Rocco Vargas: A Game of Gods

(Dark Horse, 2004)
™ and ©2003 Daniel Torres

Dark Horse has been good to fans, releasing yet another hardcover adventure of Daniel Torres’ singular hero, Rocco Vargas. Vargas is a nightclub owner, science–fiction writer, and part–time spy—a career combination not often seen.

Suave and dapper, this European-style hero would, sensibly enough, prefer to lounge poolside with his green houseboy Samson and beautiful girlfriend Dr. Jill Covalsky than “fight crime.” So Rocco doesn’t hurtle into the cannon’s mouth as much as gently insinuate himself into a plot that involves a gambling ring staging deadly matches between giant robots in urban areas and an anti-robot religious cult.

Rocco’s so laid back that he only decides to stop the bad guys when they kidnap his robot Cosmo to blackmail him into fighting in one of their matches. “Style” is the byword for both the characters and their adventures, which are set in a wonderfully realized retro-future that seems to come from equal portions of Hergé and classic American comic strips. It’s funny, sexy, and incredibly beautiful.

— S.A. Bennett

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