DCU Comic Book Reviews

SHADOWPACT #6

The Wild Hunt

December 2006

Written by Bill Willingham

Pencils by Corey Walker

Inks by Corey Walker

Cover by Corey Walker

Synopsis

In Gotham, Ragman and Enchantress have just defeated Blue Moon, who was attempting to assassinate the members of Shadowpact.  After the authorities take Blue Moon away, another assassin arrives in the form the Wild Huntsman and his pack of dogs.  The Wild Huntsman defeats Ragman and Enchantress and then places collars on them, turning them into hellhounds.  At the Oblivion Bar, Jim Rook talks to Eddie Deacon about getting his bar back, but Eddie refuses to budge.  He will, however, allow Shadowpact to use one of the back rooms.  Meanwhile, Blue Devil and Nightshade arrive in Gotham to help Ragman and Enchantress.  Using his trident, Blue Devil sends the Wild Huntsman back to hell.  The hellhounds follow the Huntsman, except for the Ragman-hound and the Enchantress-hound, who remain in Gotham  Seeing them, Blue Devil thinks the hounds ate their friends.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

To date, this series has been a great read and this issue is no exception.  Some good action, some witty and funny moments, and a great realization from Jim rook that the team needs to get their act together.  Great stuff.  I wish Cory Walker could stay on this book full time.  His art (seen also in number three) is the best of the different pencilers so far.

One thing that I found amusing was that Blue Devil was told by the Wild Huntsman (“when I transform you into one of my hounds”) what happened to Ragman and Enchantress, yet he still thinks they were eaten by the dogs.  Sometimes it helps to listen to the bad guy.

Although I have never seen Batman:  The Animated Series, the character of Flippy (the carnival attraction) is apparently taken from that show.  I am not sure if that means the older Eddie Deacon was also presented in the show or not.  It is interesting that the flash back scenes with Batman show him with the yellow background so we can infer that the tv series was from an earlier point in both Batman’s career and Flippy’s career. 

Do we really need the Phantom Stranger at the beginning of every issue telling us about the forces of magic and standing on the brink and all that stuff?  Does it even add anything to the comic?  These are stories about people surrounded by magic.  Adding weight to the story doesn’t do much, unless there is a point down the road that will affect the entire DCU and this is the set-up for that.  In which case, I don’t mind the intro. 

There is one icky part to this issue that makes me almost want to toss this issue against the wall:  the powers of Blue Moon.  Here we have a woman who gains powers “one a month.”  So, essentially she gains her power once a month, but when it is over, she pays her debt to society or in essence retains no moral culpability.  I am not sure what Willingham is going for here, a laugh or a comment about a woman’s cycle.  Either way, it doesn’t work.

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