Writer: Ryan Parrott
Art: Abel
Colors: Natália Marques
Letters: Becca Carey
Covers: Luana Vecchio; Paris Alleyne
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: 3.99
Release Date: March 8th, 2023
If you’re interested in this comic, series, related trades, or any of the others mentioned, then simply click on the title/link to snag a copy through Amazon as you read the Rogue Sun #11 Review.
The Dispatch
The first ten issues of ROGUE SUN tracked Dylan’s steadily improving performance as the titular hero and served as an effective metaphor for the growth of a teenager who will eventually become a young adult. Moving out from beneath his parents’ shadow, assuming greater responsibility, and suffering failure before improving to overcome it are among the developments Dylan has made as Rogue Sun. Now in ROGUE SUN #11, while trying to obtain the Quill in order to save his friends and family, Dylan tries to do the biggest thing a person can: surpass their parents’ achievements.
ROGUE SUN #11 picks up with Dylan still in the Aviary trying to convince the Ravyn Queen to give him the Quill. While this is going on, Byron is at the homecoming dance, Hellbent/Hunter is building a drug dealing network while waiting for Dylan to give him the Quill, and Hunter’s father is making a deal to get his son out of the supernatural life he’s become a part of. In the Aviary, Dylan is forced to fight the Aviary’s Doorman, the Ravyn Queen’s protector. No Rogue Sun has ever beat him, including Dylan’s father. But with help from Dylan’s ghostly mentor Caleb, Dylan might have a chance.
ROGUE SUN #11 feels like the end of a journey. Certainly it’s not the end of Dylan’s time as Rogue Sun. But this series began with Dylan’s father dying and the Sun Stone coming to him. That was followed by a proxy fight between his parents and their eventual banishment from his life. Now he has the opportunity to fully move beyond his parents, or at least his father. This dynamic adds extra stakes to the fight. It proves more compelling than if it was just an ordinary superhero fight.
Unfortunately Dylan’s continued success and willingness to meet his responsibilities only serves to shine a light on how his everyday life as a teenager is faltering. Dylan’s friend Byron is enjoying the homecoming dance that Dylan talked him into going to. Byron’s date criticizes Dylan, telling Byron he doesn’t have to put up with Dylan and be his only friend. Byron defends Dylan, but as sympathetic as Dylan is as Rogue Sun it’s difficult to take Byron seriously because of how unreliable and selfish he’s been. Perhaps Dylan can use the qualities he’s developing as Rogue Sun into qualities that can help him in his day-to-day life. It could make a compelling journey. In the meantime Parrott is doing a good job developing both sides of Dylan’s life in different ways, and it keeps the book interesting.
The Art
The horizontal layouts for the Aviary are used again in ROGUE SUN #11. In fact, they prove to be more effective because the issue cuts back and forth between the Aviary and the outside world so the layouts switch between horizontal and vertical. The back and forth reinforces Dylan’s presence in another world. Using a lot of vivid oranges and reds, Marques further adds to the distinction. The Aviary sequences feel amplified, and they stick in the memory when the story cuts back to the more subdued colors of the real world.
The fight between Rogue Sun and the Aviary Doorman is particularly high energy, and that owes mainly to how chaotic Abel draws it. He uses full page spreads broken up by two or three smaller panels. The panels mainly focus on closeup action of one of the two characters and are strategically placed on the page to not obscure the main action. Like Marques’s colors, Abel’s art totally separates the Aviary sequences from those in the outside world. And also like Marques’s colors, Abel’s art ensures the Aviary stays in the reader’s memory. The importance of the fight and its consequences overshadow the comparatively quieter storylines elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
I probably sound like a cheerleader for this series every month, but the book usually deserves it. Parrott’s tells a story on two levels that at times reinforce each other and at other times diverge. It proves consistently compelling. The series has also consistently developed Dylan as a character. At no point has he tread water. ROGUE SUN #11 sets the stage for a possible collision of the two sides of Dylan’s life. Parrott’s writing and the art team’s work makes this particularly effective.