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January 24, 2005
Subway Reading: Manhunter and Madrox
Madrox #5 - This chapter concludes Peter David's Madrox series, and it does so in entertaining, satisfying fashion. I loved the tone of this book: it's self-aware superhero detective noir, with exciting action scenes balanced out by light-hearted dialogue. More often than not, multi-issue story arcs get bloated and slow in the middle (the current Daredevil arc, for example), or they start off great and peter out towards the end (District X comes to mind). With this Madrox series and his latest Fallen Angel arc, David has demonstrated that he knows how to avoid these common traps and build up to an ending chapter that truly feels like the climax of a story.
Over the course of these five issues, the art either grew on me or improved. The distractingly odd shadows largely disappeared, and the general rendering has tightened up considerably. The tight, closed-line style of penciller Pablo Raimondi and inker Drew Hennessy is still a bit stiff for my taste, but the storytelling is solid, and the expressive acting is a great complement to David's snappy characterization and dialogue. I would definitely recommend this entire arc to any superhero fans who are looking for a familiar story that is presented in a refreshingly unique and well-crafted manner. And isn't that exactly what superhero fans are looking for? 4 stars.
Manhunter #6 - I love the quality of inker Jimmy Palmiotti's line work, but there is something anatomically weird about penciller Jesus Saiz' people. He draws lithe, beautiful bodies, but the faces, heads, and necks in his close-up shots can get awkward. This disparity is a bit unusual; more often it's the other way around. Story-wise, I'm getting into the flow of this series. Writer Marc Andreyko is starting to give us some insight into protagonist Kate Spencer's morality and behavior. The series is very solidly grounded in the DC superhero world; in fact, it looks like the JLA will be around for a few issues as the Identity Crisis storyline has spilled over into this title. Luckily, Andreyko pulls this off without alienating casual DC fans like myself. All in all, this isn't the world's greatest comic by any means, but you could do a lot worse for your three bucks. 3.5 stars.
Posted by jdonelson_nyc at January 24, 2005 12:16 PM
Comments
"More often than not, multi-issue story arcs get bloated and slow in the middle (the current Daredevil arc, for example)"
What are you talking about? The current Daredevil arc didn't get slow in the middle...it was slow from the very start!
Posted by: Nevin at January 24, 2005 01:15 PM
I think the most accurate description would be that it started out slow, stopped, and is now actually moving in reverse.
Posted by: jdonelson_nyc at January 24, 2005 04:12 PM