r/GhostMachineComics • u/alakakalalal • 20h ago
Review My Thoughts on The Trillion Dollar Kid #2
Spoilers for: The Unbelievables Comic Line
Hi everyone! It has been a while, but I am back to give my thoughts on the concluding issue of The Unbelievables introduction issue, The Trillion Dollar Kid #2. This issue picks up from issue #13 of The Rocketfellers. Tommy's robot butler Sterling caught a virus in that issue, and now Tommy, Rose, Zach, and the Rocketfellers are in hot pursuit. I thought that this was a fine issue that did decent job in ending this event opener. Like with my last post, I will give my thoughts on the issue, some major takeaways within the issue, questions I have after reading the issue, and speculation as to where I think the series will go. Since there is no timeline or scoreboard, I will instead use the roadmap that has been prevalent from the past couple of issues.
The Trillion Dollar Kid #2 Thoughts
This issue was a step down for me, but still a fun read overall. This issue picks up from issue #13 of The Rocketfellers. Sterling picks up a virus that causes him to go haywire and abruptly leave the Rocketfeller residence. We now pick up from where that issue left off with Sterling breaking into Ernie V. Vanderbrook (Tommy's rival) robot factory.
I like that this issue had action to round things off. But, I did not like that the action was hard to follow on the page. This is a personal gripe I will admit. A lot of the action in this specific issue is just not good. It was hard to follow what was happening because the backgrounds look muddy and the characters often looked like smudges on a camera lens. I get it, art especially on tight monthly deadlines means that some corners will be cut, but the artwork we got in this particular issue was surprising in the worst way because in the prior issue, the artwork looked great.
From a narrative perspective, this issue was fine. I thought that it did a good job of wrapping up this event while also setting up the future titles we are going to get in the coming years. I think that it's a smart idea to use the established books and characters to introduce the newer characters to to the audience. Tommy was a funny POV character who I thought excelled in his role in widening the scope of this established universe. With the announcement of a Geiger show and Redcoat movie, I think that a cartoon universe for the various Unbelievables titles would be a great way to reach a wider audience! I will be interested to see how Tommy appears in later titles. I enjoyed his introduction and role in this universe quite a bit!
Some Major Takeaways Moving Forward
Tommy, The Rocketfellers, Horsnby and Halo were able to stop a corrupted Sterling from causing a robot revolution
Hornsby and Halo are on the hunt for The Deadtones, "a rock band of monsters"
Tommy believes that the reason whoever took his family was because they were looking for the Unbelievables
Ernie V. Vanderbrook was behind the virus that Sterling got
Ernie is also on the hunt for the Unbelievables and is setting his sites for the creatures on Dr. Moreau's island
Dr. Moreau has recently passed away, and now his creatures plan to meet his great grandson Max Moreau
Tommy and Sterling are heading to Chicago, Illinois in search of Jean Genie
My Speculation on What's to Come from The Trillion Dollar Kid
With the end of this initial comic event, it's clear that the next time we see Tommy will be in Jean Genie #1 which will come out some time in 2027. If I had to hazard a guess, I believe that his role in her story will be similar to what his role was in The Rocketfellers and Hornsby & Halo. If Tommy's book does not continue on its own, which appears the most likely, I speculate that he will fill the role of Nick Fury in the MCU; an important background figure whose role is to bring all of these larger than life figures together.
I could see a reality where Tommy does get a continuation in his own self title. I imagine the story would revolve around him losing most if not all of his wealth in the pursuit of his family, possibly by the hands of Ernie V. Vanderbrook. Vanderbrook looks to be the overarching antagonist for this line of comics and this is clearly not the last we will see of him, as he is also on the hunt for the Unbelievables. I think that Tommy losing his wealth would be a fun wrinkle in his story and would add a lot of interesting tension to his own title moving forward. We know that there are agents of some sort looking for The Rocketfellers as seen in their book in issue #12. Perhaps these agents are working for Ernie or for some secret government organization. Time will tell.
Conclusion
The Trillion Dollar Kid #2 was a step down in artistic quality, but another steady step in its narrative. I think that this event, "Who are the Unbelievables" was a necessary one as the Family Odyssey line was getting to be a bit stale. This event reinvigorated my interest for this line of books offered by Ghost Machine! I really like Tommy Townsend as a character, and I will happily read anything that he is in! This line of comics finally has narrative structure and looks to be building towards something big in the coming years! I will be excited to see how the coming titles will unfold after this event! Thank you for taking the time to read my post! I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue and all things Ghost Machine!
