The Rocketfellers TP Vol 1 Review

 

Writer: Peter J Tomasi

Artist: Francis Manapul

Colorists: Francis Manapul, John Kalisz & Ian Herring

Letterer: Rob Leigh

Cover Artist: Francis Manapul

Designer: Steve Blackwell

Editor: Brian Cunningham

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $14.99

Release Date: September 10, 2025

 

When does your life begin? With your birth, your first big job, marriage, or a singular achievement? The Rocketfellers' story starts in the 25^th Century, as they race to evade their pursuers. Yet their lives begin anew when they travel back in time. How will this future family find life in the 21^st Century? And why did they have to flee the era of their birth? Let’s leap into The Rocketfellers TP Vol 1 and see!

 

Story

After remaking their lives in Olympia, Washington, the Rocketfellers invite the neighbors over for a meet-and-greet. A BBQ on Thanksgiving may be unusual, but Roland recognizes the need to get to know his neighbors as he flips the burgers. The wives and mothers gather around Rachel. They pepper her with questions about handsome Harry Helicopter, who Rachel flies above the city each morning for his traffic reports.

 

Rodney is getting up in years, but he intrigues the older ladies by mentioning his age and his military service. Richie makes new friends in the pool. His little sister, Rae, offers umbrellas in case it rains. The Rocketfellers TP Vol 1 introduces readers to a loving, supportive family. Yet Peter J Tomasi’s story reveals how they are suffering.

 

Rose’s death plagues them most. But aside from leaving Rodney’s wife and Roland’s mother behind, they also miss the 25^th Century. Leaving the technology and superior resources of their time forces each member to adapt. Rae develops a close relationship with nature. Richie's technological abilities help him pursue his interests, but don't come without risks.

 

Rachel has put her career on hold for her family twice before. Now, her family's safety forces her to miss what might be her last opportunity to fulfill a dream. At least Roland can continue his bioengineering project in the basement. And after losing his wife, Rodney's dedication to fitness attracts disciples.

 

In The Rocketfellers TP Vol 1, trouble arises from the people they left behind. Roland’s former employers aren’t happy that he absconded with company property. Reggie covers his brother's tracks at the Time Zone Protection Agency. Yet while Reggie gets on with his life, the wheels of justice that would allow his family to return grind slowly.

 

Art

Francis Manapul begins his story with the Rocketfellers speeding across a snowy landscape. Yellow energy courses through a sleek copper structure that would give Anakin Skywalker’s podracer a run for Watto’s money. A missile sends the vessel tumbling through the snow. The family climbs from the fiery wreck clad in yellow and black, with orange insulation extending above their necks. Rose helps her husband hobble along as figures on hoverbikes race toward them. After she begs them to abandon her, a silver cyborg confronts Rose. White specks of snow dot the metal face as orange eyes reflect Rose's final moments.

 

After the desperate race for survival in the tundra, the family surrounds Roland as he greets neighbors on their backyard deck. Older women watch as Rodney does pullups with a free weight chained to his waist. When their neighbors aren’t watching, Rex, the family’s chihuahua, proves an able companion. The canine cyborg sprouts appendages handy around the house or piloting a vehicle. Yet this family from the future motors around town in an old Volkswagen bus. John Kalisz, Ian Herring, and Francis Manapul adorn Peter J Tomasi’s lighthearted tale with a bright, cheery palette.

 

Rob Leigh portals black uppercase letters into white dialogue balloons in The Rocketfellers TP Vol 1. The letters grow bold for inflection, enlarge for raised voices, and rarely shrink. Balloons grow spiky when characters undergo stress. Purple letters in lavender boxes denote time and space changes, while Reggie speaks with his brother across time using green boxes with lightning-bolt arrows. Sound effects enhance this story about losing loved ones, forming new traditions, and Roland’s bioengineering experiment floating in green liquid. Thanks to Image Comics and Ghost Machine for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Each member of the Rocketfellers has given up something to become exiles. Yet each also gains something to ease the pain of that loss. Every page of this reverse Buck Rogers saga resonates with the power of family to help, harm, and inspire in The Rocketfellers TP Vol 1.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For covers from the series (including a Christmas one) see my review at Comic Book Dispatch. 

