"That thing that inspires people-" - On "AKA Jessica Jones", Empowered and Joss Whedon

(Bear with me here, as this is sort of a shaggy dog and I haven't blogged in a VERY long time.)

So, I recently heard that one of my favorite comic book series featuring one of my favorite "superheroines" (retired as she was) is hitting the small screen. Jessica Jones, ex-superheroine, Private Investigator, hard-drinking badass who is so much more awesome than she gives herself credit for getting a TV show? My mind was blown. I found it it was going to be called "AKA Jessica Jones" which is fine, as it can't be called "Alias" of course, due to there already being a show called that. I then heard who was making it - the gal who wrote "Twilight" and did some work with the "Birds of Prey" TV Series (and, marginally to her credit, the TV Show Dexter). And it was going to be on ABC rather than a cable network. As another blogger put it "no F-bombs for Jessica [...] is like Batman without his Batarangs". My enthusiasm kinda curdled after hearing all of that.

It's not that Jessica Jones has to be crude to be great. She just has to be herself - refreshingly human, swears and all. This is a character that responds to being saved from drowning by a Norse God with vomiting and swearing, not wonder and alliteration. I hold some slight hope that she'll make the transition intact. There have been great, troubled female characters who fight crime on TV - Sarah Shahi's Detective Dani Reese on "Life" comes to mind just a for example (if you liked the comic book series 52, I highly recommend that show). I just care so much about Jessica Jones' character that she's actually one of my favorite superheroines. She makes my Top 5, easy, both as the messy character she was and as the loving, confident and fierce heroine she has become. And all this thought of "Can they adapt her successfully to a mainstream TV show?" led me to other two other big thoughts.

Thought One: Why do I care so damn much if this show sucks?

Thought Two: What TV Show with a Superheroine would really work the best on Cable?

The answer to the first one was sort of obvious - Jessica Jones is not a cipher. She's portrayed as a human being, one I can empathize with because she not only makes mistakes, she makes mistakes KNOWING that they're mistakes. She drinks, she has self-worth issues, she does the right thing but rarely gives herself enough credit. I see a lot of myself in her and every triumph she painstakingly makes in the course of her series, the redemptive arc she travels, all of it feels celebratory in a personal way I don't get reading Superman or Batman*. She makes an impression and she gets over her worst fear on her own terms. That's important. And when I thought about who else I wanted to get a TV show, one of my other Top 3 Superheroines came to mind - Empowered. And a light went off in my head.

There was a poet who said "the only ones for me are the mad ones". For me, in many ways, the only ones are the struggling ones.**

Jessica Jones and Empowered might not seem to have a lot in common. Jessica Jones is an embittered PI who quits the Superhero gig after a nightmarish experience. Empowered - Elissa Megan Powers - is a superheroine whose often tetchy supersuit leaves her with a D-list reputation but is fanatically determined to rise above it and become an A-lister. One wears street clothes, the other is forced to wear what is essentially a meta-commentary on slutty superheroine outfits. One's full of bitterness that butts against her inner optimism and heroism, while the other's optimism and heroism fights against bitterness that would stop any sane person from trying to do good at all.

Both of them have one thing happen in their first volumes - men don't take them seriously. Their lives are unsavory and unhappy at the start. But later, the same people who dismiss them are much worse off for it.

Jessica Jones gets dismissed by two male cops, grilled by a vindictive police detective, attacked by a man who practically has "manhandle" in his name. Empowered gets trussed up, captured, dismissed as a worthless excuse for a superheroine and damn near believes the hype. At the end of their first arcs, however, Jessica's tracked down the men who thought they could use her to their own ends while Emp has effortlessly saved her new boyfriend from death. Neither win is a clean win done on their own . . . but on the same token neither one of them realizes just how much better, noble and good they are, how much more awesome than they give themselves credit for at the end of their stories. And with each story after that, these women become more self-aware, self-assured and do more good for themselves and others. Best of all? Love, a BFF girlfriend and slow, gradual increases of self-esteem help them along the way. There are obvious differences but I still love them both for putting the "Human" into "Superhuman".

I love characters who both show realistic flaws and grow as people. Women who are complex and have more power than they realize illustrate to people who aren't perfect that they don't have to be Wonder Woman to make the world and themselves better. I would kill for a Jessica Jones show on cable but I'll settle for a show with her on ABC if it's done right. If she's still flawed, human, gutsy, brave and full of bite and strength. But you know who else I'd love to see get the TV series treatment? Empowered. And I would want it to be done by Joss Whedon.

