Dominatrix #3 ~ This interesting and surprising title continues with an issue that adds previously unseen depth to the story, both in terms of the overall plot of the big conspiracy and the superpowers and what the heck is going on, and in terms of Dominique personally and where the story is willing to take her. The strength of this issue is that it adds complexity to a lot of the ideas that seemed fairly simple earlier on - we're no longer sure how bad the bad guys are, what exactly they're trying to do, or what it means for Dominique. There's also added complications in terms of her powers - which it seems require a dose of the mysterious pills whenever she needs to kick some arse; I'd erroneously assumed they were permanent from the original issue - and a rather ambitious decision partway through the issue, when Dominique is unconscious, and wakes to find evidence that her antagonist of the moment may have done more than just undress her before dumping her back in her apartment. That's not something a story should take lightly, and the instinct is to question whether it belongs in a comic with this overall mood, which is mature but not without a certain swashbuckling light-heartedness. And yet, from what we've seen already, Dominique's reactions ring true, and overall this doesn't seem the work of a writer who's oblivious to the seriousness of the subject matter. It's something I'll keep my eye on, though - there's still room for a misstep, and trivialising rape is the kind of misstep that doesn't leave room for a second chance.
Esteve Polls takes over as artist, and I have to say it's both a seamless transition and an improvement. I'll admit I'm not the most artistically perceptive reader, but I honestly didn't notice that there was a difference in artist at first - Polls' work fits in perfectly with the style Flavio Hoffe had established for this title, and carries the ball well in both action scenes and more sedate dialogue scenes or quiet moments. That the maybe-rape, and Dominique's reaction to it, works at all, fits into the story without seeming jarring, is at least as much thanks to the art as the writing - layout and composition of the sequential images are used to full effect. Debora Carita's colours work much better under Polls' lines, too, especially the use of digital textures in some scenes - they stood out under Hoffe, but not any more. All in all, this was a surprising issue - it takes chances, and while some of them are uncomfortable, I'd rather see a comic take a chance than play it safe.
She-Hulk #22 ~ My favourite comic ever gets a new writer in Peter David - and the signs are good. PAD's first issue is big on setup, with a couple of big questions put into play that I'm really eager to find out the answers to - but it's not unsatisfying, as David shows his customary skill at setting a believable scene and creating human, relateable characters quickly and efficiently. Rockwell Davis, aka Hi-Lite, appears for the first time (so far as I know) here, and even though there's a lot going on in this issue that doesn't involve him, he feels like a real person with complex feelings and motives. It's difficult to comment on She-Hulk herself, because... well, you'll see when you read it, it's complicated. Suffice to say that her post-Dan Slott situation is introduced, and it's one that I think will play well with established fans and newcomers alike.
The art from Shawn Moll (Victor Dlazaba inking) is really good, feeling like a breath of fresh air after so many issues of Rich Burchett with Rathbone inking, which for all their talent just didn't deliver what the book needed, especially when it came to action scenes. Moll has that covered - there's a big ol' smash-up between Shulkie and the Absorbing Man here, and it's energetic, rough, frantic and powerful. The subtle expressions in quieter scenes seem a little off-kilter, with expressions that don't quite seem to follow panel to panel, though individually they work well enough for the dialogue in each frame - I suspect that's just a matter of Moll settling in and getting to know his subjects. Avalon's Rob Ro, providing the colours, does good work - especially on She-Hulk herself, getting her skin tone just right so far as I'm concerned, which isn't always an easy thing. He (like previous colourists on She-Hulk) seems reluctant to venture too far into the darker end of the palette, but Moll seems a lot more willing to provide areas of pure black than Burchett ever was, so overall there's enough dark on the page to keep it from all blending together - and it's worth noting that the lighter colour palette works well with the suburbia setting of much of this issue, so it may be an intentional stylistic choice.
The issue concludes with a one-page message from Peter David, offering his thoughts on She-Hulk in general, and his approach to writing her now in particular. It's a small thing, but it may help established readers make the jump to this new run, and newcomers get an idea of where this comic is going, so I think it's a valueable use of a page (there's still 22 pages of story, I should note). Overall, it's a debut that's left me feeling optimistic about the future of the jade giantess - though rather worried about the rather dire cliffhanger she's stuck in at the end of the issue, so I'm looking forward to #23 for all sorts of reasons. Just as it should be.
