A Crush-Worthy Graphic Novel – Motor Crush (Review)

I am a big time fan of this creative team, having read Batgirl start to finish (and not continuing after they left…It is NOT the same). This team is known for stretching the boundaries within the traditional comic world, something those of us who are not male or not white (or, heaven forbid, both – yay for a WOC lead who likes girls!) desperately yearn for. 

Motor Crush is set in a sci-fi futuristic world where technology is a regular part of your life…and by regular I mean in your face. Little video balls follow the racers around, capturing their lives off the track. Kind of creepy-annoying – a feeling our main character makes well known.

Speaking of main character, Domino is on her way to being the world’s greatest. She is kicking ass and taking names – and will constantly have you on the edge of your seat. She has a bit of a chip on her shoulder, which is easily eroded as you see her interact with the people she cares for. She also has a couple of bad habits that keep readers on the edge of their seat. See, there’s Crush, the highly valued (but mysterious) substance that helps boost riders past the finish line. Domino is on a mission to collect it…For more than what’s on the surface. This book can be dark and twisty, which is portrayed through Babs Tarr’s choice of colors. 

This race to find Crush becomes a central plot point, where fast cars, cute girls (helllooo Lola), and Domino’s recently uncovered past play a role. We are left with a huge cliffhanger at the end of issue 5 – and a long wait till issue 6! 

By day, Domino Swift competes for fame & fortune in a worldwide motorcycle racing league. By night, she cracks heads of rival gangs in brutal bike wars to gain possession of a rare, valuable contraband: an engine-boosting “machine narcotic” known as Crush.