Bonus comic review: Identity Crisis #4
Sep. 20th, 2004 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kingandyRead ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
batelf's copy of IDENTITY CRISIS #4 yesterday, so I'll slip in my oponions of this before your regularly scheduled monthly reviews. Because it's important, dammit.
I have mentioned before that 'Suspense for me these days is not "Ooh will she die?" but rather "Hey, maybe they'll pull a fast one and not kill her."' I will expand this to include surprise. When Metzler apparently killed Jean Loring at the end of #3 I was not surprised. I was not even particularly shocked. I was only a little disappointed. When he turned that around - from a shock twist ending into an actual cliffhanger with a believable "escape" clause - I was genuinely surprised that she had not died. Pulling a fast one indeed.
(Parenthesis: I say "believable". I've never found Atom's telephonic travel to be particularly believable, not since A-Level Physics showed us just how fast electrons travel to carry a current - not very fast at all, the point is the energy transference rather than the speed, like pushing on the back of a train and having the front carriage move immediately. The back carriage hasn't moved very far, but the motion - the "signal" - has leapt to the front of the train. Similarly, transmission of a signal down a telephone doesn't involve a single particle travelling from mouthpiece to receiver, but rather a wave of evergy passing from particle to particle. At least, that's the way it seems to me - that's probably grossly simplified - but it's not something a tiny man could ride in any sort of practical way. Still, given that it's been established Ray clearly can do this, whatever the mechanics, and given that there was an open phone line to his house when Jean lost consciousness, it's at least an internally consistent getout clause, which is what matters.)
Metzler, damn the man, currently has me stumped about where he's going. I'm 90% sure that the Calculator is the grand master here - as Oracle's opposite number he certainly has the contacts. By charging for his services he's also put himself in the position where he can hire some of his contemporaries personally. The League are looking for one man, or possibly a small Squad of known associates, but the Calculator has the resources to call on almost any vaguely mercenary villain in the DCU... I think turning corny old villains into formidable foes is one of my favourite gags (see Clock King's appearance in the lamentably short-lived Chase), so I give Metzler serious bonus points for that.
However, beyond that, I've got nothing. I don't know what Calculator's going for, unless the short-term benefits - grief and confusion in the ranks of the heroes, a boost in business and thus more cash - are the ends themselves. I don't know where the Captain Boomerang plot is going at all, though I'm sure it's going to be relevant because it's taking up valuable pages. I'm not even wholly convinced that Calc is behind it all, because Brad's set up and knocked down so many of his own pitfalls that I'm afraid to second-guess him - but Calculator is almost too obvious. Some threads have gone silent (Ralph Dibney gets only one panel this issue, and wasn't there something in the first issue about a theft and a teleporter? I must remember to look that up, given all the talk about teleporters), so may well pop back up to bite us in the ass later on. The one thing I'm sure of is that Lois Lane is not the next target. So far the attackers have taken advantage of the element of surprise; they gain nothing by warning her (and her husband). The aim of that letter is fear and confusion; confusion and fear. The point, here, is not "You're Next" but rather "I know who your huSband is" - it's saying, I could know who anyone's husband is. Nobody is safe.
Superman was a high point in this issue - spotting boy scout knots, while everybody else was analysing molecules, made me giggle. However, after pointing out that it's a not particularly obscure knot, tracking down "Slipknot" as the only person in the world who could possibly have used it is a bit of a stretch. I can see that using his favourite knot makes him a suspect, but since he's in jail... Everybody's standing around and gasping like the attacker used the Vulcan Nerve Pinch, and Mr Spock has an alibi so he must have taught it to somebody, right? Except, no, it's a common boy scout knot. Anyone could know it. But I'm not going to complain too much, since it gave us a fun Wonder Woman scene (Line of the issue: "She could pull you through those bars. Even if you don't fit").
Continuing with Superman: I'm not one to overanalyse symbolism in comics, but the shot of Clark in Kansas - holding up the tractor, wearing dungarees and those round-rimmed glasses with his hair slicked back - was so very much like his first appearance in Kingdom Come that it has to be at least a homage. It may even be something deeper, a direct reference in order to evoke the same mood or resonate with that epic work. Or something. Either way, it was cool.
Which brings me to the art of the issue. I often don't feel the need to comment on art, because I don't know what to say about the good stuff and feel awkward bitching about the bad (as an amateur myself I am conscious that these people are better than I), but my eye was drawn this month so I feel compelled to note that it's fine. Very fine indeed. I got a real sense of solidity and depth, and composition was good enough for me to notice it. I was particularly impressed, however, by the colouring. It's an area that has been described too often as underappreciated, but there was some astonishingly good work going on subtly in the background here, in tandem with the inks; emphasising some lines with stark black and softening others with dark colours. What really got me was the glasses. Just the right amount of tint, filter, colour and distortion to look oh so very much like real glass. So a brief huzzah for the colourists, whoever the hell they may be.
