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A review by nickpalmieri
Manhunter, Vol. 5: Forgotten by Carlos Magno, Michael Gaydos, Marc Andreyko
I have some very mixed thoughts on this series as a whole, but this volume was definitely my favorite.
Volumes 2-4 were essentially an ensemble book with stories focusing equally on all cast members, which was great because those characters were the best part of the series, but also bad because those stories spun their wheels and never went anywhere interesting. On the flip side, while Kate's stories were the most interesting, the plots were too tied into what was going on elsewhere in the DCU: villains would show up and leave seemingly at random, with little focus on their motivations.
This volume mostly sidelined the supporting cast to focus on a Kate story, which completely began and ended in this volume. This was exactly the type of story I always wanted from this book. Solid street-level espionage and legal drama, dealing with some serious real-world issues in a slightly over-the-top superhero way.
The final two-issue story jumped ahead about 15 years, which was an odd choice, but one that really allowed Andreyko to give some closure to the supporting cast. I especially loved all the stuff with Kate's son.
While the story was definitely more to my liking here, I wonder how much of my change of opinion was due to the art by Gaydos and Villarrubia. They're leagues better than Pina and his colorists were (Pina was never bad, just not particularly interesting in storytelling or style).
So, yeah, I'm glad I read the whole series so I could get to these issues. Much higher quality all around, imo. I'll definitely read the continuation from the Streets of Gotham back-ups!
Volumes 2-4 were essentially an ensemble book with stories focusing equally on all cast members, which was great because those characters were the best part of the series, but also bad because those stories spun their wheels and never went anywhere interesting. On the flip side, while Kate's stories were the most interesting, the plots were too tied into what was going on elsewhere in the DCU: villains would show up and leave seemingly at random, with little focus on their motivations.
This volume mostly sidelined the supporting cast to focus on a Kate story, which completely began and ended in this volume. This was exactly the type of story I always wanted from this book. Solid street-level espionage and legal drama, dealing with some serious real-world issues in a slightly over-the-top superhero way.
The final two-issue story jumped ahead about 15 years, which was an odd choice, but one that really allowed Andreyko to give some closure to the supporting cast. I especially loved all the stuff with Kate's son.
While the story was definitely more to my liking here, I wonder how much of my change of opinion was due to the art by Gaydos and Villarrubia. They're leagues better than Pina and his colorists were (Pina was never bad, just not particularly interesting in storytelling or style).
So, yeah, I'm glad I read the whole series so I could get to these issues. Much higher quality all around, imo. I'll definitely read the continuation from the Streets of Gotham back-ups!