Psycho Bonkers #2
Written by: Vince Hernandez
Art by: Adam Archer (pencils) & Frederico Blee (color)
(From ComiXology) Crack the speed barrier wide open in this thrilling new adventure that redefines what it means to go full throttle! Join Shine, a young but unyielding teenage girl, as she races to find the true story behind the tragedy that wrecked her family, and shattered the sport of Bonk Racing to its core. Along with her trusted technician, Gabbo, and her sentient Bonk Racer, Shiza, she will discover that learning the truth about her future is as dangerous as the tragic past she is trying to forget! Told in a series of five legs within the race of all races-the Super Bonk Rally, this five issue mini-series will span amazing landscapes and death-defying terrain, as these racers go Psycho Bonkers!
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If you were going to take the frantic pace and landscapes of Mario Kart, mix in droid mechanics and talking cars, and add the teen angst of (insert CW show title of choice here), you might come up with something that could possibly resemble Aspen Comic’s Psycho Bonkers. There might not be a lot of deeply layered plot twists, so if that’s your thing you might want to catch up on some Game of Thrones. What you will find here is Shine, a character with a backstory that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book in a series of flashbacks. What we find out about Shine is that she’s driven by past tragedy, and determined to be more than she’s supposed to be.
To that end, she’s thrown herself headlong into the famed Super Bonk Rally, the Indy 500 of this brightly colored world. She’s got a team of dedicated friends along for the ride in Gabbo, her droid mechanic, and Shiza her sentient car. Together, the three an irresistible force that will only stop for each other.
Okay, on the surface, this book could be written off as silly fluff. First off, I’d like to know what you’ve got against silly fluff? Silly fluff is the stuff of legend. Without silly fluff, we wouldn’t have great characters like Rocket Raccoon, television shows like Baywatch (sure, not a great example), or the purely mindless entertainment of the WWE. Sometimes we need to indulge in something fun just for the sake of it, as an end of its own. I’m not saying that Psycho Bonkers is “mindless”… it really isn’t… but if one was of a mind to, it would be easy to just sit back with the comic and enjoy, without a lot of worry for the deeper meaning.
Anyone determined to find the story within the story could be surprised to find the aforementioned layers here. Shine isn’t a two dimensional character out to drive fast and make a name for herself. She’s living in the shadow of her dead father, a legendary Bonk Racer, and still coming to grips with her loss. The flashbacks that tell Shine’s story give glimpses into a life that could very well resonate with anyone who’s been fostered, adopted, or lost a loved one abruptly. Recently orphaned, Shine is taken away from her life and everything familiar, her only friend (the droid Gabba), placed in a home she doesn’t know, and placed into a room full of strangers without so much as a “Meet the new kid”. After her multiple losses, it’s no wonder that she takes to an attitude of recklessness, believing that she’s got nothing left to lose.
Whether you’re looking for some easy reading, or determined to dig into the “meat and potatoes” of a story, Psycho Bonkers might have what you need… Give it a look, take a chance. Columbus did, and look what he found.
