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Read #4 on the day of, but only insofar as to get the gist; reread it this morning at the laundromat (as is my way) with a closer eye to detail.
The Spirit makes rather a habit of being handcuffed to women he both dislikes and is attracted to; so soon after the first issue's sewer (ah, sewers & tunnels with handcuffs) with Ginger Coffee, I'm left hoping against hope that Mister Cooke can break out of this particular formula before he's crushed under the weight of his own cliches. What's experimental once doesn't necessarily carry the same adjective the second time, and with a comic like this stale lurks around every corner. That said, it is a straightforward and to-the-point way of demonstrating and examining Denny's strong commitment issues, which are more humanistic to my eyes than, say, Batman scribbling "I must be alone on this lonely crusade," over and over again down a chalkboard. Denny being handcuffed to beautiful women who are also demonstrably more competent than he is suggests things about his relationship with Ellen (who also shows him up on her own) and maybe she should think about handcuffing their wrists together to get him to stop disappearing on her so they can have a quiet night in like grown-ups. Might also keep his eyes on her when P'gell saunters onto the panel again. Perhaps this handcuffing will prove a leitmotif.
The last page mirrors Denny's origin succinctly and suggests that he can't be bothered to remember his own origin, recapped just an issue before, with regard to supporting cast members possibly dying but we can't see their body. Seriously, Colt's an idiot playing detective. Silk Satin's final word states succinctly who she needs: herself. She doesn't need anybody to pull her out, doesn't need to have a dramatic resurrection scene, she's going to just quietly keep her eyes on the mysterious Octopus and follow him. Catch him.
I really don't want Elvarro to be the Octopus, but something itches in me that this is the way Cooke's pushing.
I'm still unsure of the scene with Silk kissing Spirit in the tunnel. It's awkwardly written - she knows he's breathing so she doesn't have to perform CPR, but given that she's trying to wake him up and then feels creepy using the sex appeal (which is a really good piece of character work), the whole thing comes off like she's suddenly overwhelmed by the situation & the Spirit's good looks rather than employing a tool she's uncomfortable using. Her attraction to him is interesting, how it's played, sometimes a little too forced but I like that she's a female doppleganger to the Spirit - their names are both insubstantial and epheremal-seeming, they both have death/rebirth/clawing-out-of-grave scenes, they both have a problem with femme/homme fatales (each to each other, of course).
Hussein Hussein seems problematic to me. I can't decide if he's demonstrating enough of a fleshed character to me or if he stands to become a thematic reincarnation of Ebony White Mark I while Ebony gets to be a real boy. |
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