So, why him?

While I know the upcoming Avengers film is his current focus, I think Empowered would be the perfect vehicle for Joss Whedon - one way or the other. I disliked Dollhouse but was never sure if the distasteful premise would have been better if, as Whedon claimed, he got to use it to say things he wanted to say about women being seen and used as sex objects (he has been quoted as saying Fox backed away from the sex and demanded generic action, much to his chagrin). That's the thing about Joss Whedon, tho'. For every complex, contradictory and awesome Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg or River Tam, there's the punishment of damn near every character who seems to have sex or a happy adult relationship. All his fine speeches seem to butt up against a strange cruelty to his characters and an odd streak of tawdriness. Call them Companions, call them Dolls - I call it kinda fishy and off-putting. Even Buffy Season 8 has Dawn being punished for sex across several issues, has Buffy and Angel's frantic coupling result in demons pouring forth to wreak havoc and inflict death. While I have loved Firefly/Serenity, Angel, Astonishing X-Men and many other of his works I honestly want to see Joss Whedon's "Empowered" on a cable network . . . just so he'd have absolutely no excuses and nowhere to hide how he really feels about sex and the women who have it.

Much like Jessica Jones, Empowered is a character who has sex when she feels bad about herself but unlike Jessica, the sex is never demeaning or nihilistic (although one could argue they both use it as "comfort food"). Her boyfriend loves and respects the hell out of her. He was a bad guy, a minion and worse, but meeting Empowered on the job and seeing her genuine earnestness, her heart and determination turned him over to the side of good. Another of her best friends is Ninjette, former Ninja-for-hire also turned to the side of the angels after talking to her. Even a Demonic Galactic Overlord of Kirby-esque dimensions she captures in a belt-shaped device becomes a dear friend via Stockholm Syndrome and teary bonding over DVDs . . . of Buffy Season 5 (among other shows but, well, there you are).

Sure, there's problematic things about Empowered. Unlike Jessica Jones, Empowered is forced to endure being dismissed as sexualized ideal, a blonde in a skimpy superheroine outfit. She has to fight to be taken seriously every time she goes out to try and make the world better. Every woman who's been dismissed as just a face, an ass, a set of breasts, ect while striving to do a job better than her male coworkers can empathize with her. And for all of Joss Whedon's flaws, Buffy Summers was his angry response to the idea that the blonde who has sex and is fun and funny deserves to be murdered for it in the most gruesome way possible. Buffy Summers was a beautiful blonde girl who was also human, heartbreaking and complex. Buffy came from one man seeing the blonde girl who was just a sexy prop designed to be murdered and his getting angry, his saying "No more." Empowered came from Adam Warren being told to draw a prop, a supergirl tied up, bound and helpless, and demanding instead that people see a beautiful, heroic human being with a heart. Jessica Jones' worst nightmare, the thing that drove her away from embracing her power, was being reduced to a servant and prop for a controlling madman. Alias was the story of her coming back from that experience stronger than before, with a raw, angry voice that would not be denied. That was the story Brian Michael Bendis set out to tell with her and it was a necessary story that I felt was amazingly told.

There's a reason I love all of these characters, problems be damned. They're heroines who were created in order to stand up and refuse to be labeled as "just the sexy girl".

This is why I'd love to see Whedon write Empowered. Just to see what would happen. Could Whedon finally write a character who saves the day and still has sex as part of a happy couple? Could he do it without strange, unsavory undercurrents? Lord knows, I think it would be revealing as all hell to find out.

But back to the matter that started all these thoughts - will AKA Jessica Jones be an amazing tour de force or another bland Birds of Prey? I'm hopeful that she'll be every inch as vibrant, as damaged and as wonderful as we know she has been. I'm hopeful that we, as viewers, will be able to be taken on a similar journey where she learns just how powerful she can be and just how much strength she has inside. I don't even need to know she'll be swearing - I just need to trust that she'll still have her own voice - loud, brassy and refusing to be silenced. And every time she wins, we win by proxy.

Whether it's Buffy Summers, Elissa Megan Powers or Jessica Jones, I want to hear a woman stand up and say that it's okay to be human, that you can be imperfect and strong at the same time - even if we need a superheroine vehicle for her to do it.

I want to watch a heroine on that TV screen I can identify with again.


