"Two Superheroes and a Fed Walk into a Bar..."
Writer: Marc Andreyko
Artists: Javier Pina (layouts), Fernando Blanco (finishes), Jason Wright (colors)
Publisher: DC Comics
"....Oooo, Oooo, Oooo....Another one bites the dust, and another one down, and another one down, and another one bites the dust...Oooo. She's gonna get you too. Another one bites the dust..."
Manhunter made me laugh out loud. When did I laugh? I laughed when Kate a.k.a. Manhunter casually and brutally executes the big bad. He had probably been killing people through the ages, and Kate wipes him out in their second encounter. Instead of being arrested, she's lauded as a hero by the paparazzi and the people she saved. Now, that's entertainment.
Before the wonderful and pragmatically brief killing, Marc Andreyko shows off his skills at writing ordinary, every day scenes. Nevertheless, somehow he finds a way to make each moment interesting.
The book opens with the fleshing out of Julie, Kate's ex's wife. Andreyko uses the cynicism of the reader and the repartee between the two characters as an impetus in creating tension. The scene builds up to a nice surprise.
Pina and Blanco depict in this scene Kate's natural movements and her suspicious closed off body language. They contrast Kate's stances with Julie's more open posture. Jason Wright illustrates the colors as very warm and inviting. Despite all this, you never see the bombshell coming.
We discover in the next scene that Iron Munro still lives. Iron Munro was a continuity plant to explain Superman's absence from the JSA when all the earths were squooshed into one confusing mish-mash of an earth. History repeats.
In previous issues, readers learned that Kate is the granddaughter of Iron Munro and the original Phantom Lady. Munro, in his typical Gilligan's Island style of dress, storms into the Director Bones office. Specifically why is anybody's guess, but chances are if Manhunter hadn't received a phone call from the governor--in one of his rare moments of lucidity, we probably never would have found out.
We drop back into Kate's life. Time has already flowed to the evening, when Kate goes out for a night on the town with cute couple, Todd and Damon. Todd and Damon incidentally currently hold the title for second most well adjusted couple in DC comics. That's kind of sad when you think about it. The pre-Crisis was a universe of equals, even when they were husband and wife: the Hawks of two earths, Bullet Man and Bullet Girl, Aquaman and Mera, the Flash and Iris, the Dibnys, Legionnaires, Black Canary and Green Arrow.
Andreyko does not merely use the party scene to be pro-gay or to simply show that Kate has a social life. He also employs the scene to exemplify Kate's newfound experience. Manhunter is one of the few titles in the DCU that took One Year Later to heart. At least two of the Superman and Batman titles moved back to the status quo created long ago in the pre-Crisis, but a Big Stupid Event wasn't needed to get there. The editors could have simply done their job early on and/or sacked the writers. Manhunter originally began her calling as a novice hero. She learned several lessons in her early issues, but this issue shows a Kate Spencer capable and ready to serve justice whenever needed. She does not just react to crime. She prepares for it.
Kate, Todd and Damon meet up with Chase Cameron and her "no, this is not a date" Dylan, also Kate's armorer. The night goes along swimmingly with a decent band, lots of dancing and Kate enjoying a drink while shooting down cocksure potential paramours. What can go wrong? A screwloose homed into Chase's metahuman gene, that's what.
After some fairly decent Obsidian action--and let's be honest, when have we actually seen any fairly decent Obsidian action, Kate takes a page from Catwoman and changes to her scarlet alter-ego Manhunter in the car. Despite the humor of the scene, let the nutbars beware, Kate's here.
The book probably would have ended with Kate being the object of admiration for Los Angeles. It would have ended excellently. Though as I said, I think Marc Andreyko, if he hears talk of impending cancellation, should kill Kate in a blaze of bloody glory where she takes down one of DC's upper tier nasties. Better that than for her to be raped, crippled and/or killed through barely symbolic phallic penetration by some misogynist hack who sees her only as cannon fodder.
Manhunter has been given a slight reprieve, and Andreyko adds an impressive cliffhanger that should attract even stubbornly habitual non-readers of Manhunter. Here again, Andreyko pays attention to what One Year Later means. I hope it's enough.
What did you think of this book?
Have your say at the Line of Fire Forum!