Comic Book Review - Sentinel Issue #16: The Story of Johnny Rocket

Alan Holloway and Ed Doyle are back with a glam rock opera-inspired tale of a boy with big dreams…

The Story of Johnny Rocket is in part a collaboration with the rock band Cats in Space. Taking inspiration from the song ‘Johnny Rocket’ from the band's ‘Day Trip to Narnia’ album, this comic adaptation is about a young boy whose life takes a very unexpected turn. 

Taking place in 1960s America, Johnny Roquet is a young boy with big dreams of heading into space. Teased by his classmates, and supported by his parents, Johnny lives for the day he’s accepted into Space Fleet Academy. When the day finally arrives John ships out for his training and soon graduates with flying colours. Not long after his graduation, John is accepted on to man’s first foray to the Moon. But in true comic book fashion, it’s not quite that simple.

As a young boy who once dreamed of space, both The Story of Johnny Rocket and the character resonated a lot with me. While poor grades and life would get in my way, it didn’t for Johnny. Across 70 pages we follow Johnny’s astronaut career, with a little bit of his Earth life thrown in. In true comic book fashion, it’s not all plain sailing as Johnny has to battle a few issues along the way. I won’t spoil exactly what these are, but the narrative taps into our own Moon landings and certain conspiracies behind them. 

Much like other Sentinel stories, Alan Holloway packs a heck of a lot of storytelling in just 70 pages. While the mini digest works for most, there has been the odd issue where it doesn’t. Thankfully The Story of Johnny Rocket is the former. In keeping up with John’s life Holloway uses a few jumps in time, however they all feel a natural progression to the story being told. Nothing feels forced here and the whole story comes to a natural conclusion. The Story of Johnny Rocket is simply a feel-good comic about one boy's dreams becoming a reality. And if like me you’ve ever dreamed of what’s in the great beyond, it’s a story that’ll resonate with your dreams and aspirations. 

It’s always great when the Sentinel co-founders team up and here it’s no different. The last time Ed Doyle was on Sentinel art duties was for the Viking x Dinosaur tale; Valhallasaur - which for eagle readers was issue #12.  So to say it’s been a while since we’ve seen Doyle’s artwork is quite an understatement. For The Story of Johnny Rocket, Doyle’s signature style works extremely well. There’s plenty of strong shading which adds a great deal of detail to characters such as clothing textures and to accentuate facial expressions and features. Likewise, background art is packed full of details which helps to build each scene and add to the overall atmosphere of the story being told. For fans of Cats In Space - and even Sentinel - Doyle also adds in a few Easter eggs too! 

Look out for a cameo appearance from Alan Holloway (complete with a garish Hawaiian shirt!) 

Overall and Sentinel Issue #16: The Story of Johnny Rocket is yet another great comic book from the House of Ideas that's Alan Holloway and Ed Doyle. Even with this issue being inspired by a rock song, you don’t necessarily have to be familiar with the source material to enjoy this comic book tale. For anyone who’s looked up at the night sky and dreamed, Johnny Roquet is a character you’ll instantly relate to. His adventure is a pure feel-good experience that’s worthy of being within the Sentinel library. 

Now to add Cats in Space to my growing Spotify playlist…

Rating: 9/10 

Sentinel Issue #16: The Story of Johnny Rocket is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter. You can pledge towards the already funded project by clicking here…

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow us on X/Facebook @GeekCultureRev, TikTok/YouTube @Geekculturereviews, and BlueSky @geekculturereviews.bsky.social