Sunday, January 07, 2007

Manhunter #27

Manhunter #27
You gotta love that cover. Seriously! If you were even the slightest bit pissed about Countdown, you've really got to love that cover. And it does such a great job of lampooning current comics with their not-so-secret big reveals on the last page: Spider-Man unmasks? Wait, didn't I read that he was going to in the New York Times? Supergirl joins the Legion of Superheroes? Gee, it's not like the title gave it away or anything! The other Nightwing is Jason Todd? Nice of the next issue box to tell us! So this issue ends with the return(?!!) of Blue Beetle Ted Kord and sets up a new story, while furthering the main story of Kate's defense of Wonder Woman. One of the reporters outside the Grand Jury courthouse asks a question which still hasn't really been made clear in any of the books: what happened to Diana's diplomatic immunity? I suppose we'll find out, but I'm guessing that she's surrendered it voluntarily in the hopes of restoring her name.
Also, Cameron Chase's father was a superhero, and she's got meta powers [Edit: apparently she's been portrayed in the past as having the subconcious ability to negate meta powers when under stress]; Mark Shaw may become the new Azrael (interesting, since Kate uses Az-Bat's gauntlets); Sasha Bordeaux thinks that the video of Wonder Woman snapping Max Lord's neck is a doctored phony - which leads one to wonder what she believes the truth to be.
Another EXCELLENT issue of a truly EXCELLENT title. If you aren't reading Manhunter yet, then shame on you. It's because of you that quality comics get cancelled while piss poor periodicals proliferate. Read Manhunter!
Edit: [Okay, so I did some research since writing this. Apparently, it was revealed that Cameron Chase's father was the hero named Acro-Bat in Chase #6, which was supposed to be a peripheral Bat-title. Yeah, I didn't read it either. Apparently nobody did, and it was cancelled without any fanfare after ten issues, the tenth of which was #1,000,000. What a way to go. Anyways, it's interesting to note that one of the members of Walter Chase's team was the Bronze Wraith, later to be known as the Martian Manhunter! This was revealed in the likewise short-lived Martian Manhunter series, though several more people actually read that one. Cameron's father appeared in flashbacks in two issues of that series. And that's it. He hasn't been mentioned anywhere else, before or since, in the entirety of the DCU, and neither has any other member of the Justice Experience (except for its Bronze Wraith, of course). The only member besides Wraith in the JE with any apparent superpowers was Song Bird, who had wings and could fly. They were to be a continuity implant meant to fill the void in the 60's and 70's when there were few or no other active superheroes. Had the book which introduced them not been speedily cancelled, and their name not sucked ass, we might have seen more of them over the years. I'm impressed that Andreyko was familiar with this forgotten piece of DCU lore. Even the usual sources don't have very much more than I was able to present herein, so, kudos.]

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