Writer: Mark Andreyko
Artists: Javier Pina(p), Robin Riggs(i), Jason Wright(c)
Publisher: DC Comics
Contrary to popular belief, I do not fall in love with every female super-hero in comics. I loathe the generic Huntress. She is an abysmal replacement for the original. I'm not gaga over Renee Montoya or the lesbian Batwoman.
The main problem with the characters I list as least is that they are written as plywood with boobs. They're either plot devices or hollow filler and never seem to live and breathe in the pages. When Dwayne McDuffie or Grant Morrison writes the Huntress, I'm rapt. When Renee Montoya makes an arrest in Batman: The Animated Series I take an interest. In comics though, these characters ninety-eight percent of the time leave me cold.
I raise the issue for a reason. I read quite a bit of Rucka's run in Detective Comics, and apart from three issues, I wasn't very impressed by it. Toward the end, Rucka introduced a new character named Sasha Bordeaux who was to serve as Bruce Wayne's bodyguard. She eventually took on a costumed identity and called herself Cover, an astoundingly poorly chosen code name. Bordeaux was written as having zero personality, zero skill and zero history. She meant nothing to me.
Sasha Bordeaux cameos in this issue of Manhunter. Marc Andreyko in the two pages devoted to her cameo makes Bordeaux more interesting than even her creator allegedly attempted to make her. Andreyko, with Pina and Riggs, gives her distinctive body language. The creative team gives her a life outside of the panels by showing her workout bench in the background and a bit of a mess on the floor. They give her intensity in the way she follows the Trial of Wonder Woman, and Andreyko creates a specific way she speaks and thinks. A character that was complete cardboard suddenly gains life in Manhunter.
Andreyko is a master of characterization, and he doesn't just reserve this skill for Sasha. He demonstrates Kate Spencer's killer instincts in the courtroom. He shows her elegantly handling the prosecution, the judge and the media. He transcribes thoughtful interaction between Kate and Wonder Woman. He even considers what the characters will eat and drink. Wonder Woman likes Hibiscus Tea. Who knew? I didn't, but it fits her character.
Andreyko tends to use traditional techniques for dual purposes. He creates scenes that inform the reader but also give depth to the characters. They don't just lie there on the pages. In a scene where Kate and Diana have lunch, Andreyko illustrates that the former goddess of truth sees moral issues in stark contrasts. Kate on the other hand notes the subtle grays that give her pursuit of justice meaning, and the lunch itself is meant to be a tool in Kate's arsenal against the prosecution.
Andreyko while adding characters from the DCU, does not forget the characters that he created or borrowed to fine effect. In this issue of Manhunter, he strengthens the relationship between Dylan and Chase. He expands on her history while setting up next issue's big Bat guest-star. He gives weight and substance to Mark Shaw's subplot by utilizing a largely untouched parcel of DC continuity, also tied into Bat-lore. Here is an author who understands what continuity means.
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