Footnotes:

*This is not to say that Batman or Superman are bad characters. I love them both. It's just that they are almost never allowed to be seen as vulnerable, as emotionally open to change.

Superman's the best of us and that's great - that's the way he should be. His relationship with Lois is wonderful and inspiring because it feels like they are equals. Even so, he's almost never portrayed as vulnerable in a way that feels honest or compelling - this nonsense with him walking around the USA, for instance, misses the forest for the trees. He doesn't have to walk amongst humanity - he is humanity. But that's another post entirely.

And as for Batman? I love him to death but decades later and Batman's only let a handful of people into his heart and almost never says "I love you" romantically.

These are things I want to see and to my irritation, outside of Cyclops and a handful of others, I can almost never find a superhero that makes me nod as I watch them open their hearts and figure out what really makes them tick. Just my opinion, of course. Feel free to disagree with me or, even better, list superheroes I may not know about in the comments.

**This isn't to say that I only love damaged characters, just that I find them the most compelling. Taken to the most extreme example, members of the Secret Six or Emma Frost are characters so profoundly broken, for instance, that I exult in every act they make on the side of the angels and love them to pieces. I see my messiness in their messiness and either learn lessons from their strides towards being whole or guiltily relish that I'm not quite as broken.

But on the other side of the coin, I absolutely adore characters that are fully committed to their ethics, themselves and their mission. These men and women who know who they are and make no apologies for it? I love them because they inspire me to be better. Superman, Wonder Woman, Batwoman, Steve Rogers - they are superheroes I love because I want to learn from their example. I want to be able to stand up tall and proud, knowing that who I am has value, that I should not apologize for who I am. And if you feel that I'm contradicting myself here, I'll just pretentiously quote another poet and say that "I contain multitudes". But don't we all?

Return of Haiku Reviews!

So, yes, I've been pretty remiss in a lot of bloggy things, I know. Sorry. My "14 Comic Book Couples I Love" remains only 98% complete for nearly a year now, I have a part two of Excalibur Cocktails to complete (because The Red Monk called me out. Blogless tomato-growin' punk.) and Haiku Reviews haven't existed in a dog's age. Well, guess what? I'm gonna finish up my nerdy ode to Scott Summers and Emma Frost just in time for the next VD and, just like The Gargoyles, it's time for my abuse of Japanese poetry to LIVE AGAIN!*
*Dear Lord, I am a nerd.

There are SPOILERS here
Seventeen syllables worth
. . . so not that many.


Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1 - F
by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, Dean White

Define "ludicrous" -
Osborn bossing around Doom?
My eyes, how they roll.

BONUS HAIKU:

Whedon and Ellis?
They can write Emma Frost well
Bendis? "Yeah, okay."

Ultimates Vol. 3 - F
by Jeph Loeb, Joe Madureira & Christian Lichtner

Around issue three
I realized this wasn't
Meant to be funny.

Incredible Hercules #124 - A
by Fred Van Lente & Greg Pak, Clayton Henry

Move aside, Ayn Rand -
"Atlas Got Rochambeaued"
Is way more awesome.

Secret Six #5 - A
by Gail Simone, Nicola Scott & Doug Hazlewood

Bane takes licks from bricks
While Tarantula high kicks
Last page reveal? Squicks.

The 3 Biggest Rules of Comics Blogging

DEEP PRETENTIOUS POST FOLLOWS:

I was thinking today and I realized that my OMD song post might have come off as snide and dismissive towards fandom in general. Given that I'm writing a comics blog, I think that's sort of unforgivable in terms of hypocrisy. I'm a huge, unapologetic fan of comics. I wrote my Senior Thesis on "The Growing Acceptance of Comic Books/Graphic Novels as an Art Form". If it weren't for comic books, I wouldn't be here and, dorky as it may sound, I mean that in every sense of the word.

So, the blogging? My major criticism of online blogging about comics isn't about the devotion of the fans, which can be beautiful and is always sincere in it's passion. It's about the basic realizations most people who blog about comics for any reason seem to miss.

A lot.

I thought I'd lay out what I think are essential rules of comics blogging, if only to help people understand where I'm coming from.




1. The comic book you're seeing previews of online that has you furious or sad is always a part of a larger story - one that's already in progress.

The problem is twofold.

First, you're not reading the whole issue, which may or may not explain the part that's upsetting you in a reasonable manner. Which, let's face it, rarely happens - Batman & The Outsiders anyone? - but still.

