Comic Book Review: Collision Course Volume 1-3 Omnibus by Marissa Luna and Melissa Mariko Kieselburg
College is a time for trying new things and discovering new passions. Frosh Abby sees a roller derby match and is hooked. Not just as a spectator, she wants to be one of those really cool competitors! So when the Star City Colliders announce tryouts, Abby is keen to go. The first obstacle: buying the gear from experienced but prickly sports store clerk Sylvia–who turns out to be one of Abby’s new teammates!
This small-press comic is from two graduates of the Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MCAD) who realized there was a niche open in the field of sports comics for good female and queer representation, and came up with a gay comic about roller derby. It’s true that sports comics and manga have long had homoerotic undertones and subtext, but very few have followed through on that.
And to be honest, this first collected volume doesn’t yet go all in on the romance part, and could pass for one of those other stories where the characters just become really good friends. Our obvious couple, Abby and Sylvia, go from intense dislike to at least viable teammates. Abby’s the rookie who loves the sport but doesn’t know the basics, while Sylvia’s the intense one that has a stick up her rear.
They and the other new recruits learn basic skills and moves while the senior members of the team worry and encourage. After a friendly match with the Dairyland Diamonds show how far the Colliders have to go as a team, our girls watch the Diamonds take on the Capitol City Black Hearts. The Black Hearts are a superior team, but kind of jerks.
This is made clearer when Abby runs into Void, one of the Black Hearts, in the washroom. Void reveals that the reason the Colliders are rebuilding is because their star player Velocity Raptor had to leave, and several experienced members joined the Black Hearts. As she has done so in a snide manner, Abby vows to show that her team is not washed up.
The art is expressive and it’s fairly easy to tell the characters apart. (An assortment of female body types helps.) With sports comics, it’s important to give a good sense of movement and that felt right here.
The first volume is deliberately thick on the sports story cliches, and I look forward to the relationship stuff opening up the possibilities. We also don’t see much if any characterization for most of the team, which leaves a lot of room for improvement. On diversity points–there’s one (probably) male recurring character, and the color art on the cover makes it clearer that there’s more ethnic diversity than it first appears from the main story.
There’s some mild roughhousing; it’s a series about roller derby, after all. That said, I think it’s suitable for junior high readers on up who are okay with there being some kissing scenes in later volumes.
Recommended for roller derby fans, sports fans looking for more lesbian representation, and people who want to support small press artists.
