Spoilers[/SIZE]
I picked up a LOT of books this week (5-27-05), much more than expected, which now necessitates quick comments to cover ground, which is a kind of shame, given that a lot of books I read today give us, the readers, a LOT to chew over, about ethics and the limits of ideals, like “the common good” and “heroism”,… but first, the “fast stuff”,…
Vigilantes
Gabrych plants a lot of seeds in Batgirl #63, a nice set up issue for the big fight between Rose Wilson & Cassandra Cain, next issue. Along the way, we see Cass push herself a bit, to have something of a life outside cape and cowl. This is remarkable, something we have not seen since Dylan Horrocks run. Horrocks had Cass deal, not all that successfully, with a budding attraction to guys (metahumans, like Connor Kent, and people who operate well outside the law, like Darkwind who may have reminded her both of her father and her mentor) and her conflicted feelings about affection and control from father figures (like when she nearly took Batman’s head off under the influence of designer drugs in #50). The difference is Gabrych’s Cassandra has a bit more control of herself, and a seeming awareness she didn’t have before, of what she wants and needs. Promising stuff here: potential romance with the street kid, and the start of a friendship with the coffee shop owner, who may well become Cass’s next surrogate older sister, filling in gaps in Cass’ experience of the world Oracle wouldn’t even think off, if handled well. (Personally, I look forward to the real estate developers getting theirs, on the street from Batgirl, and perhaps, in the board room, from Wayne Enterprises.)
The untimely deaths of the Braunsteins may well serve a purpose here, for once Cass figures out they died in part so Slade Wilson could provide his daughter with a notch on her belt, the Wilsons may well earn Cass’ undying enmity (and one almost hopes, a future guest shot where David Cain faces off against Slade, the one man he considers better at the killing game than he is). That would be the best way for Cain to bow out: defending the daughter. He’s done it once before, when a crime boss was stupid enough to contract with Cain for his daughters life.
Casali and Walker’s fill in storyarc about pimps, stalking killer rapists, pimps and illegal dogfights comes to a tragic close in Catwoman #42. The serial killer’s put down in due course, of course, but the exploitive bastards behind it all remain on the street Despite his warped, self serving sense of honor, the mid-level crime boss here could make a good continuing foil for Catwoman. (He’s such a sc_mbag that one hopes this won’t be his only appearance,… otherwise one would feel almost cheated that he doesn’t suffer a bit more here - but then I feel the same about the Black Mask, another monster I’d like to see Selena take down someday.) The brief comment about class divisions and the forced compromise at issues end, put me in mind of both Matt Murdock’s compromises with the Kingpin (during Frank Miller’s celebrated run on Daredevil), and hard core European crime comics, like the bleak Son of the Gun graphic novel, recently translated and published through the short lived alliance between DC and Humanoids publishing - though that stuff is much darker by far,…) An interesting arc that flies through issues that deserve a bit more attention. If Brubaker were still on board they might get them: we’ll see when the Pfieffer arc begins in a couple of issues.
Bendis’ little experiment with theatre continues in “Decalogue Part II”, Daredevil #72, which is shaping up as a series of testamonials to the influence a good example can, one hopes, have on those who are more accustomed to more primative(?) styles of almost tribal loyalty in a morally uncertain age. Looking forward to more of his ‘little dramas of conscience’. I also wouldn’t mind seeing the main speaker here, as well as the ex-prostitute from last issue, again, once Matt Murdock takes central stage again, eight issues from now. It would also be interesting to see BMB explore some of the consequences of following examples, good and bad, in these people’s lives - something Waid works very well in this weeks issue of Legion of Superheroes discussed below.
Richard Dragon #12 felt like a rushed end to yet another title cut short by low sales. Dragon’s move to force Connor Hawke out of the blood tournament was a dramatic high point that deserved a stronger follow up at issues end. Not that there was anything wrong with the ending, but I do wish McDaniel had more room to lay out, and perhaps wrest more drama, from Dragon’s last battle with Shiva. The con implies a new desire on Dragon’s part for a life without needless conflict. While this would make for a perfectly good ending, if so, his conversion comes off as unconvincing, and forced, here - neither set up for properly in the previous two issues, or simply lacking room (or perhaps enough narration) to play out properly. Ah well.
Supersoldiers & other Metahumans
Even when Brubaker’s just hinting at things to come, he writes great intrigue, and, (like Palmiotti and Gray in the short lived Monolith title), great “history”. Captain America Vol 5 #5 is chock full of interesting tidbits, from Bucky Barnes real function as Cap’s sidekick (absolutely chilling - moreso since Ed touches on it only very briefly - I hope to see this idea reflected in Mark Millar’s Ultimates sometime), to the sympathetic origins for the current conspiracy, in the terrible suffering the Russian people bore during the Second World War (which connects nicely to the history lesson about the French experience in the War in the last couple of issues). I realize 9-11 changed a lot of things for Americans, but I was reminded this issue of how grateful we should be that the people of this nation have been spared so much by a lucky accident: that we were born in a superpower protected by oceans to the East and the West, and militarily irrelevant neighbors to our North and South.
The flipside of intrigue and the tragedies that perpetuate seeming endless rounds violence, is escapist fantasy, and however dire the situation, a visit to the (newly created?) World of the Jenny’s (the midwives of history, it seems) in Authority Revolution #7 made for a welcome break among all the dark stuff I picked up this week. (I was praying for a Jenny “Pointed Stick”.) My only complaint this issue is that I wish it had ended with Jenny Quantum remaining a child: there’s been definately something charming in Jenny’s precocious youthfulness over the past couple of issues. Ah well, maybe when Daddy Midnighter comes home,… if ever,…
Having been a big fan of the quips and comments Bendis’ scripts for his New Avengers series so far, I was a bit disappointed in issue #5, as the dialogue takes a bit of a back seat to the advancing plot this time around, a fairly straightforward story about mutants and mutates trying to protect themselves from SHIELD’s implied dirty doings with the cellular material perhaps, gleaned from dear Dr. Lykos (which of course plants seeds for Spiderwoman’s eventual return to “goodness”). Nice to see Yelena Belova again. Loved her in Rucka’s last Black Widow Marvel Max Line story, “Pale Little Spider”.
Not having followed Greg Rucka’s run on Wonder Woman I have no trouble admitting I was almost completely thrown by the subplots surrounding the supporting players in this weeks issue, # 215, though i could guess that the Minotaur is in love with the assistant, whose got understandable bestiality issues going; and Cassandra Sandsmark must’ve been debating whether to “give it up” to Connor Kent on her weekends with the Titans. I picked this issue up mostly to see Rags Morales and Michael Bair’s take on Wonder Woman in action, and I wasn’t disappointed. (I loved their work together on Hawkman and Identity Crisis). I think I’ll pick up the first arc. I will say I never expected Rucka’s Wonder Woman to be so hard core (looking forward to her fights in upcoming issues) and for the villains of the peice, the males in the Greek Pantheon, being so openly mysogynistic. Where’s the more militantly feminist version of Artemis (the Amazon, not the Goddess) when you need her?
Okay, next time I post, I’m going to try to frame my comments about the new Legion of Superheroes, Sleeper Season Two, Kabuki: the Alchemy and Supreme Power a discussion of idealism and the (superhuman) condition; as well as cover a pile of new books by Howard Chaykin: City Of Tomorrow #1, Legend #3, Solo #4. Hopefully I’ll get to that before the weekend.
Anyone Else?