Second, by the time you've seen the preview pages for "Aunt May Vs. Ted Kord's Corpse Special - Final Intercrossover Crisis Day #1 (of 7)", the comic book writers and artists have already written #2 and probably most, if not all, of parts 3 and 4 - while having plotted out the whole thing beforehand.

This isn't Jason Todd in the 80's. Your Internet complaints about the story can't really change that much of the story or direction. Unless the internet presents a unified hiss of loathing or a really concise, intelligent argument, the writers will not change the ending they've been building to with a serial narrative.

Does this mean you shouldn't complain? No, but it means you should complain constructively and be realistic about the chances of your complaints changing the story. The only writer/artist I've ever seen apologize and change a scene that offended his readers was Adam Warren. When somebody wrote a post entitled "Actually, Empowered Sucks Now"*, crossposted it to Scans Daily and sent a letter to him. Warren responded in this way, saying in part - "In any event, in the second printing of EMPOWERED vol. 2, I’m going to redraw those three panels."

Now, Adam Warren isn't writing strictly mainstream stuff - in fact, it's naughty stuff that's likely to offend some people (you can read a typical 8-page short for free somewhere on Dark Horse's Torturous Myspace Page). I love his work, personally, but I can see how many might misinterpret it and how he has more freedom than say, J. Michael Straczynski. The thing is, even if you like Warren's work or not, you should respect him for doing this.

Brian Michael Bendis took a lot of heat recently for a sequence in New Avengers, in which Tigra is viciously attacked in her own bedroom and offers minimal defense. He didn't respond with a promise to rewrite the entire scene in future trade form and an apology. Instead, he responded with the thinking that violence against Tigra was just as acceptable as violence against Namor the Sub-Mariner, in a "Fish Man" allegory that rankled some people. Now, would it take away the original, unintentional insult to fans of Tigra and many comic book reading feminists? No, but it would show a degree of class and appreciation of the opinions of fandom, rabid as they often are, that would impress me. But there's a reason this doesn't tend to happen, which leads me to Rule 2 . . .

*Side note - even though I got her to agree that the ending of Empowered, Vol. 2 actually moved her to the point of tears, she refused to believe the work had any merit or, heavens forbid, that she might be overreacting. *facepalm*



2. You do NOT own your favorite Superhero. The writers and artists you hate rarely, if ever, own their favorite Superhero. A Superhero character is almost always a money-making property owned by an evil corporation.

We don't own them but we love them. We can influence their directions only minimally unless we somehow become their writer and even then, they're still owned by a giant corporation who sees them just as a brand name. It's a frustrating quandary for any fan.

My friend Kay, a former exotic dancer, points out that believing that Marvel or DC is writing just for you, the fan, is like thinking the stripper really loves you. I prefer her other metaphor that reading superhero comics is like marrying a junkie who has no plans to go clean. You have wonderful times, you have faith things are going well and suddenly he's vanished with your TV Set and left your Uncle stabbed in the stomach on the floor. You can never, ever fully trust them to do right by you.

Listen - if novelist Greg Rucka can't even write a back-up story where he jokingly implies Batman is gay for DC Comics while he's employed as the writer of Detective Comics because the editors say no, who were in turn told by the corporation who owns Batman to say no . . . your blog demands that So-And-So stop writing Captain Awesome out of character or that Superb Girl's new costume gets changed aren't gonna hold a lot of water.

The trick to acceptance is this - comics are a fluid medium and superhero comics even more so. The writer and/or artist you hate and all their story arcs can be replaced with one you love at any time or vice versa. This is the rule that is hardest for me to remember and accept because it seems like this is the rule we can violate the most.

If we stop buying the comic when a certain writer starts ruining the character *COUGH*JodiPICOULT!*cough*, the megacorporation that owns the character will notice the loss and fire that person. Such universal revilement is rare, however, in the world of fandom and people will often chug along until the writer, editor or artist feel that they've reached a natural stopping point. Controversy sells a book - always remember that - so sometimes a debate gives the megacorporation more excitement and more press, which means more money.

The junkie knows we still love them and will always come back to them. DC and Marvel keep taking our televisions and selling them for smack every time we hope it's going to get better instead of locking them out. We can prove them wrong but I don't see it happen very often.

Me? I just leave my junkie girlfriend comics until they look like they've cleaned up and gotten into rehab, if only for a little while. I'm still waiting on you Exiles, darlin'.



