Mother Trucker #3: The Heat is a comic written and drawn by “The Animal” Bob Anger with colors by Tatto Caballero. Mother Trucker learns more about her past and we find out what happened before the Astrodome explosion. This is a futuristic science fiction wrestling comic centered around semi-truck driving with familial drama, ruthlessly aggressive violence, and many pro wrestling references mostly. The leading lady here is Mother Trucker, formerly Suzy Q. After being present at the explosion she was rehabilitated in a lab but she has severe amnesia. She is a good fighter and she doesn’t shy away from a challenge; her main goal is to obtain her former truck. Traveling with her is Brute, a former wrestler who is married to Big Momma. The main man here is Phil Injection, he is a younger wrestler who finds himself in constant fights with his family, military men, and other wrestlers. This story begins in the past from the perspective of Phil Injection as he goes through his day getting beaten up multiple times. He eventually runs into The Heater and they plot revenge on some of his assailants. In the present the plot picks from where the last issue left off with Mother Trucker battling Bone Smuggler on the back of the truck that she won by beating him. This takes place in a world where semi-trucks fly through space and have wrestling rings on top of the trailer. Wrestlers can battle each other for contracts and winners get to take the vehicle of the loser. There are numerous references to pro wrestlers, pro wrestling culture, and promotions. The violence here is very hard-hitting with brutal moves, bloodiness, and some gore. The pacing here is a bit on the slower side with a lightly gritty futuristic pro wrestling tone. There are both violently and dramatically intense moments. The dialogue is very wrestling-like with conversational back-and-forth as well as long-winded promo-style statements. There are at least a few word-heavy pages. This is a violently exciting sequel issue that fills in some gaps, fleshes out some characters, and hints at big conflict in the future. There are two bonus stories here: “Heart Break Juice” and “Catching Heat”. The first story is about Phil Injection while the second is about a couple of young wrestlers trying to make it big.
The art here is somewhat smoothly detailed in a modern style with a strong focus on the lighting. The coloring here is a mix of the classic sci-fi palette with cool, metallic tones and the very 1980’s pro wrestling palette with the flashiness and shine that entails. For scenery we have snowcapped mountain ranges and the vast reaches of space. Most the present day story takes place en route and on the frigid planet Titan whereas is in the past they are in downtown Houston and at the Astrodome. The backgrounds usually show the immediate surroundings but on rare occasions during action scenes they can be a cloudy gradient. The expression level here above-average as characters lean towards being very reactive or being unflinching and tough. Emotions we’ll see here are mostly aggressive from anger to rage and annoyance to sinister happiness. The faces are quite detailed down to the pearly whites so all the different looks come across strongly. The violence is delivered via wrestling moves for the most part from slams to strikes. There are hard and brutal attacks that will be familiar to wrestling fans but there is some gruesomeness that leads to blood and heavy gore. The action scenes tend to play out like a match with a high amount of panels to show the different moments and it all flows well. If you watched wrestling in the 80’s or 90’s none of the outfits here will surprise you; some are lewder than others though.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, if this is up your alley.
“Would I like this?”
If you like futuristic science fiction wrestling stories that star a tough woman with amnesia and that features family drama, semi-trucker culture, strong violence, and an outrageous amount of pro wrestling references then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, blood, gruesomeness, gore, nudity, sexual situations.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“You’d step on your granny’s fanny to stay gold.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/animalbobanger/mother-trucker-3-the-heat/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 39
Violent Pages: 23, for 59% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 2, for 5% of the comic
**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**
Violence Level – 5
“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”
“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”
“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”
“This was a tournament arc.”
“All my life I had to fight.”
Gore Level – 4
“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”
“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”
“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”
“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”
“This is a slaughterhouse.”
Death Level – 1
“And everybody lived happily ever after.”
“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”
“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”
“Yeah this was a tragedy.”
“Think Gettysburg.”
Porn Level – 4
“Everybody kept their clothes on.”
“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”
“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”
“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”
“Oh. This is porn.”
