Welcome back Welcome to Tranquility, it’s good to have you with us again! This title took a leap in quality this month, bringing back Gail Simone’s little super powered town to the quality it was at the beginning. As for story itself, it is still stuck in a poor zombie-type escapade that has been going on for too long, but the things that made this series really different and refreshing are back. This issue sees the return of many characters that have not been present for some time and it’s a joy to see them again. There is also some integration of the nostalgic panels that were formally used to flesh out the town of Tranquility and its inhabitants. Great characters and great art come to help out this series that has been struggling for a few issues. Now, if only the miniature stories at the back of each issue would be replaced with something that actually works, this issue would be almost flawless.
Welcome to Tranquility #11 starts with a battle between to elderly neighbors for a most precious prize: an apple! Reading the first page reminded me why I looked forward to this series six months ago, where else in comic books do you get this sort of interaction? Simone presented her readers with a fresh look on super-heroes and their lives. While the fight ends quickly enough, this scene was enough to invoke those memories in me and look forward to the rest of the issue. Over the next few pages, Simone brings back almost all of the original cast in explosive ways. New readers will probably not feel as much excitement at this, but if those readers stick with this series now, a pleasant surprise is waiting. Simone’s elderly characters are the backbone of the whole series, just seeing them again is great. It is unfortunate that Simone decided, then, to put in a character from Gen 13 instead of one of the citizens of Tranquility instead. The presence of Roxanne feels like an advertisement for another Wildstorm series, but thanks to the other great characters hogging the attention in this issue, she stays in the background.
The art by Neil Googe continues to fir the feel and events of Welcome to Tranquility wonderfully. A bit animated and exaggerated without being too over the top. Really nothing to say, actually. Googe has been consistent in his work. I really enjoyed the coffee stain on one page, it added to the whole experience.
As for the back-up story that occupies the last six pages of the issue, I’m getting very tired of these. Every single one has been a complete lack of space, this one just as much as the others. Yet another origin story for a character that has not played an important role in the whole series takes away from pages that could have been used in the actual story. Simone used to give readers very brief, usually one or two pages, origin or back-up stories that were imbedded into the main story. These served as brief interludes and were extremely effective. The stories now taking up the final pages of each issue are longer and concern only very minor players. As for this story specifically, it is an advertisement for manga. Also, for a writer known for her strong representation of female characters, this story does quite the opposite. The female protagonist is a typical unattractive, and therefore must be unconfident, high school student with a crush on a boy who treats her like she doesn’t exist. She then gains confidence randomly and displays it by wearing more revealing clothing and randomly kissing the aforementioned boy. The story is insulting, offensive, and the overall quality of the whole issues suffers for it.
6/10 The series is experiencing a revival, returning to what made it great. The back-up story is pathetic, which causes this drop in grade. Without it, this issue would easily be an 8.5.
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