3. Blog smarter, not louder.

I never fully understood the phrase "'Tis better to light a candle instead of curse the darkness." until I read Internet Message Boards.

Think about this: if the sheer volume of fanpeople who bitched about a random comic book problem donated just one nickel a piece towards taking out an ad in Variety or a billboard in NY, could you imagine the impact that would make? Can you imagine all the money people would get raised?

Alas, that doesn't happen often, if at all. It's just a lot of sound and fury most of the time with very little logical critique or positive suggestions. A lot of fans just assume internet criticisms will translate into bad sales as if by magic. Sad to say, it's rarely so. The sheer volume can - and has - made positive impact on a few people but it's still noise.

(BTW - "Write your own book" is not a positive suggestion. If you asked me to help you solve a math problem and I told you "Write your own math test instead.", I wouldn't be helping you. I'd be an asshole. You see how that works now?)

So, please, blog constructively. Think before you post. Realize that the characters you love are both yours and not yours at the same time. And lastly, try to think of a way to convince people who've never even read a comic before why this particular bit of story/art or decision is a bad idea, based on basic story principles.

Anyways, that's just my two cents. Hope this helps any people I may have alienated with my tongue-in-cheek bitter loathing of all fandom (including my own dorky self).

Rambling Reviews for 1/10/08

This Week In Review - Our heroes fail to beat up Nazis in the Past, Different Concentration Camp Operators in the Future, Symbiotes in the Present, a Blonde Guy in A Blue Suit and, most heinously, Someone Who Thinks That Reality Television is an Art Form.

No! Not The Spoilers! NOT THE SPOILERS! AIIIGH, They're In My eyes!

The Twelve #1 - J. Michael Straczynski & Chris Weston - B+

Wow. That's a grand opener.

For those of you who haven't heard of this comic, it's the story of 12 Marvel WWII superheroes, both meta and non, who get put into suspended animation by skeevy Nazi scientists. The Nazis are killed by Commies before they can enact their evil plans, leaving these Marvel Golden Age sorts frozen. They're found and woken up 60 years later in 2008, without our friend Captain America around to help them with culture shock. A depressed General not only offers them all the money they want but asks them to be superheroes again in a world that's gone messy and ugly. A flashforward in the last two pages suggests this naive plan will not go so well. It's a trifle Watchmen-esque but that's by no means a bad thing.

The art is lovely and full of little details. Nazi Supervilains in portrait form, details on coins and ears, and oh, the differences in people's eyebrows. It's a sad sign that I'm so easy to please but I dug the attention to detail a lot.

The comic loses some points for having just one female character, Black Widow (no, not that one. Or the other one), who subsequently gets groped by skeevy Commander Nazi Scientist while she's out cold. On the other hand, her power, her look and her origin do seem rather bad-ass. This original Black Widow gained the power to kill evil men with just a touch by making a pact with THE DEVIL. \m/
. . . Which maybe just goes to show people that I find a 90's style origin in 40's style clothes to be strangely cool. Maybe I'm lame. *hangs head in shame*

X-Factor 27 - Peter David & Scott Eaton - C-

I am very displeased by this crossover nonsense. It's like shoehorning 2/3'ds of the Lord of the Rings movies into Double Indemnity.

Let me start by saying that I usually love X-Factor. Film noir is one of my favorite genres. I can relate to Jamie Madrox's internal struggles and self-doubt. The characters are all messy, complicated and secretive. They're the outcasts who live in the real world while the Mansion Mutants have their high soap operas. Until recently, the word 'superheroes' hasn't even really applied to these characters, which I kind of love.

And then there's Layla. Layla Miller is one of the most compulsively interesting characters created in recent memory. Put aside her intriguing power and ability to creep out people way more powerful than her - she's a non-sexualized teen girl who's often more self-sufficient than the adults around her. Christ, she's like the Anti-Supergirl.

If I had kids, I like to think they'd turn out like her - self-sufficient, smart, unique and funny. Of course, if they were my kids, they'd also end up annoying the crap out of people and being smart-asses. So again, I totally love Layla Miller.

. . . In this issue, she just blew herself and Jamie up with a grenade while in an alternate future that may or may not exist, leaving her dead at worst or stranded at best. Jamie wakes up and this means another of my favorite characters is left with a stupid facial tattoo which marks him as the victim of an idiotic crossover. The solicitation copy for future issues of X-Factor implies that Layla may come back but I'm not holding my breath. Bastards.

