Icon & Rocket #5: Season One Review

Writers: Hudlin and Leon Chills / Artists: Doug Braithwaite, Andrew Currie, and Brad Anderson / DC Comics After a little break, Icon & Rocket is back, giving us that entry into the world of Dakota that we all love so much.  Icon & Rocket #5 provides a little downtime for Icon & Rocket as they took out the world’s drug traffickers and were attacked by a killer Manhunter from Mars. They deserve as much breathing room as they can get.  Augustus has moved Raquel and her mother into his estate while they wait for their apartment building to rebuild so they can move back in, and they’ve switched the power belts and capes for jeans and jackets for now as they try to navigate their regular lives in the aftermath of what they’ve done as Icon & Rocket. 

Personally, issues like this one are some of my favorites in comics. Don’t get me wrong. I love all the action just as much as the next fan, but when we spend personal time with the characters it only provides context for the stakes of the action. A fistfight isn’t the most opportune time to learn about what a character wants and needs. We find that out during their downtime.  The best part of Icon & Rocket #5, for me, focuses on Raquel as she goes back to school. She’s missed so much time because she’s been out saving the world with Icon. Even though it hasn’t been too long, she clearly feels out of place, almost like she’s outgrown the importance of school, especially when you juxtapose it to the more …