Review: ‘Petrol Head’ #3 — Get Revved Up For The Best Fun You’ll Have In 32 Pages This Month

Time again to strap in and put the pedal to the metal, because it’s time to get very fast and rather furious in Rob Williams and Pye Parr’s fuel-injected thriller of a series, Petrol Head.

Petrol Head reminds me of the sort of games I’d play when I was a kid and the sorts of wild races I’d have when playing inside on a rainy Sunday with my toy cars – Matchbox when I was a kid, it might have been Hot Wheels for you. Well, it turns out that Williams and Parr played exactly those same games. Or at least I’m assuming they did, because this is absolutely the sort of thing someone who made fabulous races and incredible thrill rides from a few metal toy cars would have come up with if they were let loose with a comic – just with added sci-fi fabulousness and artwork that’s so much better than anything that ever popped into my head when I was a kid.

Yep, Petrol Head is just that much fun. It’s Hot Wheels meets Transformers meets Wacky Races meets whatever else you want to throw in there and it’s better than all of them.

After reading the first couple of issues of Petrol Head I was, to say the least, damn impressed, saying this about it…

“Fast is not the word, this is just a breathless rush of a story, packed with character and plot yet rarely taking the foot off the accelerator. And if Williams’ story is superb, it’s made all the better with the kinetic, dynamic artwork from artist & designer Parr, making ‘Petrol Head’ a must buy right now.”

Well, all that still applies for the third issue. This really is so much fun, moving so, so fast, and absolutely the best time I reckon you’ll have from 32 pages of comics this month.

In those first couple of issues, we saw the world of the Petrol Heads, the petrol-guzzling robo-racers created to entertain the last of humanity in this climate-ravaged future world and distract them from their nightmarish lives lived out beneath the six domes that keep the toxic wastes out.

But that was a while back. The distraction of the Petrol Heads lasted long enough, but just couldn’t last. So now the last of them are living their rusting lives in the designated smogzones and looked down upon by the people who used to adore them.

That’s where we came into this one, meeting the Petrol Head who never got as far as getting a nickname, the made-from-leftovers, cigar-chomping old robo who came to be known simply as Petrol Head. He’s living a quiet life, just him and his robo-bird called Dave, building a not-exactly-legal hot rod in his garage.

And then it all goes to crap for him – as Lupa and her scientist dad, Linton, pitch up, desperate for help. Linton’s possibly come up with a way to roll back this world’s climate crisis and save humanity. Except it’s not that simple – well, it’s never that simple, is it?

Because Williams and Parr have come up with a perfect bad guy for this world that they’ve populated with so many great characters. And that bad guy is the administrator of the domes, humanity’s protector, The O. And, it turns out, he’ll do anything to keep humanity safe – even if that means keeping them safe from the risk of being saved…

Is it just me who wants to scream, “Boo! hiss! boo!” everytime I read one of The O’s scenes? Nope, reckon not, as Williams and Parr have created one of those classic bad guys here, all over-the-top imagery and dialogue worthy of the finest pulp baddies!

Anyway, with Petrol Head #3 we have things motoring along (what else would you expect?), starting with another great flashback sequence where we see the competition between the arrogant Petrol Head known as Hybrid and the new superstar of the track, Supercar Star… something you just know is going to be coming back to bite our motley gang of heroes on the ass by the end of this issue.

We end up with Petrol Head’s ride, his beloved Chief, ending up in the drink at the end of an absolutely thrilling chase by The O’s robo-cops. Lupa’s dad passes the important stuff over in rucksack to Lupa, and then it’s off to find themselves a new ride – luckily, Petrol Head knows a guy.

Again, take one guess who the guy’s going to be.

Yep… you know it.

No, it’s not a surprise that it’s arrogant Petrol Head Hybrid who our Petrol Head has to go asking for help. Nor is it any surprise who The O (boo! hiss! boo!) gets out of the old Petrol Head storage to go after the lot of them either.

But that’s not the point of this one. The joy of Petrol Head isn’t that it’s some massively complicated thing packed with sub-plot inside sub-plot wrapped in another plot. Nope, the joy of Petrol Head, and it really is a damn joy, is seeing the simple stuff, the A to B to C, just doing what it does so damn well, giving us something very special and an absolute joy of a read.

Yep, Petrol Head is a special kind of joyous thing. Utterly of itself, offering you sheer excitement in a perfect comic that’s got a writer racing away with himself to create a plot that leaves you breathless, yet still has the skills to fit great characterisation and a nice touch of comedy in there whilst we’re all racing along, and Parr’s art just taking all the images of supercars and super robots you coould ever imagine, whether it’s as a kid or a grown-up, and making them so much better than you could ever imagine.

Highly, highly recommended.

Petrol Head #3 is out now from Image Comics.