Review: Mother Panic #4
By Philip Schweier
May 5, 2017 - 14:08
DC Comics
Writer(s): Jody Houser
Artist(s): Shawn Crystal
Colourist(s): Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Letterer(s): John Workman and Shawn Crystal
Cover Artist(s): Tommy Lee Edwards; variant by Shawn Crystal and Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Mother
Panic has a grudge against those who placed her in a Catholic boarding school
as a child. As someone who served eight years in Catholic school, I can
understand the mind games, though I never suffered the physical abuse Violet
Paige did. Still, in Gotham City, THAT”s her beef? Not street thugs, not drug
lords, not costumed super-villains. It’s the man who mentioned Gather House to
her older brother.
But apparently Gather House was a center for human experiments and other sorts of nastiness, so I won’t dwell on it. But in her pursuit for personal justice, Violet is willing to ally herself seemingly with anyone who shares her grievances. In this issue, it’s man whose face is described as “too perfect.” Rather than the typical disfiguring scar, it’s been rendered amazingly beautiful, borderline feminine. But men don’t have feminine features, so it’s not perfect.
I chalk that up to a failing of the artist, Shawn Crystal. Otherwise I like the illustrations. In some panels I detect a strong influence of Will Eisner in the rendering, and that’s never a bad thing, in my opinion.
Back-up feature “Radio Gotham” continues, with revelations coming to light. Fans of Steve Ditko will be pleased to see a link to DC’s Odd Man character of the late 1970s. I can only presume a resurrection is forthcoming.