Junkyard Joe #6: I’ll Be Back

Junkyard Joe #6 concludes the second chapter of the greater narrative from the same creative team that started in Geiger. The series has had its ups and downs so far, and unfortunately, this issue almost faded into obscurity due to a long delay. This is par for the course for anyone familiar with the more recent offerings of Johns and the company in DC. Due to this delay, Junkyard Joe #6 happens to be coming out in the same week as Johns’ Stargirl: The Lost Children conclusion. And finally, as if this all wasn’t coincidence enough, this issue (and the entire series) suffers from the same problems as Stargirl. If you are reading these series simultaneously, it’s almost shocking how many comparisons come up, and equally as shocking as how Johns got away with recycling some of the same plot points.  

This issue picks up with the villainous Custodian closing in on Joe and ties up all of the dangling plot threads that have come and gone through the series. This ultimately becomes a mess since this is all jammed into this final issue. Junkyard Joe feels a lot like a Marvel Disney Plus series, where there are only a handful of available chapters. Still, for some reason, two or three of those chapters are wasted on meandering plot points that conclude and wrap things up in a rushed and unfulfilling manner. This, combined with the delay between issues, makes this conclusion feel distant and uneventful. That being said, much like Geiger, this series is likely to read better in trade, where the more meandering plot points may feel like worldbuilding instead of a waste of page real estate.

The final reveal at the end of this issue is that Joe will eventually be taken from time to fight in the “Unknown War.” This will likely be the culmination of all of the different series that will be featured in this universe. Throughout this series, and confirmed in this final issue, Joe is revealed to be a broken design, not the capable and controllable killing machine he intended to be. The odd thing about this is, context-wise, Joe doesn’t seem like he is going to be of any use in a war. His moments of action seem to be more based on his PTSD or a glitch in his programming than anything else. It will be interesting to see how he is incorporated later on.

As always, Gary Frank and Brad Anderson knock it out of the park with the art. Frank’s pencils bring all the characters to life in a hyper-real way that helps immerse you into the story. Anderson then fills these characters and this world with more nuance to bring everything to life. This grounds the story in reality so that the science fiction events don’t feel as distant and unapproachable. You will be very impressed if you read this series for the art alone.