Petrol has found fellow racer Hybrid to help him, but can he get Lupa and her mysterious package to safety? Find out in Petrol Head #4 by Image Comics!
PETROL HEAD#4
Writer: Rob Williams
Artist: Pye Parr
Colorist: Pye Parr
Letterer: Pye Parr
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 14th, 2024
Previously in Petrol Head: Lupa and her father are trying to sneak a package that may determine the fate of the City. They run into Petrol Head, who reluctantly decides to help them. After dropping Lupa’s father off to a medic, they go to Hybrid to look for some wheels when Hybrid’s arch-nemesis, SuperCarStar, who has been reprogrammed, tracks them down.
Petrol Head #4 starts with some backstory from the O, where they were a robot participating in an experiment on convicts. He ended up killing the convict at their request to give them “happiness.” Meanwhile, Petrol Head tries to hype up Hybrid for this race, even though SuperCarStar is a superior racer. Ultimately, Hybrid agrees, and they race off into the distance. Petrol Head then takes a slow bus and heads out of the City. Lupa reveals what is in the bag: nanobots that could clean the air. They have to get to the center of the central City to release it.
Sid breaks into the city computer to try to find a way to the City, and they find a service elevator that isn’t guarded. They send Dave up to scout, and Dave is destroyed by the small army of robots and police.
We spent much of the last issue foreshadowing this race between Hybrid and SuperCarStar just for it to happen off-panel. Petrol Head #4 had the option to have a really cool race scene, a significant theme of the comic, but instead opted to push a more generic plot point of nanobots that can clean air. This isn’t the wrong decision, but I was disappointed that I didn’t see the race. Hopefully, in the next issue, we will get a couple of pages of the action to help round that out. Plot-wise, we pushed forward a lot of rising action details but didn’t have much characterization of our main characters. While Lupa has proven to be resourceful, we didn’t see her grow in any way. If anything, some of the minor robots have more incredible moments than our main characters.
Despite that, the art of this book is fascinating. I love how the colors depict the situation, and Petrol Head has a great character design. On top of that, the vehicles really stood out this time, and Hybrid’s car looks fantastic. Good work here.
Petrol Head #4 suffers from a middle issue syndrome. We have a great start, and I’m sure we will have a good finish, but Act II feels a little bit wishy-washy for me. With that, this comic is a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars, and in the context of a trade, this issue would be significant.
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Petrol Head #4
Petrol Head #4 suffered from middle-issue syndrome and didn’t make the most engaging plot choices for my taste.
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Writing5
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Art7
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Coloring9
Christopher Rondeau is a storyteller based in Tulsa, OK. Finding himself with little work, he ended up creating a job as a Game Master full time on the internet. Chris spends most of his days reading everything he can, writing bad fiction, and watching old Digimon cartoons with his daughter. Sometimes you can find him Dungeon Mastering a podcast or streaming on twitch. Recently, he has completed his Master's degree with a focus on collaborative storytelling. Find out more at https://rondeaucreator.com