Super Kaiju Rock-n-Roller Derby Fun Time Go!: Sequoia Sweet is a comic written by David Hedgecock with art by Rolando Mallada. The Burnouts get their big break during a battle between two kaiju. This is a supernatural music comic with drama, strangeness, a bit of mystery that has a cast of mainly women. The leading lady here is Harmony, she is the drummer of The Burnouts and has been going through hard times recently from not being able to pay her rent to breaking one of her drums. The other members of the band are: lead singer Lyra on rhythm guitar, backup singer Melody on the bass guitar, and Cadence on lead guitar. All of these women are on a roller derby team with a woman named Viola, and a man named Mow Wow acts as the manager for both the team and the band. This story begins where the last one left off with the kaiju appearing near where The Burnouts are getting ready to perform. What happens next is these ladies play their song “Bombshells” as two kaiju(another one surprisingly appeared) battle it out in the background. The violence is destructive with some blood but no gore. The pacing here is steady overall with a tone that goes from Godzilla-like to fantasy. There are a decent number of violently and dramatically intense moments. The dialogue here is mainly conversational with good back-and-forth and decent bit of singing. There aren’t any word-heavy pages. This is an intriguing issue that gives us kaiju combat, rock music and that takes us on a deeper dive into Harmony’s life. There is a bonus story that shows Wyatt Earp going up against Billy Claiborne.
The art here is drawn in a detailed, slightly cartoonish, and significantly stylized way with decent lighting and shading. The color palette is wide and leans towards darker tones with a bit of grime and at one point shifts to softer and lightly-faded coloring. For scenery we have tree-filled, hilly landscapes along with some rocky islands in the middle of a body of water. There is also a thick, winding, twisted forest that looks like something out of a fairy tale. The main location is the pier and amphitheater where The Burnouts are playing and the kaiju are fighting. The backgrounds usually show the surroundings but on occasion it’ll be a fuzzyish/stained gradient color. The expression level here is above-average as these ladies change looks at a relatively high rate. Emotions on display here include seriousness, anger, happiness, fear, joy, annoyance, and anger. The faces have an overall good amount of detail and can get a bit animated which helps most of the different expressions come across clearly. The violence is delivered mostly physically with punches, slams, and general destruction. There are some brutal attacks and some blood but no gore. The action scenes come in shorter bursts except the kaiju battle which spans a number of pages and has a staggered flow. All the women here have large breasts and sometimes wear significantly revealing clothing.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, if this is up your alley.
“Would I like this?”
If you like supernatural music stories that star a group of women who are in both a band and on a roller derby team together and that features drama, violence, and strange mysteriousness then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
PG-13. Violence, blood.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Yeah, well, third time’s the charm, I guess.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1346975852/super-kaiju-rock-n-roller-derby-fun-time-go-sequoia-sweet/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
*
*
*
*
*
Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 37
Violent Pages: 12, for 32% 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 – 3
“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 – 3
“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 – 2
“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 – 1
“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.”