Really, the only reason this issue gets more than a D- is because Wolverine stabs that Lady Mastermind girl - who's so horribly disproportionate it makes my eyes bleed - right through the torso, just underneath where she's using double-sided tape to keep her ridiculous implants in place. Plus, it looks like Mystique's killed Mr. Sinister, so at least there's one less villain in the world I can fail to take seriously because of their name. Hooray!


The Mighty Avengers #7 - Brian Michael Bendis & Mark Bagley - B-

Look, Bendis my friend - I like decompression done right. I do. I like superheroes talking to one another when they're not hitting people. Really, I do. I know you probably tired yourself out with all that awesome punching of robots and shrinking of Greek Gods and kick-ass what-not in the last arc. You could and should take a breather. It even makes sense story-wise.

But really, man - if you show me a promo of Wolverine getting possessed by a Venom symbiote three months ago? Then give me a cover where Symbiotes are eating the Avengers? Don't give me a comic beyond that cover wherein Tony Stark and your imaginary girlfriend Spider-Girl play the "who's a Skrull, where's a Skrull" game for 11 pages of my 22 page comic . . . with just 4 measly pages of symbiotes.

The baby symbiote was awesome, though, I give you that. Plus, points for Wonder Man going back to the "W" uniform instead of the red leisure suit and Wasp being snitty about it. That was fun. If you will please stop writing Ares like the guy that girls warn each other about in High School, all will be forgiven by next issue.

The Boys #14 - Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - A-

I've been so wordy in my other reviews that I feel the need to break this down for you in speed form. Here's a short form version of things that happen inside, so you can decide if this is the comic for you:

- An overweight, hairy Russian Superhero cannot run fast due to his erection in constricting spandex pants.
- A man who looks like Simon Pegg from Sean of the Dead makes a man cry at his feet in fear.
- Heads attached to garishly clad would-be supervillains explode en masse.
- An evil blonde guy in a blue suit fails to get punched in the face.
- And a plane is destroyed with an exploding vibrator.

Yes, yes, this is my guilty pleasure comic. Darick Robertson's one of my favorite artists, OKAY?

I'm sorry.
Sort of.
Okay, not really.

Gen 13 #16 - Simon Oliver & Sunny Lee - A

Who is Simon Oliver and how did he get so good?

Back when I was in High School, I loved the goofy adventures of Gen 13 and so did all my friends. Hell, I still want a stuffed Queelocke. But the one adjective I never thought I'd apply to Gen 13 back then was "cerebral". Adam Warren, Gail Simone and now Simon Oliver have proved me wrong. Crazy, stupid, it's-not-even-funny wrong.

Caitlin Fairchild has always fascinated me as a character because of what's so often left unsaid by her. With the exception of Simone and to a lesser degree, Warren, nobody's touched on how her unwilling transformation from plain nerd to over exaggerated caricature affected/relates to her self-esteem or self-image. In every book with a good writer, she's been written as aggressively intelligent and naive but that's been the upward limit of her personality.

In the course of this story and the recent reboot in general, the Gen 13 teens are made aware that they were preprogrammed, manufactured genetic products, created by a lunatic. Every one of their cells was designed for a purpose by someone else, which is something that seriously fucks with their heads.

Of course, when they arrive in New York, each character runs away to embrace the new people they meet as an escape from this inescapable truth, unaware that their movements and friendships are being recorded by IO as part of a scam. The reality TV loving asshat I mentioned way, way above in the title of this post is the maestro and happy as a clam . . . except for the problem presented by Caitlin. Fairchild can't help but overthink everything, which is both her saving grace and her downfall. She's the polar opposite of this version of Grunge (whom I love as being as smart as Caitlin, if not smarter in this iteration - just of a totally different philosophy).

Caitlin figures out men are secretly filming her - for reasons other than the obvious one of her being a ginormously endowed redhead in a spandex top. While I assume she hasn't bought normal clothes like the others because of her justifiable paranoia, this was the one glaringly false note in the issue. Alas, nobody will listen to her and later on, in another twist I didn't see coming, we get to realize that DV8 may be sneaking into the story as well. DV8 was my introduction to Warren Ellis and therefore has a warm spot in my dark, cold heart. So, as you can guess, this pleases me greatly.

This is also a comic where one person uses a chainsaw and another quotes a poem by Shelley. Pure rockage, folks.

Seriously, pick this series up from the beginning while you still have a chance to find the trades or cheap back issues.