I am eagerly awaiting the next issue, if only because the writer is managing to keep me guessing, and interested enough to bother guessing.
batelf's copy of IDENTITY CRISIS #4 yesterday, so I'll slip in my oponions of this before your regularly scheduled monthly reviews. Because it's important, dammit.I have mentioned before that 'Suspense for me these days is not "Ooh will she die?" but rather "Hey, maybe they'll pull a fast one and not kill her."' I will expand this to include surprise. When Metzler apparently killed Jean Loring at the end of #3 I was not surprised. I was not even particularly shocked. I was only a little disappointed. When he turned that around - from a shock twist ending into an actual cliffhanger with a believable "escape" clause - I was genuinely surprised that she had not died. Pulling a fast one indeed.
(Parenthesis: I say "believable". I've never found Atom's telephonic travel to be particularly believable, not since A-Level Physics showed us just how fast electrons travel to carry a current - not very fast at all, the point is the energy transference rather than the speed, like pushing on the back of a train and having the front carriage move immediately. The back carriage hasn't moved very far, but the motion - the "signal" - has leapt to the front of the train. Similarly, transmission of a signal down a telephone doesn't involve a single particle travelling from mouthpiece to receiver, but rather a wave of evergy passing from particle to particle. At least, that's the way it seems to me - that's probably grossly simplified - but it's not something a tiny man could ride in any sort of practical way. Still, given that it's been established Ray clearly can do this, whatever the mechanics, and given that there was an open phone line to his house when Jean lost consciousness, it's at least an internally consistent getout clause, which is what matters.)
Metzler, damn the man, currently has me stumped about where he's going. I'm 90% sure that the Calculator is the grand master here - as Oracle's opposite number he certainly has the contacts. By charging for his services he's also put himself in the position where he can hire some of his contemporaries personally. The League are looking for one man, or possibly a small Squad of known associates, but the Calculator has the resources to call on almost any vaguely mercenary villain in the DCU... I think turning corny old villains into formidable foes is one of my favourite gags (see Clock King's appearance in the lamentably short-lived Chase), so I give Metzler serious bonus points for that.
However, beyond that, I've got nothing. I don't know what Calculator's going for, unless the short-term benefits - grief and confusion in the ranks of the heroes, a boost in business and thus more cash - are the ends themselves. I don't know where the Captain Boomerang plot is going at all, though I'm sure it's going to be relevant because it's taking up valuable pages. I'm not even wholly convinced that Calc is behind it all, because Brad's set up and knocked down so many of his own pitfalls that I'm afraid to second-guess him - but Calculator is almost too obvious. Some threads have gone silent (Ralph Dibney gets only one panel this issue, and wasn't there something in the first issue about a theft and a teleporter? I must remember to look that up, given all the talk about teleporters), so may well pop back up to bite us in the ass later on. The one thing I'm sure of is that Lois Lane is not the next target. So far the attackers have taken advantage of the element of surprise; they gain nothing by warning her (and her husband). The aim of that letter is fear and confusion; confusion and fear. The point, here, is not "You're Next" but rather "I know who your huSband is" - it's saying, I could know who anyone's husband is. Nobody is safe.
Superman was a high point in this issue - spotting boy scout knots, while everybody else was analysing molecules, made me giggle. However, after pointing out that it's a not particularly obscure knot, tracking down "Slipknot" as the only person in the world who could possibly have used it is a bit of a stretch. I can see that using his favourite knot makes him a suspect, but since he's in jail... Everybody's standing around and gasping like the attacker used the Vulcan Nerve Pinch, and Mr Spock has an alibi so he must have taught it to somebody, right? Except, no, it's a common boy scout knot. Anyone could know it. But I'm not going to complain too much, since it gave us a fun Wonder Woman scene (Line of the issue: "She could pull you through those bars. Even if you don't fit").
Continuing with Superman: I'm not one to overanalyse symbolism in comics, but the shot of Clark in Kansas - holding up the tractor, wearing dungarees and those round-rimmed glasses with his hair slicked back - was so very much like his first appearance in Kingdom Come that it has to be at least a homage. It may even be something deeper, a direct reference in order to evoke the same mood or resonate with that epic work. Or something. Either way, it was cool.
Which brings me to the art of the issue. I often don't feel the need to comment on art, because I don't know what to say about the good stuff and feel awkward bitching about the bad (as an amateur myself I am conscious that these people are better than I), but my eye was drawn this month so I feel compelled to note that it's fine. Very fine indeed. I got a real sense of solidity and depth, and composition was good enough for me to notice it. I was particularly impressed, however, by the colouring. It's an area that has been described too often as underappreciated, but there was some astonishingly good work going on subtly in the background here, in tandem with the inks; emphasising some lines with stark black and softening others with dark colours. What really got me was the glasses. Just the right amount of tint, filter, colour and distortion to look oh so very much like real glass. So a brief huzzah for the colourists, whoever the hell they may be.
I am eagerly awaiting the next issue, if only because the writer is managing to keep me guessing, and interested enough to bother guessing.