 

Merry Christmas, All! 

The Rocketfellers #5 Review

 

Writer: Peter J Tomasi

Artist: Francis Manapul

Letterer: Rob Leigh

Cover Artist: Francis Manapul, Ryan Sook & Germán Peralta

Designer: Steve Blackwell

Editor: Brian Cunningham

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: April 30, 2025

 

Rachel Rocketfeller trained to captain a flight to Jupiter. Instead, the astronaut put her career on hold to have Richie. After giving up on having children, life gifted her a son and daughter. Her husband's research cost Rachel their life in the 25th century. Rachel loves her family and flying a news station helicopter. Still, she engages in extreme sports to fill a void. How will Rachel and her family react when Rae faces danger? Let’s grab our hoverboards, leap into The Rocketfellers #5, and find out!

 

Story

Rae rescued baby sparrows from a Christmas tree. Before her grandmother died, Rose told the girl that trees have a communication network through the ground. Rae seems to sense that connection. Like a priestess of the Delphic Oracle, the girl makes comments about the future open to interpretation. Her brother thinks she is weird. But when Rae faints and their parents react in shock, Richie orders them to take her to a doctor.

 

Tony Martinez looks out for his community. When it snows, Tony offers to bring the Rocketfellers their mail or pick up their groceries. So when Rachel explains that their Volkswagon van won't start and they want to take Rae to the hospital, Tony tosses Rachel his keys and watches as the family drives away. But Tony will find that befriending Rachel, Roland, and the family carries risks in The Rocketfellers #5.

 

In Peter J Tomasi's story, Roland is a 25th-century bioengineer. His nano-borgs have reconstructed an eyeball from its dead husk. Cronex searches the centuries for traces of the family, hoping to recapture Roland for his knowledge and research. Yet when danger threatens the Rocketfellers, it comes from 21st-century Russia.

 

Like Rachel, Richie lost a future that challenged him. His parents restrict his use of anything that could garner notice from the time agents. But Roland and Rachel are so wrapped up in their lives that they don’t know that Richie gets detention at school or hacks offshore accounts on his bedroom computer. While the Cronex agent Raina tracks the family through time, Russian mobsters trace their missing money to Richie’s home in The Rocketfellers #5.

 

Art

Amid scenes of domestic harmony as the Rocketfellers sleep and rise for breakfast, one of the Sparrows Rae adopted finds the reconstructed eyeball in Roland's basement lab. Scenes follow the family’s first visit to a 500-year-old hospital (from their perspective), a team of Russian suits driving around Olympia, Washington, to Yuri and Nicolas reclining in a room below sea level on the Baltic Sea. Instead of watching fish exploring ocean wrecks on the sea floor, the diminutive mobsters clothed in full military attire cover their eyes in immersion glasses.

 

While Francis Manapul lavishes a loaded palette of color on The Rocketfellers #5, pink overtakes panels to convey what Yuri and Nicholas see. Green and blue dominate hospital scenes, while greenish light streams through the undersea windows. Exterior lights on the family home cast brightening rays on a blue evening while the Rocketfellers await the medical staff’s diagnosis. One noteworthy panel shows a man standing in the checkerboard tile hall of the Rocketfeller home, Rodney's greenlit basement lab, and the intervening stairs as white lines on a streaked charcoal background.