Hack/Slash #5 ~ This issue is the start of a new story, so unsurprisingly it's all setup plot-wise. Emily Cristy, a former pin-up model, has been turned into one of the 'revenants', only it seems she didn't die first, raising questions about how and why she was transformed - but these questions don't matter to one of the scientists researching the revenant phenomenon, who's lusted after Emily since childhood and - I hope you'll forgive the fairly obvious spoiler - provides the means for her to get out of containment and start messing up the place. Meanwhile Cassie and Vlad are living the rough life on the road, with empty pockets and nowhere to sleep but the back of their van, while in another part of the country (and in slight flashback) we peek in on their friends/allies Chris and Lisa. It's Cassie who drives the issue, but not the way you'd think - even though she and Vlad only appear in five pages, Cassie's story this issue is deeply powerful, a quiet, subtly-presented picture of a complex young woman. Whatever this story arc holds - and it's difficult to say, without even knowing how Cassie will become involved in the revenant-hunting side of it (except the obvious, that she's a revenant hunter) and what the potential is for that story to play out emotionally - those five pages alone are worth it.
Madame Mirage #3 ~ Madame Mirage is all about style, and this issue, like the previous two, has it by the bucketload. What it also has (unlike #2, to a degree) is substance - here we learn a lou about Mirage and her accomplice Harper, where they came from, how they got where they are, and why they're doing what they're doing. It's a heavy dose of exposition, and to be honest it left be feeling a bit off-balance - so much was revealed so quickly that I found myself wondering what was left for future issues. The good news is that there have been scenes so far that suggest there's more to the story than we've been told, but still, I'm a touch concerned - #1 and #2 dropped hints and played games, and it was entertaining, but now that we've been given such a huge dose of answers, I'm not sure how it'll feel if future issues go back to the hinting/game-playing business - it could seem a let-down. I mean, do you really want to see a magician do a trick again after you've been told how it's done? Make no mistake, this issue was great, packed with story and style, but it felt like a season finale - I just hope Madame Mirage has a really good trick up her sleeve to take the place of the one she just explained.
Cowboy Bebop vol. 1 ~ On a whim - and seeing as a bunch of them were on sale cheap - I decided to pick up a manga book and see what it was like to read. I picked this one because I've seen the movie, so I knew I enjoyed the subject in some form, but at the same time, it looked on first glance to be a fairly run-of-the-mill manga, so far as I could judge compared to the others on the shelves where I was browsing. And that's what I wanted - not the most amazingly wonderful manga ever made, but just a simple, straight-forward, good but not world-breaking book, so I could decide whether I enjoyed the experience of reading a manga, without the experience being skewed by the book I was reading being so good it could overcome any shortcoming of the format, so far as my tastes go.
It was a fun read - there are four stories in the book, and they're individually well-conceived and written, and cleverly presented as a group. The first is a general introduction, devoted mostly to fun dialogue and punchy action, and the other three focus on one of the three bounty hunters, and delve deeper into the writer's bag of tricks for characterisation and mood. I think it was the willingness to play with mood that I found most attractive about the reading experience, compared to a western comic - with a comic, you pretty much know what kind of story you're in for from page one, but with this book I was often surprised at the emotional direction a story would take. It was also something of a weakness though - depending on the circumstances, the changes in tone could seem to be refreshing and surprising, but they were also sometimes jarring, leaving the story lacking a strong central thrust. The art was fairly clean and accessible, though there were some panels I had trouble deciphering, and the reliance on grey tones to provide shading on a lot of pages didn't enhance the art much. So far as the technicalities of reading manga as opposed to western comics went, I found it fairly straight-forward - adjusting to reading right-to-left from panel to panel was easy enough, and the only difficulty I encountered was that a lot of the time speech bubbles seemed to be linked to characters just by their proximity on the page, with very small originating arrows or none at all - being accustomed to western-style speech bubbles, I often had to stop and figure out who was saying what. Still, I imagine that would improve with practice; on a purely technical level I'm confident, and I'm anticipating digging up some manga heroines to follow.
I took a look at Gotham Underground #1, seeing as Batwoman was mentioned in the solicitation, but evidently that was in an overall sense - she's a no-show this issue, and seeing as I don't really care about any of the Bat-family and their rogues gallery apart from her, I left the issue on the shelf. I'll buy whichever issue she's in (#4 has her on the cover), just because it's her, and if the storyline turns out to be compelling I'm sure it'll be available in a trade paperback eventually. For the record, I'm making an effort to get every appearance of: Batwoman (the new one), Phyla-Vell (aka the new Quasar), Bulleteer and Squirrel Girl - new appearances, and back issues they were in as and when I can find them. They're not my outright favourite characters (though they're close), but trying to get every appearance of She-Hulk and Power Girl would bankrupt me in no time, so I'm being realistic here. I also took a peek at Velocity: Pilot Season - my budget made me leave it on the shelf, but I'll definitely pick it up and review it next week, as it looked like fun.
As always, have your say in the comments section, whether you agree, disagree, or are just passing by and want to say hi:
