Several months back, a reader sent me an email asking me if I had ever read Manhunter before and, if not, giving me a solid recommendation of the relatively obscure title. I couldn't find the actual email, as it must have gotten eaten with one of my filters, but I did eventually get around to taking him up on his recommendation and I'm here today to weigh in on what I thought of the first two trades of Manhunter.UPDATE - I got an email from the reader I mentioned above. I'd like to thank Robert Willing for sending me the original heads up several months ago and apologize for somehow losing the original email and my inability to credit him for it. Other people have recommended certain books and some have even recommended Manhunter, but his email was the original spark. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate anyone elses attempts to get me to pick this up or that I ignored you, either.
As always, feel free to drop me recommendations by email or in comments. I might not pick up on it right away, but I do take them into account whenever I find myself looking for a new series or have some extra cash floating around.
MANHUNTER TPB VOL 1 & 2Written by Marc Andreyko
Art by Jesus Saiz & Javier Pina
Manhunter is a title that got lost in the shuffle and chaos of DC's build up and promotion of Infinite Crisis and, outside a very brief OMAC cameo in the second volume, was left out in the cold in terms of advertising and promotion.
Suffice to say, after reading only the first two trades, which collect Manhunter #1-14 and only cost about $10 each on Amazon and probably similar at your local shop, I can safely say that this is now one of my favourite titles. I'd rank it up there with my fanlove of Immortal Iron Fist, Blue Beetle and the handful of other titles I seem to always heap praises on every month.
The premise of the book revolves around California prosecuter, Kate Spencer, who, after seeing another mass murdering metahuman, in this case, Copperhead, getting off on an insanity plea and avoiding the death penalty he so rightfully deserves. This leads her to procuring some confiscated equipment from a store room, hunting down and killing Copperhead, as seen on the left, as the new hero / anti-hero, Manhunter.
While this sounds like a cheap attempt at an anti-hero Punisher-like character for DC, it is far from it. Kate Spencer is a complex individual. She's a divorced mother who seems disinterested in her husband and even her son other than to fight with her ex over various custody issues. Kate is also a very cynical person and her complete indifference after her first kill as Manhunter, she seems almost to take satisfaction in her newfound power. She's not a maniacal, cackling villain or even a grim and gritty villain killer. It's a very natural progression and Andreyko does an amazing job with her personality to the point you can literally see this person, or someone like her, taking a similar path in real life, taking things into their own hands, minus the super powers of course. One such example of this is how she casually browses through random cases looking for her next target.
It is important to note that she doesn't, or at least not yet, take action on just anyone she sees fit to kill. In the issues I've read, it's made clear she only targets people that find ways to cheat the system, similar to how Copperhead did. She had the chance to kill another villain midway through the second storyarc and she chose to let him live, as he was already captured and was set to see trial. She points out she'd take care of him if the justice system failed.Furthermore, the series isn't just about killing and, to be honest, there's actually very little of it after the graphic first issue featuring Copperhead. Throughout the first two volumes, we get to learn a lot about Kate Spencer, what motivates her and see the beginnings of her super-hero career. She's not perfect, far from it, and she messes up on more than one occasion, even resulting in her son stumbling upon her shock lance, which ends up leading to the child being hospitilized.
Later issues showcase Kate enlisting the aid of a former supervillain tech wizard and current witness relocation program member she happened by by chance. Even later issues devle into the Manhunter legacy, of which there have been several different Manhunters, dating back to the Manhunters of Green Lantern fame.
This is all dealt with as Kate deals with the trial of Firestorm's muderer, which the Justice League, themselves, requested her aid in prosecuting. Andreyko does more to make me care about Firestorm's death than all of Infinite Crisis' shock value killing did. This isn't some super-hero tie-in or guest appearance. The Justice League were probably put in to try to boost sales, but Andreyko doesn't resort to a cheap tie-in and they are used sparingly and there is no mandatory super-hero battle here.Another great addition to this book was the introduction of other obscure DC characters, such as Power Company members and Cameron Chase, a character I remember falling off the face of the Earth way back when after she was first introduced (or at least I lost track of her, not sure where she eventually landed or if this is her official comeback story). Andreyko could have resorted to creating his own random characters, but small touches like this that pull from DC's past continuity are great for older readers and I imagine new readers see these as "new characters" or at least pick up that they have some significance due to previous events.
In conclusion, this is a great series that I'm ashamed to say I let fly under my radar, despite hearing nothing but good things about. I'm upset I lost the original email and name of the person that prompted me to pick this series up, but I thank him here, nonetheless, as I'm extremely pleased with this purchase.
Verdict - Must Read. If you have an extra $10 to spare, I think you owe it to yourself to give this series a shot. I don't think you'll regret it. I've already ordered the next two trades and can't wait for them to show up.
Interested in Manhunter? Check out these various Manhunter related trades from Amazon.com and help support The Weekly Crisis!
Manhunter
Follow each of us on Twitter:
4 comments:
I am interested in the series and have always heard good things about but I am worried about the new issues since they deal with immigration and politics don't always make for good comics. Based on what you read do you think they will be any good?
I've got all four trades already. I'd be really looking forward to the relaunch if not for Gaydos on art.
That was most likely me, staredcraft, nice to see you took my advice and read it
I gave the title a chance when they brought back Mark Shaw, the Manhunter from John Ostrander's run in the late 80's. Granted, it was trying to weave together some goofy elements from older Manhunter origins, like something about a cat-god, and Shaw being a bad guy, and turning it all into one big drug-addled, government-funded hallucination. I really didn't care for that then, and the exact same plot-device was hardly improved during David Finch's run on "Moon Knight".
At the end of that arc, nobody seemed bothered by the fact that Shaw ended up killing all of the previous Manhunters, and kept him on as a supporting character. I guess in the rush to get to "One Year Later", the writers wanted to concentrate on developing Kate's character & save the series, rather than get further bogged down with Shaw's character & continuity problems. IMHO, if a writer can't figure out a way to resolve continuity issues cleanly (like Kurt Busiek did with "Avengers Forever"), then please don't jump into that briar patch.
Post a Comment
Thanks for checking out the Weekly Crisis - Comic Book Review Blog. Comments are always appreciated. You can sign in and comment with any Google, Wordpress, Live Journal, AIM, OpenID or TypePad account.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.