 

Rob Leigh portals black uppercase letters into white dialogue balloons in The Rocketfellers #5. The letters grow bold for inflection and enlarge and change color for raised voices. Rae’s wavering lines of small text convey her wooziness. Balloons grow spiky when characters undergo stress. Purple letters in oval lavender boxes locate us in time and space. Sound effects help us hear birds tweeting, hands knocking, Rex barking, and high-tech equipment breaking as danger threatens the family on two fronts. A fact sheet on Richie featuring lowercase letters closes this family saga. Thanks to Image Comics and Ghost Machine for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

When their daughter faints, the family flies into crisis mode. But a trip to the hospital leaves the family home open to threats. While showcasing how Rex greets uninvited visitors, The Rocketfellers #5 hints at interconnections between little Rae, Rodney's basement laboratory project, and the agent pursuing the 25^th Century family through time.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

The Rocketfellers #4 Review

 

Writer: Peter J Tomasi

Artist: Francis Manapul

Colorists: John Kalisz, Ian Herring & Francis Manapul

Letterer: Rob Leigh

Cover Artist: Francis Manapul; Brad Walker & Brad Anderson; Todd Nauck

Designer: Steve Blackwell

Editor: Brian Cunningham

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: March 19, 2025

 

Roland Rocketfeller discovered a secret his employer prefers to remain hidden. Forced to flee their wrath, Roland's brother Reggie enlisted Roland and his family in the Time Zone Protection Program. Officially, no one knows where and when the Rocketfellers reside. But Reggie has told his fiancée Olivia. And Cronex is scouring time zones and interlinked realities for clues to their hiding place.

 

Abandoning the 25^th Century for the 21^st necessitated learning new ways of living. It also meant leaving behind Roland's mother, Rose. While the Rocketfellers gradually adjust to our time, their neighbor notices Rachel’s enhanced swimming ability. Roland and Rachel's son Richie exploits his futuristic skills for spending money. Can Cronex follow the family’s footsteps through time? And will they capture Roland’s bioengineering project before it matures? Let’s grab our hoverboards, leap into The Rocketfellers #4, and find out!

 

Story

While Richie attracted notice at the family's neighborhood Thanksgiving bash, Rodney proved a hit with the ladies. Seniors in the neighborhood join him on his morning run. The ladies don't realize he wasn't joking about his age. Nor do they know he has a cybernetic leg. But they respond to his zest for life, and he inspires them with his commitment to physical fitness.

 

Rachel remains the thrill seeker in the family. In The Rocketfellers #4, she remembers the heartbreaks of her career. Roland takes a rare break from his basement lab to revive her spirits. While Rachel refuses to complain about her sacrifice, her actions on their sporting date suggest resentment over putting her dreams on hold.

 

Perhaps the most intriguing member of the family is little Rae. In The Rocketfellers #4, the Sparrows she rescued from a Christmas tree are no longer babies. Yet they return to her after their flights and are content to remain in a box. Rae has a reverence for nature. In Peter J Tomasi's story, the young girl demonstrates a deeper understanding of our world than her brother senses.

 

Art

Francis Manapul gives us a second look at Yuri and Nicholas. The stature-challenged brothers dress like decorated generals as they shake a seated man awake. Like Dennis Nedry in Jurrasic Park, the worker sits at a desk littered with empty cans, paper cups, and scattered snacks from a bag. He is shocked when his Napoleon-like bosses surround him in The Rocketfellers #4. Their words relax his facial muscles, and he smiles as they escort him from the control room. When the brothers activate a big screen, the other workers turn to watch the man meet with the demure Miss Kleb.

 

John Kalisz, Ian Herring, and Francis Manapul lavish bright colors and realistic flesh tones on Rachel as we glimpse her face through a page of numbers. Green holoscreens surround control room workers clad in green suits. The repulsors on their gravchairs glow yellow, linking them with the mission controller and the astronauts surrounded by purple. Then Rachel, clad in a green-and-yellow Jetsons-like minidress, stares at their yellow-and-brown TZPP suits hanging in the closet.

