodge ball league where all of the kids are taking things just a little bit too seriously. The opening pages immediately shows a brutal headshot and the main cast of character: Drew, Elise, Judith, Amardeep, Huck, and newcomer Tomás. Exposition is given effortlessly as we are reminded the rules of Dodgeball a.k.a. “In dodgeball, head shots aren’t out” and how Tomás was recruited to the gym court arena after asking Ms. Maison for help into the league. The story follows the ragtag bunch of misfits, still my favorite all time trope in existence, the Jazz Pandas, a disgraced dodge ball team with no season win…