Our focus is on Jamie Baldwin, who has a chance encounter with the armored hero Captain Zoom and his young partner Rocket Girl- er Rocket Queen! Jamie quickly deduces that the two are father and daughter but doesn't understand why they make saving him from a super-villain attack at his school such a priority. What Jamie doesn't know is that his long-absent father is the head of the Zoom Family's support staff - a duty he takes very seriously, despite it keeping him away from his own family.
The script by Justin Peniston does a good job of establishing the cast and the personalities of our two leads. Its' clear from the title and the book's cover that Jamie has a destiny and will shortly be following in his father's footsteps. We don't see any of that in this issue, though the cliffhanger does have Jamie making a discovery that probably won't surprise young readers as Peniston does a fine job of leaving enough clues for kids to connect the dots on their own.
Artist Ramanda Kamarga has a clear, Mangaesque style which suits the story well. Between the simple character designs that clearly convey their emotions and the stylized armor of the superheroes, there's a lot here that young Manga fans will enjoy. Kamarga is also a wonderful visual storyteller. Consider the above sequence, which establishes how Jamie's life changed in two years without a single bit of dialogue.
Rocket Queen and The Wrench #1 is one of the most refreshingly honest kids comics I've read in a while. It's a superhero comic, yes, but it's also an incredibly grounded story that a lot of kids will be able to relate to. It's rated 9+ on Comixology and I'd consider that a fair ranking in terms of content and complexity, with just enough real-life issues like kids coping with their parents' divorce and the loss of a parent to violence to elevate this just above being an All Ages book.
