Junk Force

    (ComicsOne, 2003-2004)
™ and © 2004 ComicsOne

2134 A.D. Earth is a war-ruined wasteland. The government on Mars tries to ecologically purify the planet with “Z.T.P.” technology, but the machines attack the few humans left as well as the rubble. Liza, Wooty, Louis, and Mill are a tomboyish team that salvage old military vehicles to stay alive, constantly on the run from one ruined city to another in a beat-up fighter tank. Can they outfight, or just stay ahead of, the humongous automated Scavengers and other Z.T.P. machines that disintegrate “junk” (including people) into their atomic components?

Despite the grim scenario, Junk Force is also a raunchy teen comedy. The four 13- to 16-year-olds are light-hearted when not in action. They have grown up without “civilizing influences”; they swear like foul-mouthed soldiers. Buxom Wooty teases Louis by flashing her boobs at him, but the kids are not quite old enough to have “discovered sex” yet.

Ken’s detailed, heavily gray-scaled art sharply contrasts the kids, still plump with baby-fat, and the hard-edged deadly machines.

— Fred Patten
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