 

Rob Leigh portals black uppercase letters into white dialogue balloons in The Rocketfellers #4. The letters grow bold for inflection, enlarge for raised voices, and rarely shrink. Balloons grow spiky when characters undergo stress. Purple letters in lavender boxes denote time and space changes as Reggie's fiancée Olivia travels through time. A fact sheet on Rodney featuring lowercase letters closes this family saga. Thanks to Image Comics and Ghost Machine for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Raina demonstrates the company's ruthlessness when she travels through time to prevent the Time Zone Protection Program from building a case against Cronex. Raina seems heartless and cruel. Yet a repetitive injury suggests an intriguing link between Raina and Roland in The Rocketfellers #4.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To look inside and view more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2 Review

 

Writers: Dan Watters & Ram V

Artist: Matthew Roberts

Colorist: Dave Stewart

Letterer: DC Hopkins

Cover Artists: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart; Francis Manapul; Dani & Brad Simpson; Stephanie Pepper; Christian Ward

Publisher: Image

Price: $4.99

Release Date: May 29, 2024

 

Journalist Kate Marsden was on the trail of a hardened killer. Then she saw something she couldn’t comprehend. As Kate fled, she slipped while crossing a river. The current sucked her down. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't fight free. Has the Amazon claimed another victim? Let's strap on our masks and flippers, leap into Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2, and find out!

 

Story

The Marine Corps kicked out Darwin Collier for violent conduct. Police suspect him guilty of seven drownings. He tried to make Kate his eighth victim. Kate tracked his movements to Peru, where he purchased items from a local pharmacy. But then Collier left town, and Kate couldn’t find him.

 

Lately, boaters have pulled bodies from the river. Kate followed a local man who picked up the latest victim and transported it to the river. As Kate watched a boat carry it away, she heard a noise. She thought perhaps it was Collier. Instead, a strange creature met her gaze.

 

In Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2, Kate awakens in a house with an IV drip in her arm. These days, she fights the urge to sleep. Dreams follow, and they often return to the time Collier tried to drown her. The attempt left Kate feeling violated. She is strung out on amphetamines and can’t bear to let anyone touch her. She also suffers from Anoxic Brain Damage due to brain cell death from lack of oxygen.

 

But Kate isn’t frightened now. She remembers how Christiano found her by the river and that Christiano’s employer, Dr Edwin Thompson, took her in. She goes to Edwin’s laboratory, where she learns the drowning victim had black sand in his lungs. Edwin believes a mythical creature killed the drowning victim. Although Kate doesn’t want to admit it, she glimpsed the monster. But she's a journalist, grounded in accepted truth and facts. So, Kate asks Edwin to take her to the Black Lagoon. She must know she is not slowly losing grip on reality.

 

Kate Marsden claims she wants justice in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2. Like any victim, she struggles with anger from Collier's savage attack. But Kate isn't in the United States anymore. The law doesn't work the same way in Peru. Her chances of utilizing the Peruvian legal system or getting Collier extradited to the United States (assuming she could capture the former Marine) are low. Besides, she suffers from Anoxic Brain Damage. Why should anyone trust her judgment when she's unsure she can trust her memories and perceptions?

 

 

Art

Kate Marsden awakens on a cushioned rattan couch. Pulling the IV from her hand, she ignores the tropical potted plants and the jungle outside the wall of windows and heads down a hall toward Edwin's lab. Clad in surgical gear, Edwin speaks into a microphone connected to an 8 Track Tape Recorder. As smoke rises from a pipe near the table, he cuts into the body with a scalpel. Wrinkles navigate his face and neck like rivers on a map. Kate's straggly hair frames her confused expression as her wide eyes behold the dark granules on the bloody blade. Then the wind whips her hair as she sits near Christiano at the back of the boat while Edwin sits upfront, staring grimly at the jungle ahead.

 

Dave Stewart applies a loaded palette to Matthew Roberts’ realistic art in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2. Stewart paints Edwin’s lab in pale greens, blues, beiges, and grays, while Edwin’s surgical gear, lab surfaces, and a hanging screen reflect the more vibrant greens glimpsed through the tall windows. The white drowning victim looks lavender in closeups, while dark red shows within rents from whatever also tore off a portion of the man’s ear. The lavender reminds Kate of two amorphous circles shining in the darkness. The twin circles evoke jellyfish, floating wherever the currents take them. But Kate knows they're not.

