I was momentarily surprised when I opened this volume, because the characters were immediately familiar, yet something felt disparate. It took me a minute to realize- this one has a different style, illustrated by Marina Julia. Really well done, every single person was instantly recognizable. It picks up right where Slam! Vol. 1 left off, literally on the very next page. Can Can (her nickname, I forgot her real name already ha ha) is recovering from an injury and feeling despondent about it, even though her teammates think she should be proud of bearing scars, and find other things for her to do supporting the games. She also has more conflict with her boyfriend, when he starts becoming involved in other sides of roller derby- it was alright when he just supported her on the sidelines, but when he’s helping maintain and repair the track, taking time away from her there, she has issues with it. Her friend Jen has her own new difficulties. Being assigned coach of a newbie group, she finds herself acting harsh and her team isn’t pulling together. Until one of them develops a crush on her, and makes a move. They friends don’t really interact until the end of the book, going through their own stuff together. Practices in public. Relationships with family members. Trying to find downtime to relax- not so easy. This volume wasn’t quite as strong as the first one, but I’d happily read another if more were published!
Borrowed from the public library.
