Advance Review: ‘Rogue Sun’ #15 Amps Up The Family Drama

Rogue Sun has always been a series about family. Yes, it has superpowered beings smacking each other around for control of the Sun Stone or New Orleans or some otherworldly dimension, but at its heart, this book has been about the ties that bind.

Over the past 14 issues, we’ve seen feuds between fathers and sons, mothers and daughters and even between siblings. In the latest issue, grandpa enters the picture (from beyond the grave, no less) and boy is he a treat.

Dylan, the current version of Rogue Sun, has become trapped inside the powerful Sun Stone by a previous incarnation of the hero. Many of the past versions of Rogue Sun live on there after their earthly bodies have gone to dust. So Dylan not only reunited with his stiff dad, whom we’ve seen several times, but also with his granddad Owen.

Thankfully Owen is nothing like Dylan’s father. He’s good-natured and really funny. “Come on, you’re dead,” Owen tells his son. “Good a time as any to grow a pair.” Finally, a character who talks like a real human!

That helps to elevate the script from writer Ryan Parrott. Until now, the family drama – and therefore most of the series – has been taken very seriously. There hasn’t been a black sheep of the family who can lighten things up. Owen is a welcome addition to the series.

Artists Able and Marco Renna again split illustration work, with Able drawing life outside the Sun Stone and Renna giving us a view inside. It would be more interesting if their styles weren’t so similar. As it is, it’s fairly easy to forget that there are two artists on this issue. It doesn’t help that Natalia Marques doesn’t seem to differentiate her color palate between the two locations.

This story arc with Dylan trapped in the Sun Stone will continue for the next several issues. However he gets out, he needs to find a way to bring Owen back with him. It has the potential to breath fresh life into the entire series.

Rogue Sun #15 will be available for purchase tomorrow.