By: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray (story), Cat Staggs (pencils), Tom Derenick (inks), Jason Wright (colors)
The Story: How do superheroes vent their sexual frustration? By taking down mob bosses.
The Review: On the second day of my Property class, my professor told me that once we got more familiarity with the law, we’ll start seeing pop-up balloons, visible only to us, appear everywhere we go. We’ll see a stalled car preventing someone from backing out of their parking space and a balloon will pop up: “False Imprisonment?” A homeless person will squat on an empty lot: “Adverse Possession?” That kind of thing.
I had one of those pop-up balloons reading this issue. When Jen suggests that instead of risking lives (theirs and those of others) by amateurish vigilantism, they simply sneak into the Benders’ HQ and gather incriminating evidence, Dane protests, “None of that stuff would be admissible in court.” Actually, it would, I believe (and if I’m wrong, that bodes ill for my prospects at passing my Criminal Procedure final today). As far as I know, the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure would not apply to a private citizen, rather than a government official, who gathers incriminating evidence against a person. But then, would you consider Dane and Jen as agents of the government?
But that is neither here nor there. This is WCBR, not Law and the Multiverse! And anyway, even if it doesn’t make any legal sense, who cares? This is comic book law!
At any rate, if Dane and Jen aren’t government agents now, they certainly are destined to become them. The appearance of one Samuel* at the end of the issue, offering the couple a chance to join the Ray in serving their country. For a pretty momentous sort of event—at least, within the scheme of Freedom Fighters history—everyone treats the moment sort of breezily, but then it’s not like Jen or Dane really had any reasons to turn down the offer.
This issue reminds you just how little Palmiotti-Gray have developed our heroes’ backgrounds, aside from Jen’s origin story. The only real attachments either Jen or Dane have are to each other, and maybe that’s the most we can expect out of them. They do have a comfortable chemistry, based on a casual approach to sex. In a way, it’s kind of refreshing to have a comic where the young, attractive characters have the nasty business on their minds almost constantly.* It’s also a little annoying how that kind of thing makes up the bulk of their interactions.
As for the overarching plot, both antagonists get disposed of in fairly straightforward manner. Displaying a surpassing lack of foresight, Bender shuts down Funerella to take down Jen and Dane himself—and a mortal guy, however well-armed, against Jen’s shadow powers? Well, obviously, that doesn’t go so well. In fact, I see her ability to neutralize people in the Shadowland as a bit of overkill; even where telepaths try to mess with people’s minds that way, the victims can attempt to resist, an opportunity afforded to no one in the Shadowland.
Staggs continues to provide art whose quality is far in excess to that of the script. Her only misstep is underplaying certain moments, especially when Dane supposedly “dies.” The thing is, when Bender blows up the floor at Jen and Dane’s feet, it looks more like they’re jumping into the resulting hole, not falling. So it didn’t occur to me that Dane had actually gotten knocked out, rather yet “died,” which made Jen’s tearful reaction that much more confusing and unaffecting. Wright treats Staggs’ figures well, giving them a rich tone which makes them look more alive. Overall, the art has consistently impressed more than the story it depicted.
Conclusion: Easily forgettable. The only thing you need to get out of this mini is that Staggs deserves to strut her stuff on better material.
Grade: C
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: * Are we to assume that Uncle Sam is no longer a personification of our nation’s values, but rather an ordinary guy with codename, “Uncle Sam”? Or is it that Uncle Sam’s appearance changes as the face of America changes?
* Although in Dane’s case, it may just be because he’s been dry since he shrank. What hope can he possibly have of reciprocating pleasure? God, that’s terrible.
Grade
Conclusion