What do you do after you’ve saved the world? For the robot D4VE, life hasn’t changed all that much one year after stopping an alien invasion of 34RTH. Sure, statues have been erected in his honor and he doesn’t get chewed out for showing up to work late, but he still sits around in traffic, still goes to a job he doesn’t love, and still deals with a wife and teenage son that don’t respect him. The surrounding context has changed, but being the planet’s savior isn’t going to stop D4VE from pouring his morning cup of hot oil on himself. That’s a good thing, because his story wouldn’t be anywhere near as fun if everything was perfect.
The first D4VE miniseries by writer Ryan Ferrier and artist Valentin Ramon (available now in a slick paperback collection) became a sleeper hit thanks to its exceptional blend of workplace comedy, domestic drama, and action-packed sci-fi spectacle, and the sequel, D4VE2, isn’t deviating too far from the winning formula. This preview of next week’s D4VE2 #1 sets up the lead hero’s new status quo with a wave of Ferrier’s irreverent dialogue and Ramon’s bold artwork, dropping the reader in a rich sci-fi environment that is grounded by the casual, occasionally crass scripting. The book strikes a light-hearted but exhilarating tone, and Ramon’s artwork accentuates all the imagination and humor in Ferrier’s writing with his intricate design work and expressive characterizations. The first D4VE introduced a concept with loads of future potential, so it’s great to see the creative team back together to further explore this world and ideally put their main character through the wringer.