Motorcycle Gladiators And The Many Faces Of Grief

Motorcycle Gladiators And The Many Faces Of Grief

Warning: The following contains spoilers for S.I.R. #1 and #2, on sale now from Boom Box.

Make no doubt about it: Boom Box’s S.I.R. is a gnarly hybrid of Fight Club and 90s Shojo Anime. Grounded by immersive art from Fell Hound and Eleonora Bruni, S.I.R.’s pages erupt with battle royales that leave broken bones–and broken dreams–in their wake. However, this Shojo Sports Comic offers more than motorcycle gladiators fighting for gasoline-tinged glory. At its core, S.I.R. is an intimate exploration of the many faces of grief. 

Boom Box’s S.I.R. explores the complexities of grief.

A single emotion cannot define grief.  The journey of grief can be filled with love, guilt, hope, and regret–it can be all those feelings and much more. S.I.R. #1 (by Fell Hound, Eleanora Bruni, and Becca Carey) explores the complexities of grief through its main protagonist, Avery, a young student recovering from the loss of her parents. As Avery starts her first day at the prestigious–and very expensive–Bridleham Academy, she’s flooded with a sense of guilt over her parents’ death, admitting, “For years, I felt like I stole my parents’ life from them.” Avery’s parents toiled their entire lives running a small motorsports dealership, and she struggles to reconcile her parents’ sacrifice with her pursuit of the American Dream. 

Like Avery, many individuals wrestle with guilt after losing someone they love. They blame themselves for borrowing their loved one’s best years without offering much—if anything—in return. Avery’s journey with grief didn’t begin with guilt, however. In S.I.R. #2, readers flashback to the funeral for Avery’s parents and witness a scene that epitomizes the complexities of grief. At first, she experiences shock and sadness, unable to accept the reality of her parents’ deaths. However, Avery’s grief soon transforms into something else: love. With support from Nico, her loving girlfriend, the bereaved teen discovers that she doesn’t have to journey through grief alone. Nico’s love promises to guide Avery through the darkest moments of loss. Unfortunately, their love will fail to live up to its promise.

Boom Box’s S.I.R. Examines Grief As Loss of Love–And One’s Self Worth

Losing someone is a life-altering experience, but losing love–and, by extension, one’s self–can feel just as devastating. S.I.R. #1 focuses on Avery’s search to regain the one person she loves more than anything: Nico. There’s only one problem: Nico wants nothing to do with her. After a year of missed calls and ignored texts, Avery enrolls in Bridleham to find Nico. Her decision to search for her distant lover reflects an inner loss, one that reveals the many faces of grief. Instead of mourning the loss of her parents, Avery now grieves the loss of her love and, at a deeper level, herself. Through Nico’s loving support, Avery finds the strength to embark on the journey of grief and process her parents’ deaths; however, she’s left empty and confused by Nico’s distance. Losing this relationship fractured Avery’s belief in love and, by connection, herself. However, the young student refuses to sit by and let loss consume her world, and as she’s reunited with Nico at Bridleham, she soon discovers that Nico has been fighting–and losing–her own battle with grief, as well. 

Unfortunately, Nico’s enrollment into Bridleham Academy ushered her into an unexpected battle with shame and self-doubt. For Nico, Bridleham is a culture shock that flings her head-first into the cutthroat coliseum of class privilege; as Fell Hound explains, “She [Nico] has a massive identity crisis as a result and loses all self-worth and pushes everyone away because all these assholes made her feel like she is less than.” Nico ghosts Avery because she’s grieving the loss of her self-worth, and rather than clinging to Avery for solace, she dissociates into a new identity. With a record of 97-0, Nico adopts the moniker of SIR Ares, a cutthroat motorcycle gladiator who aims to bankrupt Bridleham and start a new life with her first-place earnings. Yet when Avery discovers the truth about Nico’s nightlife, she rushes in to save her former love from further destruction, an act which awards Sir Ares with her first loss.

Boom Box’s S.I.R. Spotlights The Many Faces Of Grief

How one responds to grief can be just as challenging as the initial shock of grief itself. Through the lens of Nico’s struggle with self-worth, S.I.R. #1 and #2 reveal how grief can lead to self-destruction. Nico’s shame builds a wall around her heart that prevents Avery’s love and compassion from inhabiting its space. Just like grief itself, a person’s response to loss can unearth many complex emotions. In response to these overwhelming feelings, a bereaved person will often turn to unhealthy–and potentially harmful–coping mechanisms. For Nico, dealing with loss looks like transforming into Sir Ares and bludgeoning rich-a-holes on her motorcycle of doom. In contrast, Avery’s response to losing Nico is to fight, hope, and love–even if that means taking up the mantle of Sir Ares herself. Avery refuses to be collateral damage in Nico’s struggle with self-loathing and shame, and she chooses to respond to grief with love, courage, and compassion. 

Boom Box’s S.I.R. spotlights the many faces of grief by exploring how loss can transform a person’s identity—for better or worse. More than mere motorcycle mayhem and bombastic battle royales, S.I.R. peers into the complexity of grief through Avery and Nico’s struggle with loss. Whether it is the loss of a loved one, a relationship, or one’s self-worth, grief can unearth complex feelings and compel many to respond in both healthy–and potentially destructive–ways.