Trevor Hogg reviews the second instalment of the four-part miniseries…
Cliff Secord on the run! Betty in the clutches of the ghastly Otto Rune! And what is Peevy’s connection to the missing scientist? All this and more… as the Rocketeer must prevent nothing less than the wrath of the Lord Himself!
Dahlia stumbles out of the desert unable to speak to an elderly couple living on the outskirts of Hollywood. Cliff Secord seeks refuge at the home of a friend as he avoids the two henchmen (one of whom resembles an Irish Wolverine) sent to reclaim the rocket backpack by the originator of the device. Betty purposely avoids answering the phone to talk to her beau only to have a girlfriend unwittingly tell him where she could be found. Peevy tells Secord about being visited by a couple of detectives and a wartime life debt to the missing scientist which may have something to do with evangelist Otto Rune. Betty carries on with her investigation into the disappearance of her reporter roommate Dahlia by pretending to be a newly hired secretary for Rune who has other ideas on how she could be more useful. The situation climaxes at a performance of the preacher where his destructive theatrics are thwarted by the Rocketeer but at the cost of losing his ability to fly.
Roger Langridge keeps the story rocketing along while J. Bone makes use of a simplistic and clean line approach which allows for effective and uncluttered imagery. The multiple storylines add a great deal to the fun though Dahlia appears only in the beginning and is not seen again. The mystery still remains as to when the narrator meets Cliff Secord to return his lost wallet and learns the entire story. It is nice to see Betty given more than pretty picture status by trying to discover what happened to her friend; however, that is not to say that fans will be disappointed as she gets an opportunity to showcase her natural assets. Interesting to see how Cliff copes with being grounded but then again it is hard to image that will be case for the entire third chapter of the series. Or at least undercover Betty better hope so, especially, if she happens to have a close encounter with one of those hinted B-movie monsters set to be unleashed by Otto Rune.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
