“Hungry Ghost Part Two: Blood Demands”
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artists: Pascual Ferry (p), Cam Smith (i)
Publisher: DC Comics
OK, let me get this straight. After three issues of confusing readers to the point of anger and frustration Joe Kelly decides that he had better recap what’s happened so far to push the villain of the piece to take this course of action. You read that correct, in the concluding chapter of this convoluted story Kelly lets us know why all these things are taking place. Does that sound like effective storytelling? If you said yes, I truly feel sorry for you. Not only is this a terrible way to keep readers interested, but it’s executed so poorly that the focus is shifted entirely away from the fight at hand to the back-story of this terrible plot. I usually like Joe Kelly’s work, but I cannot wait for someone else to take over this title.
The “Supergirls” storyline comes to a merciful conclusion in this issue and I cannot relate the depth of my relief. I went into the story hoping the new setting (the Fortress of Solitude) would provide an interesting and provocative backdrop for the final fight, but all it really did was give the creators the opportunity to confuse us more. I saw areas of the Fortress I never knew existed before and, even thought they looked nice, I’m not sure why there are significant enough to care about. The “trophy room” looks like a poor man’s version of the Batcave, and I never thought Supes wanted to emulate Batman in that way.
There’s so much for me to criticize about this issue I’m not sure where to begin. For starters I learned more about the new Supergirl on the page with the list of creators in that box that usually tells Superman’s history that I’ve learned in any full-length comic. Why did Lana Ross look like she belonged in Gen 13 for the majority of the book? What happens at the end to resolve the conflict? One minute the bad gal’s there, the next she’s not and the effect is quite jarring. And what is up with the homoerotic slumber party on the last page? I realize it’s not supposed to be sexy, but considering Supergirl is basically wearing a thong there’s no way to look at that last panel innocently.
Pascual Ferry does his usual decent job, but once again there are far too many instances of confusion for me to say too many nice things about him. I won’t go into detail like I did last time, but his action scenes are nice, clear, and pretty to look at one moment, then confusing as all hell the next. His line work and facial expressions are great and when he’s called on to do simple things Ferry does them very well. That may sound like a backhanded compliment, but I do think the artist has talent. I don’t think that talent has been fully realized, but I usually see something I like when I look at his work. I do want to know why he feels the need to sign two of the interior pages of the book. That’s just arrogant and self-promoting to a degree I haven’t’ seen.
On a final note, there were 25 pages of ads in this issue! This book has 22 pages of story, so what is DC trying to tell us about the importance of their comics? I probably wouldn’t have noticed this fact if the geniuses in the marketing department hadn’t decided it was a good idea to use double page spreads so often. There’s an 8-page spread for Bionicle in the middle of the comic for cryin’ out loud! If you want a comic to succeed, you don’t put more emphasis on product placement than you do on the actual story. Comics are so expensive these days I can’t believe companies need to sell this much advertising space, and I’m more than a little angry to have the story disrupted so.
I can’t say I fully enjoyed one moment of this ill-conceived storyline, and I’m beyond glad that it’s over. Hopefully the next team will look at this comic and figure out what not to do, but until they take over I’ll be keeping my expectations at an all-time low.
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