DCU Comic Book Reviews

MANHUNTER #23

Psychobabble, Part Four:  Phantom Pain

August 2006

Written by Marc Andreyko

Pencils by Javier Pina & Diego Olmos

Inks by Fernando Blanco

Cover by Javier Pina

Synopsis

Cameron Chase has been attacked by “Sweeny Todd” a mysterious man killing woman with a shaving blade.  Chase is able to get away and call Kate, who had just defeated Kilg%re, to come and rescue her.  Meanwhile, Peter is reprimanding his son for fighting at school when Julie announces she is about to go into labor.  Elsewhere, Talia al Ghul telepathically tells Dr. Psycho he will accept the verdict of the courts; the society will not come to rescue him.  Dr. Psycho is not happy.  Later, Kate gets a call from Dr. Mid-Nite.  He has the DNA results and provides Kate with the address of her grandma.  When Kate gets there, she finds out her grandma was the first Phantom Lady.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“Oh, isn’t that lovely?  He’s still able to run Windows XP...in his head!

First, the good news:  DC decided to reverse the cancellation of this series, so it will continue beyond issue #25.  Second, the bad news, it will only go on for another 5 issues before it will get canceled again, unless sales somehow pick up in the next 7 issues.  Personally, I hope so, because this is one of the constantly best books out there.

Do you want to know how good Manhunter really is?  I actually got annoyed that a pay-off scene was not included in this issue and that scene has nothing to do with the either the main plot or the main character.  This had nothing to do with Kate or Dr. Psycho or even Sweeny Todd.  Yet, I wanted more.  It is the scene when Dylan meets Chase at the restaurant.  I want to know what her reaction was when he walked in.  I want to know what happened.  But, the scene gets truncated for the ending scene with Kate and her grandma, which, by the way, was a wonderful moment.  And I’m not upset that something was added to the detriment of what I wanted to read.  Actually, I just wish there was more than just 22 pages.  What both of these scenes show, and what the series has consistently delivered, is sharp characterization.  These characters live and breathe; they do not come across as pawns in the plot, but actual people.  The best example of that is the diner scene, which made me think that this is the type of talk similar to those I have experienced.  The dialogue at the diner was not only fun, but it also managed to provide exposition for those who may not know who Sweeny Todd is (like me) or do not care to do research (unlike me).  In this issue, as with most of the issues, there are about a half a dozen or so plot lines within 22 pages and all are handled so well that I barely noticed how much is crammed between the covers.  And I want more.

Buy Manhunter.

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