Kit prepares to head back to the family business of Kaiju fighting. After a training session with her father ends with her storming out, is she prepared to face her first foe? Find out in We Ride Titans #2 from Vault Comics!
WE RIDE TITANS #2
Writer: Tres Dean
Artist: Sebastián Píriz
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: Jim Campbell and Matt Krotzer
Editor: Adrian F. Wassel
Publisher: Vault Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 23, 2022
Previously in We Ride Titans: In a world where Kaiju attacks are a thing, the Hobbs family protects the city of New Hyperion. Dej Hobbs is not doing well with this, and in a recent battle, he destroyed a building while he was intoxicated. Kit Hobbs had left her family to live her own life, but gets drawn back in. Her family needs someone to ride their Titan. Her father is no longer able to due to injuries. But going back to her family means being caught back up in the family dynamics.
A PRICKLY KIT COMES HOME
As We Ride Titans #2 opens, Kit Hobbs walks into the bar where her brother Dej is. It is not an easy meeting. They both have issues with their father. Dej feels like he is being swapped out for Kit. Kit, who had her own life, doesn’t even want to do this job, but she is concerned for her brother. He doesn’t seem to believe her and reminds her that they haven’t talked in a year. Kit calls him on this; she has repeatedly called him, but he never picks up or calls back. Eventually, he admits to not wanting to intrude on her life since she finally found one.
But Kit has to do some training with their Titan, the Nexus. Dej has some concerns about her interactions with their father, Dwayne. Indeed, the next morning Dwayne goes to wake Kit up early, but she is already awake and working out. He gives her the lecture about fear and being the wall. He sees this as a family tradition. Kit rolls her eyes. Dwayne runs her through a simulation. He criticizes her strategy, even though it works and when she talks back, he throws another kaiju at her, claiming that this is normal training. Instead, she ends the simulation and walks out.
She confronts him, accusing him of using training as an excuse to put her in her place. He claims that training is tough because her work is a life-and-death matter. It turns out that he also had to take command of the Nexus prematurely when a sibling no longer could.
After training, Dej comes home. Kit asks him out for a drink, but even as he accepts the alarm goes off and she has to suit up and go. She gets into the Titan and heads out, trying to get information about what it is. But it isn’t a Kaiju; it’s another Titan, one with no rider inside of it. Kit heads out and is ordered to wait. She gets impatient and uses her loudspeaker to talk to it directly.
HINTS OF A PROBLEMATIC PAST
There is a deft touch to the human elements in We Ride Titans #2. We have seen that there are issues within the Hobbs family, but seeing Kit and Dej, we get the sense that so far, we have barely scratched the surface. Rather than seeming exciting, piloting the Titan seems to be a tough responsibility and one that leaves scars. Their first conversation is full of hostility and sarcasm, and we can see the traces of anger in both their faces. But it is also apparent that they care for each other and even want to look out for one another. And it is interesting that Kit is the one who can stand up to their father.
I liked the Kaiju simulation, which to us looks like a regular battle. As in Pacific Rim, the Titan is operated by the Rider inside who is hooked up to dynamic controls, so their own movements are translated to what the Titan does. Inside the Titan, we get a sense of its scale. Outside, we see the weirdness of the Kaiju. As she succeeds in figuring out how to get free of the first one, we see the second looming up behind her. We’re so engrossed in the fight and Kit’s prickly reaction that when she simply unhooks and walks out, it is jarring, as though it felt real to us.
BOTTOM LINE: FAMILY AND RESPONSIBILITY
We Ride Titans #2 solidifies our investment in the characters and then hits us with a plot twist. I love a Kaiju fight as much as the next person, but I enjoy it even more when there is something else strange happening. This story intrigues me and I am here for it.
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We Ride Titans #2
Kit agrees to pilot the family Titan, but it is going to be on her own terms.
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By day, she’s a mild-mannered bureaucrat and Ms. Know-It-All. By night, she’s a dance teacher and RPG player (although admittedly not on the same nights). On the weekends, she may be found judging Magic, playing Guild Wars 2 (badly), or following other creative pursuits. Holy Lack of Copious Free Time, Batman! While she’s always wished she had teleportation as her superpower, she suspects that super-speed would be much more practical because then she’d have time to finish up those steampunk costumes she’s also working on.