Mother Panic #7
"Broken Things, Part 3"
Written by: Jody Houser
Art by: Shawn Crystal
Colors by: Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Letters by: John Workman and Shawn Crystal
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 26, 2017
Wow, we're six issues in... and two-stories down. Gotta say, I really enjoy these shorter story arcs.
Let's get right down to it.
What Happened:
We open with a bang... literally. Mr. Layton is blown to kingdom come. Off in the distance, Pretty looks on. We meet up with Violet, who is in her civvies and on a date. She socks a paparazzi in the mush for getting in her face.
We get a Pretty flashback of his time back in Gather House. We see someone on the wrestling team taking some poor fool to Suplex City... and it's not clear from the art if it's Violet or Pretty. Either way, it's now that our man figures out who might be under the Mother Panic helmet.
He decides to follow her on her date... and then follows her home. He watches as Dr. Varma leaves, and suffers another flashback. He remembers her as a scalpel-wielder back at Gather, and so, decides to take her hostage.
He forces her into her laboratory, demanding she "undo" the spell they did to him as part of Project Adonis. Before long, Mother Panic arrives... and acts heroic!
After a brief skirmish, Pretty's wish is granted... his beautiful face is eaten off by those rats that have been hanging about. It's here that Violet learns she has a new "tenant"... the reformed Ratcatcher. As the story ends, it looks as though Pretty is almost certainly Arkham-bound.
What I Dug:
Mother Panic actually looked like a hero! We're going to ignore the fact that I was only able to root for her because she was the lesser of two evils with Pretty's presence... but, definitely a step in the right direction!
As much as I dislike her dilettante civilian life, I was happy to see it addressed here. We were wondering if there were any ramifications of Violet's outbursts, and it seems that there might be. I will say I could've done without the "Celebutant" descriptor though.
The reformed Ratcatcher reveal was really well done. He had been shown in a rather ominous light over the past few issues, and to see him as a "good guy" was a pleasant surprise.
I'm really enjoying these shorter arcs. More books could benefit from such a model.
What I Didn't:
Same as it ever was... the cursing remains gratuitous. I'm at the point where I really want to like this series and the characters... but the petulance and language used is really making that difficult. It's to the point where it's gone from annoying to cringe-inducingly annoying.
For the most part, I really enjoyed the art here. It was only during the amateur wrestling bout that I had any trouble figuring out who's who.
Honestly (and suprisingly), not much else to dislike here.
Bits & Pieces:
If Mother Panic doesn't cut it out, I might actually start to like it. Here we see Violet actually engaging in heroic behavior and get a satisfying resolution to our second story arc. The gratuitous cursing remains, and is still rather cringe-inducing.
7.5/10
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