"Manhunted" Part Four: Skin Deep
Writer: Marc Andreyko
Artists: Robert Walker(p), Jimmy Palmiotti(i), Steve Buccellato(c)
Publisher: DC
As you can see by the blue Cylon on the cover, this issue of Manhunter involves The Big Stupid Event. The Big Stupid Event in fact creates the only downside to the issue, and it mucks up a clear victory for Kate Spencer alias The Manhunter that will annoy faithful readers. We don't give a damn about your Big Stupid Event, DC. Kindly leave our book alone!
Manhunter is likely the only book involving The Big Stupid Event that will merit four bullets. Why? Because Marc Andreyko is writing the best damn super-hero book on the racks. That's why.
First, he pays off his readers. Andreyko in the last issue clearly indicated that Mark Shaw was actually the Manhunter killer. This issue enforces the revelation of the fairplay mystery. Andreyko doesn't pull a Monarch. Mark Shaw is the Manhunter killer, and I'll just wager before The Big Stupid Event meddled with the narrative, Andreyko intended for him to have simply become so fixated on Dumas that he became Dumas. To quote Nietzsche:
"Whoever fights the monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster..."--Thus Spake Zarathrusta
Andreyko co-wrote Torso, which documented Elliot Ness' battle against the Torso Slayer of Kingsbury Row, and he's too knowledgeable of the crime genre not to have thought of the rationale. The added science fiction that's written is unnecessary and flawed.
An immediate problem arises. The pre-Crisis Manhunter continuity and pre-Crisis JLA continuity overlap. The pre-Crisis JLA first fight the robotic Manhunters and their human acolytes, which trained Mark Shaw to become a Manhunter, in Tibet. This two issue classic story by Steve Engleheart and Dick Dillin became the loose basis for the animated episode of the Cartoon Network series.
Upon discovering his mentors were on the side of tyranny, Shaw becomes confused. His loss of identity and purpose triggers the creation of new ones--indicated by Andreyko. During the post-Crisis the Manhunters launch two assaults against the Giffin/DeMatteis/Maguire JLA. They also attack each individual member. Before Mark Waid's revamp killed Byrne's continuity, Lana Lang was a Manhunter.
As implied, the JLA's continuity has been destabilized by continual rewrites and denials. They have neither continuity nor any real reference points. There is no stable post-Crisis JLA timeline, and incorporating the pre-Crisis timeline is practically hopeless; the futility of the project comes not only from the presence of those two continuity black holes Hawkman and Hawkgirl who were members of the pre-Crisis League. Practically every League member's history--as indicated in the above Superman example--has been amended, denied and rewritten.
Andreyko's retconned narrative suggests that Shaw's Tibetan training never happened, but if so, then the JLA's story without a severe rewrite could not have happened. If that story did not happen, then the JLA would not have revealed the Manhunters' secrets. Remember this revelation was what triggered Shaw's creation of the Star-Tsar and the Privateer as well as his more recent Manhunter guise.
Andreyko establishes the robot Manhunters, which would seem to lay the foundation for the classic pre-Crisis JLA story. However, if he takes away Tibet, then that story doesn't exist. The whole point of that story was to trick Green Lantern into believing he destroyed a planet in order to discredit the Guardians. That doesn't make sense if Tibet--the Manhunters home base--was actually a shadow government virtual reality program. If that JLA story doesn't exist, then there is no reason for Shaw's insanity.
Putting aside continuity, there are also inherent implausibilities in what I suspect were quick changes to Andreyko's original story.
It's very difficult for me to believe that World War II scientists or even World War II super-heroes were capable of deciphering the engineering of not just any aliens but the Guardians, who in the pre-Crisis multiverse created the Manhunters before establishing the Green Lantern Corps. Frankly, I doubt modern super-heroes have a remote shot at such a thing.
The introduction of nanites into the Manhunter mythos, doesn't make one whit of sense, especially with regard to Paul Kirk. Paul Kirk was originally a non-powered super-hero. He retires, and a bull elephant fatally gores him on a hunt. Okay. So if he already had nanites in his body, they would have healed him. He would not have needed to be carried off by the Council and healed. Paul Kirk's healing took years, and this also explained his absence in the multiverse of pre-Crisis DC. If he already had the nanintes in his body, he would have healed in a far shorter time. The Council by the by never brainwashed him. He pretty much doubted the Council from the beginning.
I don't blame Andreyko for these things. I blame The Big Stupid Event for these things. Big Stupid Events usually do not merely dull Occum's Razor. They bash the hell out of it.
Andreyko even if he did originally write the story the way it unfolds still through other elements of storycraft atones for these holes in the narrative.
He characterizes two strong female characters, both vertebrates for a change. He provides wit and action. Chase Cameron of the DEO treats Dylan pretty much the same way that Kate treats him. She also is far too intelligent and too experienced an investigator not to suss out the super-hero under her nose.
Kate while in Mark Shaw's clutches does not give one iota. She's still as tough as she is when not tied up and battered about. She saves herself and comes up with ingenious ways to thwart the loon. Although thanks to the timely arrival of the Cylon, the ending robs the reader of the logical conclusion; you know damn well in your hearts that Kate would have racked up a kill.
Manhunter benefits from the excellent artwork of guest-penciler Brad Walker and the accomplished inker Jimmy Palmiotti as well as colorist Steve Buccellato who gets a more strenuous workout. Walker's pencils ably translate Andreyko's words, but he stands out when detailing the Manhunter timeline. Walker pretty much draws what was pre-Crisis testament, and it's only the dialogue and a few tackeed on sore thumb scenes that alert you to the presence of Big Stupid Event infestation. Mind you, he does not copy previous work. Instead, he gives an artistic summary that acts as a kind of Manhunter collage. His faces, all realistically rendered, are the most striking during this Secret Files within the story. Walker also keeps Kate to model. The hairstyle, the eyes, the nose all fit to the original design of Jesus Saiz. Palmiotti's deep, crisp black inks further rein in the character designs.
Am I happy the Cylons crashed Andreyko's party? Hell no, but the story is never dull. It's well drawn and stars the toughest, no-nonsense, take no prisoners super-hero on the block.
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