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I read the whole thing last night. Well, I jumped around a bit, read later stuff first, then straight through from the beginning. I really did like it, and I can very much agree with the assessment that it drips a little with Doom Patrol goo. Doom Patrol that has gotten over its awkward adolescent body horror slop and is now into its first job, awkwardly trying to sound like an adult.
Vanity could be interesting to explore, I suppose. I don't think it excited me as much as it excites other people. I've been reading Robinson's Starman lately, and Opal feels a lot more solid to me than Morrison managed to make Vanity. Now, that said, obviously Robinson had more time/space to do so, but I think he fleshed Opal out quite quickly in terms of tone, while I still feel like Morrison was scrabbling a bit with this series. Well, Morrison and Millar.
How much did each contribute? Have they ever talked about it?
Partly it might have to do with making Vanity so bad. It felt bad, sure, but I never really got that it was any worse (it actually seemed better) than Gotham. There's been a trend to have a new "big bad city," Bludhaven and Vanity come to mind, that surpass Gotham. It never seems to work out and often seems to be more about telling rather than showing. Keeping in mind that as much as Opal was made a separate personality in a lot of ways, Robinson tended to romanticize it (like he did for everything) to the point of distracting me in my reading.
Favourite villain was probably the Lizard King. I like the implication of sidekicks gone bad, and the machines that sucked away one's goodness.
There's one panel of Aztek flying in front of a sea of his ancestors, previously Azteks or Unos, that's beautiful.
JLA recruitment issue was good, very Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead with the actual JLA recruitment stories. It felt very much like a quick wrap-up, get him into the new title in time for this one to be cancelled.
Dead man identity thing was cool, it's too bad we didn't get more done with that. Stupid cancellations. The Joker issues stand out, particularly the computer virus. Death-Doll. Maybe I like Death-Doll more than the Lizard King. Hmm.
I'm still thinking about it. |
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