Empowered volume 3 ~ I've liked Empowered since day one, and this volume doesn't disappoint. As with volume two, my only wish is that there were more of the ultra-short stories that characterised Emp's early days - I miss some of the spontaneity and randomness they brought. But only a little - there are some such stories here, and while the majority of the book (as was already happening by the end of the first volume) is longer, more continuity-related stories, they're used to great effect. The best thing is that you never know what you're going to get with each new chapter - fun and laughs, superhero satire, sarcastic social commentary, romance farce, genuine romance (Emp can be really sweet), dark character stories, mysterious revelations - you just never know. As promised, this volume contains Ocelotina (no, really), and the final reveal of Emp's name (and Ninjette's); sadly, Were-Giraffe By Night is still a no-show, and we're still none the wiser about how Emp avoids camel-toe with her embarassingly tight suit. A couple of ongoing storylines and furthered, one resolved in quite climactic fashion in the final story of this volume - for a book with such a heavy dose of humour, it can be quite shocking and scary at times. Adam Warren's pencilled art continues to be outstanding - in fact, unless it's just me getting used to it, the art even seems clearer than in earlier volumes, while losing none of its effect - though to vary things up a bit, a couple of strips are inked, which is an interesting contrast (and used for that effect in one case), but in the end only serve to show just how good the raw pencils are.
The Order #9 ~ Dennis Murray - 'Heavy' - gets his turn in the spotlight, and even though the sadly-truncated title is wrapping things up at breakneck speed, it manages to give Heavy some moments that make his appearance in the opening interview scene relevant to the issue, rather than just tacked on for formula's sake. The interviews themselves are spiced up too, with the opening one conducted in a fascinating manner, and the closing one replaced by a very strong shift of perspective that works wonders. All the other plotlines, predominantly Mulholland's captivity and Milo and Becky's relationship and newfound ability to merge into 'Hybrid', continue and develop in interesting ways, and fittingly for part one of what will be the big finale, Anthem gets some moments where he shows his merit as a leader in a fascinating way. It really is sad that a comic this enjoyable and thought-provoking didn't get the attention and readership it deserved - its impending cancellation is truly Marvel's loss.
Dark Ivory #1 ~ My impulse buy for the week - all I knew about this going in was that it was something to do with vampires, from the guy who does Dawn (not that I've ever read that - I have an action figure of her, though), but since my budget could stand it I picked up issue one to see what was what. The art is pretty - it has its own style in a Frank Cho kind of way (i.e. the female faces are distinctive), but not so much of Cho's dynamisn or fluency in body language and sequential art-storytelling. And when you look closely at it, you realise that Ivory, the heroine, is the only character who's drawn well - everyone else is a caricature. Unfortunately that's the good news - the majority of this issue is taken up with dialogue between Ivory and her best friend Samson, and the dialogue is mediocre at best. Aside from occasional efforts at slang and casual speech - which aren't very effective - both characters talk in formal, stilted sentences, like Data from Star Trek, the kind of stuff you tend to see in teenage fanfic. The editorial page in the back describes it as 'verbal sparring with well-read friends', but it's neither - there's no sense of familiarity or camaraderie in the dialogue that'd suggest both people are accustomed to and enjoying the odd idiosyncracies of their conversation, and as for well-read Ivory doesn't know what a cyborg is, and Samson writes appallingly pretentious critiques of music. To top it off, both of them started up with the "Do you remember-" and "Tell me again-" method of doling backstory out to the audience, even though there's nothing natural about them reciting it to each other, as if the awkward omniscient narration weren't cliched enough. Like I said, the art's pretty, but that's really all.
Jungle Girl #5 ~ Jana and her dwindling supply of hangers-on continue their adventures, with much fighting and light-hearted adventure and monsters and so on. Jungle Girl has been enjoyable, although not really spectacular, all along, but three things lift this issue a bit higher. One is the opening battle against the big ugly worm thing, which has more gravitas than earlier fights due to the other characters getting involved in various fashions, rather than just cringing at the back while Jana takes care of business. The second is the appearance of a T-Rex, which is played in a brilliant fashion (I won't spoil it), and then picked up again with an even better moment later on. The third, and the biggie, is the final page - again I won't spoil what happens, but it was such a cool twist/surprise that I said "What the f&%k?" out loud when I turned the page and saw it (luckily I was alone). There's no telling now whether it's the setup for a really cool concept being introduced into the story - which could make it really stand out from the pack of wild woman comics - or just something tossed in with no rhyme or reason; that'll depend on what happens next, when Jungle Girl resumes (hopefully) for its 'second season'. I feel good about it, so I'll be buying it when it does.
Hack/Slash #10 ~ A refreshing little one-shot adventure for Cassie and Vlad, very well conceived and executed on the page. In what could serve as a model of exposition and story-building, we get told what we need to know in efficient flashbacks that also quickly bestow a believable character and set of motives on the guy we're looking at. With no pages wasted, Cassie and Vlad have enough time to get some good dialogue in, and develop a real connection to what's going on, even though we spend a lot of time reading about events they're not part of. The climax is very effective, with an interesting fight, and a double-barrel denoument afterwards, firstly regarding what Cassie does, and then how Vlad reacts to it. Much of this issue relates to Cassie's search for her father, which was dropped in her lap previously, but regardless of that this issue alone is a very effective little horror story, and I think someone who'd never read Hack/Slash before could easily start with this and find it rewarding.
Justice League of America #19 ~ I'm sorry, but this issue was just boring. McDuffie is totally absent - not even a quick story in the back, as he's done the past couple of issues - and Burnett can't handle the large cast the way McDuffie did in his opening arc, making sure everyone had something cool and unique to do each issue. The only subplot here that I can even remember is the Red Arrow/Hawkgirl thing, which isn't very interesting - compare that to JSA, where everyone has a subplot going, and regardless of what it is, I find myself interested in all of them. The Sanctuary storyline, which has slowly been chugging along over recent issues, finally goes somewhere, and all it turns out to be is a glorified ad for Salvation Run, and a forgettable throwdown between the JLA and some alien villain I've never heard of, who goes through a childish plotline where he starts out more powerful than everyone, and is then beaten by a meaningless loophole in his power. It doesn't mean anything - I don't feel like I've learned anything about the JLA, individually or as a group, from this issue, or that they've even done anything worth remembering. I know McDuffie is slated to return next issue, but right now I'm considering dropping JLA from my standing order - DC has burned bridges with this sub-par arc.