 

DC Hopkins carves uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes. The font grows bold for intonation, swells for elevated voices, and rarely shrinks. Spotting the man who nearly killed her sends green words into a yellow balloon. Darker green words emerge from the Burnt Umber lips enclosing a mouth filled with sharpened teeth, while yellow words signal a hail of gunfire in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2.

 

Thanks to Universal Studios, Skybound, and Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Kate Marsden grapples with local legend, an obsessed scientist, drug traffickers, a serial killer, and the limits of her exhausted body and damaged mind in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Ghost Machine #1 Review

 

Creators: Jason Fabok, Gary Frank, Bryan Hitch, Geoff Johns, Lamont Magee, Francis Manapul, Brad Meltzer, Ivan Reis, Peter Snejbjerg, Peter J. Tomasi & Maytal Zchut

Inker: Danny Miki

Colorists: Brad Anderson & Bjarne Hansen

Letterer: Rob Leigh

Cover Artists: Gary Frank & Brad Anderson; Bryan Hitch & Brad Anderson; Francis Manapul; Jason Fabok & Brad Anderson; Peter Snejbjerg; Ivan Reis & Brad Anderson; Ivan Reis & Steve Blackwell

Publisher: Image

Price: $4.99

Release Date: January 24, 2024

 

A radioactive man traverses an apocalyptic wasteland. Wardens in an abandoned terraformed world wear helmets to control animals. Novelty store items wield unexpected power. A family travels back through the centuries to live among us amid a contest between Heaven and Hell. What do all these stories have in common? Let’s leap into Ghost Machine #1 and find out!

 

Stories

Geiger

Creators: Geoff Johns & Gary Frank; Colors by Brad Anderson

Geiger wanders post-apocalyptic America. He burns with radiation. Beside him trots a two-headed wolf. Many come to him for help. One, the nuclear knight, begs to assist him. But all that interests Geiger is another immortal named Redcoat.

 

Redcoat

Creators: Geoff Johns & Bryan Hitch; Colors by Brad Anderson

Redcoat was born in 1749. Colonists killed him in 1776. He awoke on the battlefield and has since fought in many wars. He’s met many historical figures, including Einstein and Annie Oakley. Every time Redcoat dies, his mind returns to a painful childhood memory. Then Redcoat awakens to fight another day.

 

In Ghost Machine #1, Geiger and Redcoat introduce several antiheroes who fight wars across time. As these stories interweave, so are the acts of these immortal warriors. A chart provides the timeline for each soldier's origin across a tapestry called The Unnamed, while biographies reveal insights into their histories and characters.

 

Rook: Exodus

Creators: Geoff Johns & Jason Fabok; Colors by Brad Anderson

Rook failed at farming. Now he’s a Warden. His helmet helps him command crows, ravens, and rooks. With Swine’s help, Rook searches for parts to repair a rocket and leave the planet. Swine isn’t sure he wants to leave Exodus with Rook. Dire Wolf argues they should build a new community among those who have not abandoned the terraformed world. Yet someone else hunts the three wardens long after the corporation that settled the planet fled. As with the Unnamed characters, short biographies provide insights into their histories and characters.

 

 

The Rocketfellers

Creators: Peter J. Tomasi & Francis Manapul

A 25^th-century family travels back to 2024. Neither his father, wife, or children are inclined to sacrifice their likes and interests. Still, Roland’s determined to forge them into a loving, supportive family. While doing this for personal reasons, Roland worries that Vertex will discover them.

 

In Ghost Machine #1, The Rocketfellers participate in the Time Zone Protection program. Perhaps the family protects our future. In any case, Roland must help them disregard traditions and perspectives that originate in their society and adapt to our less-advanced ways.

