Justice League of America 11 (Of course, I read this first, duh; it featured Roy)
This was actually not what I'd expected. I didn't realize it would be just Roy and Mari. We don't see the building collapse and trap them, nor do we see them safe and on the way to the hospital (for sure), darn it. But what we got was tight, claustrophic (thanks to tightly drawn panels and lots of black space around the panels), and emotionally gripping. Even Turner's cover was tolerable. Gene Ha's art was more a series of tiny paintings than comic book illos and the effect worked well with Brad Meltzer's words (dialogue plus Roy's narration). I love how Roy stayed cool and kept Mari focused. I also was surprised at the shift in Mari's abilities and am intrigued by it. Nice issue. Nice look at two heroes.
Catwoman 69
Continuing the total destruction of Selina's personal life. Will Pfeifer is a sadist when it comes to Selina, but such a good writer. I was glad for the glimpse of Holly and loved Bruce's tenderness with Helena. But that car seat, I believe, should be facing the other way for a kid that young. At least it was in the back, where it should be. Wonderful cover. Can't wait to see how Selina gets out of this mess, or if she does. And I hope bad things don't happen to Helena.
More later.
I'm a little torn about Justice League. The art was lovely...what I could actually see of it. All the black between the panels took up a LOT of space. It was suitably claustrophobic however.
ReplyDeleteI also find it a little hard to believe that they couldn't tell they were actually upsidedown. Wouldn't the blood be rushing to their heads, or the sweat be running up or something?
It was nice to have Roy, and he did a good job calming down Mari and getting her to function. On the other hand, I'm surprised that she was such a basketcase. On the OTHER hand, at least now we know how she was able to run as fast as Jay, which did bother me.
I'm not sure about the upside down bit. It might have to do with the water pressure, plus the disorienting aspects of the ceiling and floor not being reliable as reference points.
ReplyDeleteI think Mari's panic can be excused if she's been feeling like a fraud due to her power issues.
It was a different kind of superhero issue, that's for sure.
Hey, Shelley!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I thought Brad M. did a nice job of conveying what being trapped like that might be like.
Man, it's tough to figure how Selina saves Gotham, isn't it?
Deep sea divers can become very disoriented like that as well, they have training that teaches them to watch which way the bubbles go so that they can find their way up. The pressure, shock and disorientation of suddenly waking up in pitch black in a very cramped enviroment could easily have disrupted their abilities to figure out which way was up. The artist had to draw the scene to allow usto see the characters, but it wasn't what the characters were seeing, they were in inky black darkness and much more cramped then it looked in the panels. It would have been unimaginably frightening.
ReplyDeleteThe issue had my heart raceing, the art was well done. It will be an issue I'll remember for a long time to come, its now my fav ever.
JLA -- It is not at all unusual, I believe, for people who are underwater to be disoriented regarding up and down. The tendency of some things to float -- pulling to the surface -- would give people the feeling that "toward the surface" is actually "down." In such a claustrophobic setting, where there was no real room to move, and there was pressure on all sides, that part did not bother me at all.
ReplyDeleteCatwoman -- I don't know how old Helena is supposed to be, but her verbal skills -- she can almost say "Batman"! -- indicates she may be at least a year old. That's the general guideline for turning the car seat from back-facing to front-facing.
Hi, Anon (wish you'd left a name),
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input. I had read about the bubbles and divers years ago, but had forgotten.
I'm going to get a second copy to keep with my "Roy" comics.