By: Nick Spencer (writer), Joe Eisma (artist), Alex Sollazzo (colors), Johnny Lowe (letters) & Jade Dodge (editor)
The Story: Another new face shows up at the Morning Glories Academy and it isn’t really clear whose side she is on.
What’s Good: I’ve been urging this enjoyable series for a few months to “get on with it” and reveal some mysteries. This issue was a little odd. Now that I’m finished, I can’t really put my fingers on any big mysteries that were solved, but for some reason, I walked away from the issue feeling as if I’d learned some good stuff. I’m not really sure why that was and it could be as simple as I might have been in a better state of mind when I read the comic, but the fact remains that I felt fulfilled when I put this down instead of feeling teased. Some if it was little stuff like the fact that Ms. Daramount’s first name is Georgina.
I still feel as if I reread this series from the beginning with a notepad, I might learn some stuff and I have a feeling that when the mysteries are revealed in the end, that the signs will have been there since the beginning if you knew were to look. That’s a good feeling to have about a series like this.
One very positive thing in this issue is that it touches base with a LOT of the main characters. For a while, we’ve been in a cycle where the action is heavily focused on a singular character. We have learned some juicy tidbits about the characters this way, but losing contact with the rest of the characters has been tricky because I still don’t feel like I have instant recall of even what their names are yet. But, in this issue we check in with just about everyone and it serves as a good reminder of who everyone is in this very complex story.
And what a cool new character we get in this issue. Is Miss Hodge a teacher? Is she in charge of the place? An ally for the students? Who knows, but she is intriguing.
Again the art is a high point. I know that I repeat myself every month, but Eisma has such a great handle on body language that you can tell quickly whether a character is aloof, chagrined, angry, etc. His characters are never just striking dramatic poses. And his crisp and clean style really matches well with the MG story that takes place in this faux-idyllic school. It’s really nice art that has guided this series through some rough patches in the story.
What’s Not As Good: Still not a lot of answers. While I mentioned above that I felt like I got some answers in this issue, most of the answers were to questions that didn’t exist when I opened the issue. Call that clever scripting by Spencer, but even though I felt fulfilled getting an answer to things like the nature of the relationship between Ms. Hodge and Ms. Daramount, the BIG mysteries of the series remain opaque as hell.
Conclusion: This was a breath of fresh air for the series as we met a pretty optimistic seeming new character and got some answers, even if they weren’t the answers we were looking for. The art remains a real plus for the series due to the characters’ wonderful acting.
Grade: B+
-Dean Stell
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