The 27 Run: Crush by Justin Zimmerman and Russell Brown (graphic novel review).

‘The 27 Run: Crush’ is the sequel to ‘The 27 Run’ and has the same writer, Justin Zimmerman. Russell Brown drew the first one rather well but shared the art chores on this one with Ethan Claunch. The basic premise is the same: Mecha versus Kaiju in a dystopian future Earth. It’s giant robots against giant monsters in Sci-Fi spectacle mode as seen in a cinema near you but on paper instead or advanced review copy pdf in my case.

‘The 27 Run’ featured a male Mecha pilot aided by a robot/AI sidekick fighting enormous monsters that had come from underneath the Earth. It ended (spoiler alert) with the pilot blasting an asteroid on a collision course for our planet, saving Earth from destruction.

However, the asteroid broke into pieces and they carried another deadly threat, a horde of smaller monsters with a hive mind. ‘The 27 Run: Crush’ features a female pilot, Beti, with a smart, talking canine sidekick, an elkhound. They set off to battle this new threat in big splash panels with vibrant colours. The old threat, the 27 kaiju from underground, hasn’t gone away, though. Nor has the old male pilot and his robot sidekick. What’s more, the pilots have a past.

In the tradition of Hollywood Sci-Fi spectaculars, the sequel is not as good as the first one. On the bright side, it has a few clever plot twists that keep you interested and reveals more about the background. However, for my taste, artist Ethan Claunch is not on a par with Russell Brown, though he’s not terrible. I enjoyed the banter between the male pilot and his robot in the first book and, while there is some with Beti and her dog, it’s not the same. Dialogue such as ‘We don’t have time for this’ is too corny now by any standards but I suppose calling each other ‘playas’ appeals to the young.

To be fair, it probably will appeal to the young and that’s the target audience, not me. ‘The 27 Run’ was pretty good. ‘The 27 Run: Crush’ is okay and worth a look if you liked book one but it may be a bit disappointing, playas.

Eamonn Murphy

May 2021

(pub: A Wave Blue World Inc., 2021. 136 page graphic novel hardback. Price: £22.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-94951-810-8)

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