DCU Comic Book Reviews

MANHUNTER #26

Unleashed, Part 1:  The Lady In Question

February 2007

Written by Marc Andreyko

Pencils by Javier Pina

Inks by Robin Riggs

Covers by Art Adams and Phil Jimenez

Synopsis

At Big Bear Lake in California, Kate Spencer (aka Manhunter) is suddenly attacked by Wonder Woman.  One day earlier, Diana visited Kate’s offices and asked her to represent her in the trial for the murder of Maxwell Lord.  Diana knows that Kate is also Manhunter and believes the two have similar viewpoints on justice.  Meanwhile, Mark Shaw is in the Himalayas for reasons even he is not quite clear why.  When he shows the local a piece of paper, the local freaks out.  Mark then finds himself surrounded by Knights.  In Beechwood Canyon, Cameron Chase gets a phone call from her sister Terry.  She is in trouble; she has been kidnapped by Trapp.  Now...Wonder Woman and Manhunter finish their training exercise.  In Washington DC, an unknown man is angered when he learns Kate Spencer has been hired to defend Wonder Woman. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

The first thing that struck me about this issue is not the attention grabbing guest starring role from Wonder Woman, but the fact that Andreyko did not, at all, stray from the formula that has made Manhunter such a great comic.  It would be easy, especially with DC trying to promote this book (look, a variant cover!) to pull out the stops with action and surprises and twists and guest stars all over the place.  Andreyko resists the urges and sticks with the numerous characters that have made this book so enjoyable.  Thus, we get the continuing weird saga of Mark Shaw as well as the weird romance between Cam and Dylan.  (The only missing piece would be Obsidian, but that actually does not surprise me that much since he has accepted an invitation to join the Justice Society of America.)  Yes, the Wonder Woman scenes were good and I look forward to the trial and who is villain behind it all, but the true strength of this book is the characters and their lives and how well Andreyko brings these characters to life.  I am sooo glad he remained true to the book.  I really hope others discover the strengths of this book as well. 

I am not entirely sure if this is a good thing or not, but from what I understand the subplot featuring Cam and Trapp is actually a holdover from the short-lived Chase series in the late 90s.  Part of me finds it intriguing that Andreyko would revisit a six year-old plot holdover from a defunct series for a supporting character.  Yet, part of me wonders why he would dig up a six-year-old plot device, especially for a series that is trying to grab onto new readers. Eventually, Andreyko will need to write the exposition to explain the history of these characters and if not done right it could turn off some people to the subplot.

Comic Connection

Wonder Woman killed Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman, issue #219, which was part of the “Superman: Sacrifice” storyline that began in Superman, issue #219.

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