SPOILER-FREE ADVANCED REVIEW: ARCADE KINGS #1

ARCADE KINGS #1 is a book that has no shame. It is fun, bright, and over the top with its tropes, wearing them all on its sleeve with a heart bouncing to the beat of its own ingenuity. Dylan Burnett has managed to catch such specific lightning in a bottle that, disregarding one’s own tastes, it’s hard to find holes in this debut issue.

Joe is a mystery man, being hunted as he drifts from place to place in search of someone very near and dear to him. He carries a painful past on his shoulder, exercising his demons through the exhilaration world of arcade battling.

This book is rich with shonen manga influence. The story is focused on a mundane, very reality ridden concept, and blows it up with over top the action and sci-fi ideas injected directly into the concept’s core. Burnett is taking combat sports and injecting it with his love of fighting games, marrying both the physical and arcade combat rings together.

However, one’s own mileage with that may vary. The book is very surreal and colorful, taking its outlandish setting of Infinity City seriously. This does wonders for the book’s integrity and tone. It’s modern combination of retro-futurism and Japanese cartooning styles really brings about a story environment that feels warm and exciting. Even though Joe’s battles are so over the top and very reminiscent of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s work on Scott Pilgrim, they’re are wholly believable because the world Burnett has constructed around his concept is flawless. His artistic styling really fits the story at hand here, and utilizes some really creative framing and panel work to deliver a sugary visual experience with colors that explode right off the page.

The only drawback to this debut issue is just how much of its enjoyable features lie solely on the surface. It’s made up of tropes and ideas done a million times elsewhere, but is very creative with its delivery, pacing, and presentation that it is easy to excuse its lack of narrative depth. The same goes for the characters on display here. They are very enjoyable and interesting, with excellent designs that make it easy to learn everything about them without any need for dialogue or backstory. However, very little is being done with them as characters at the moment, relying on age old tropes instead of genuine character work to tell their stories.