DESTINATION KILL DELUXE EDITION

Solo debut from a veteran comics artist.

It’s 2125, and construction is complete on the Paradise Loop, a trans-Atlantic train that takes passengers from London’s Central City to New York City in 60 minutes. The head of Overcon is making final preparations for the gala celebrating this achievement, but London is filled with unemployed workers in no mood to party. Builders who thought they’d have good jobs for years constructing the Loop have been replaced by robots. Gina Serene is a burned-out detective taking a vacation on orders from the chief of Central City Police. She’s on her way to New York when there’s an explosion at the Loop station, and there’s no way she’s leaving London when her city is torn by violence. Working alongside her former partner, Lance Wingman, Gina races against time to defuse a looming catastrophe. This is not Palmer’s first time blending crime and science fiction—the series Time Before Time was set in 2140 and in a world on the edge of collapse—but this is the first time he’s both written and inked a book on his own. The artwork is hard-edged and dynamic, with images breaking out of panels and lots of sound effects. Palmer’s colors are a vibrant mix of brights and gray compositions that reflect the bleakness of the world created here. With the exception of Lance Wingman—a hard-drinking cop turned private eye—the characters are rather flat, though, and Palmer’s take on corporate greed and the dehumanizing effects of technology feels overly familiar. There are three more books starring Gina Serene, though. Maybe this series will get more compelling as Palmer continues.

Visually exciting but lacking in depth and originality.