 

Hornsby & Halo

Creators: Peter J. Tomasi & Peter Snejbjerb; Colors by Bjarne Hansen

Zachary Halo and Rose Hornsby live in Warwick, New York. Zach is the child of angels who now lives with demons. Rose is a demon maturing among angels. While Rose's parents are loving, Zach struggles to please his adoptive mother and father. As the eleven-year-olds compete against each other, they reveal supernatural abilities.

 

In Ghost Machine #1, Heaven and Hell wonder whether nature or nurture will triumph. How the contest relates to peace between both realms is yet to become apparent. And how will mortals react when they notice Zachary and Rose’s superhuman abilities?

 

The Rocketfellers and Hornsby & Halo shelter under the Family Odysseys umbrella. Fact sheets provide the lowdown on each character. Even Rex--the Rocketfellers' family dog--gets a paragraph!

 

Hyde Street

Creators: Geoff Johns, Lamont Magee & Ivan Reis

Inks: Danny Miki

Colors: Brad Anderson

A boy blows a whistle to punish a rude man. A woman who has tried everything makes another attempt to lose weight. The items look like mass-produced gimmicks. How do these powerful objects influence the user, and what happens when wielded for evil purposes? Could using these artifacts hasten the apocalypse?

 

Ghost Machine #1 introduces all these stories arriving in comic shops in the upcoming months. Among this tempting array of appetizers, The Rocketfellers and Hornsby & Halo best resemble entrees. But all these appealing starters will tempt the palettes of readers hungering to discover a promising new storytelling universe.

 

Art

An elder sits on a rock, telling stories of Geiger, the Nuclear Knight, and Redcoat to children gathered around a campfire. They clutch cloaks or blankets over their antiradiation suits and gaze at each other through the visors of their helmets. Geiger doesn’t need a radiation suit. He strides through the wasteland, carrying two sticks across his back like ninja swords. He glows with green fire when angered.

 

American colonists surround Redcoat on a hill. Their rifles encircle his head. Redcoat smiles congenially, offering to change sides. Yet he awakens moments later amid the Revolutionary War as scavengers try to pinch his boots. A lifetime later, Redcoat awakens when people try to bury him. The Unnamed features appealing realism with vibrant colors.

 

Rook: Exodus catches Rook and Swine on the run. The Wardens charge through trees and fall off a cliff, pursued by a beast they cannot control. Water streams down their features and flies into their faces as they struggle through a stream. Grays and browns saturate this failed terraformed project. Yet Rook and Swine shine, thanks to nuanced coloring and detailed penciling.

 

Lavish penciling inscribes The Rocketfellers into our hearts in Ghost Machine #1. The limited color palettes shift by scene, while other panels offer full-spectrum coloring. Many images evoke paintings. Grandma appears via hologram. The art conveys rapid movement as the family leaves their clapboard home, boards their VW bus, and races to escape pursuit. A 25th-century blaster—stored in the dash—provides their only protection.

 

 

 

The soft tones of the limited palette imbue Hornsby & Halo with All Ages appeal. The art suits these young heroes as they compete against each other on the baseball diamond. While outshining their peers, they endure parents who view the world from a different paradigm.

 

Three sections comprise Hyde Street in Ghost Machine #1. Pages advertising novelty items evoke Bronze Age Comic advertisements for items children could purchase via mail. These give way to paintings of realistic art in which characters exude warmth and settings radiate vitality. Moments of action strike powerfully while danger menaces throughout.

 

Rob Leigh populates Ghost Machine #1 with a wide range of lettering. Sizes ranged from large to small, and styles from simple block font to italicized. Vibrant sound effects enliven every story, and Easter Eggs hint at linkages to others.

 

Thanks to Image Comics for providing a copy of this sixty-six-page issue for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Popular and promising creators introduce a lavish sampler of exciting stories in Ghost Machine #1. The oversized one-shot fires a salvo across the bows of local comic shops, warning readers to take heed and other storytelling universes to remain on High Alert.

 

Rating 10/10

 

For more covers see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.