If there’s one thing that’s undeniable about the first two issues of Peter J. Tomasi and Francis Manapul’s The Rocketfellers it’s that the reader is thrown headfirst into events without ever being overly bogged down by scene-setting exposition. It’s a key ingredient of the opening chapters of this series that ensures the readers feel a similar sense of displacement and confusion to its titular lead characters – a family unit from the 25th century who have fled to our era after being placed in the “Time Zone Protection Program” to keep them safe from malevolent pursuers in their own time.
Tomasi and Manapul’s temporally lost refugees consist of father and mother scientists Roland and Rachel, teenage son Richie and younger daughter Rae, along with stoic veteran grandfather Rodney and family dog Rex. Tomasi gives us just enough information about each to ensure our empathy without overloading us with backstory while Manapul’s visual characterisation adds extra dimensions to our connection with the characters on a more instinctive level.
A witness protection scheme that works on chronological grounds, rather than those of geography and identity, is a neat sci-fi premise in itself. But combined with the tensions of sometimes strained family dynamics and a Gerber-ian “trapped in a world they never made” set-up, The Rocketfellers is a high energy mixture of epic science fantasy and more recognisable familial interplay. Take the contrasting dramatic focusses of the first two issues, for example, with the fast-paced action of the family’s escape from the future in #1, replete with drastic decisions and tragic sacrifice, and the more universal themes of the second instalment as they look to fit in with the local community by choosing a tree for Christmas. Smaller human moments becoming just as vital as the more ostentatious narrative turns in the greater tapestry of the cast’s lives.
Mysteries abound as we are gradually given more details about the Rocketfellers’ flight from the future but it’s those more down-to-earth elements of their slightly dysfunctional interactions that grab the audience’s attention as much as the kinetic action sequences. Manapul’s visual storytelling is key here, shifting from those bolder, brasher segments to quieter, more nuanced scenes with care and thoughtfulness. There are some particularly subtle uses of comics’ relationship with the passage of time and a playful manipulation of our reading between-the-panels comprehension that really stand out here.
Undoubtedly one of the year’s most gripping and instantly immersive serial comics debuts, The Rocketfellers is an escapist treat from the direction of Ghost Machine/Image.
Peter J. Tomasi (W), Francis Manapul (A), Rob Leigh (L), Steve Blackwell (D), Brian Cunningham (E) • Image Comics/Ghost Machine, $3,99
Review by Andy Oliver