Mother Panic #10
"Under the Skin, Part One"
Written By: Jody Houser
Art By: Shawn Crystal
Colors By: Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Letters By: John Workman and Shawn Crystal
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale Date: August 23, 2017
Today we enter the... fourth story arc for Mother Panic! That's a pretty big deal in light of all the (rumored and confirmed) going's on at Young Animal HQ.
Back last Fall I would have guessed this would be the first title cancelled... er, put on hiatus. It's pretty shocking to see Violet and her curse-word-crew being the one holding firm... with no real scheduling hiccups to boot!
What Happened?
In between stories, Violet appears to have had her implant surgery... er, that is to say, her back won't be giving her problems anymore. Okay, that still sounds like she had breast augmentation. If you're reading this comic, you know what I'm talking about.
Feeling a bit better, Violet grabs her best gal (or at least tonight's best gal) and together they head to a gala being held at one of the many mansions in Gotham City. Upon arrival she sees someone familiar... which leads to a case of mistaken-mistaken identity... yeah, two mistakens,
The woman holding the gala looks suspiciously like a classmate of Violet's from Gather House... which leads to some less intense flashback scenes, wherein the two girls are taking tests while surrounded by demonic sorts, who I'm assuming are stand-ins for the faculty/nuns.
Violet sends her date home before returning to the mansion in her "work clothes". Turns out this lady who looks like her classmate really was her classmate. Another student who somehow survived the fire. In heading back, Violet basically gives away her secret identity.
While this is all happening... Mama Panic, ya know, Violet's mother is acting strangely, even more so than we're used to. She says some particularly frightening things to bodyguard-turned-intern, Dominick... turns out she may be a bit more lucid than we think!
What I Dug?
This is kind of a liked/didn't like item (though, more liked)... we skipped over Violet's surgery... which, yeah... I get it. No need wasting an issue of Violet under the knife. I'd say that would be a great opportunity to visit Violet's dreams or something, but the creative team has done a fine job of peppering exposition throughout the series thus far anyway.
I'm happy we're beginning to explore Violet's mother a bit. It's definitely getting to be the time where we're going to need a bit more than her talking to animals. I'm glad there seems to be something... perhaps sinister... there to delve into.
The cursing is toned down a whole lot. It's still there, but it's not nearly as cringy as it once was.
What I Didn't?
This is kind of a didn't like/like (though, more didn't like)... Violet acts a bit sloppy here with her secret identity. I can appreciate that she is acting on emotion, however, it just doesn't feel right. Granted, it's been ten issues, and we still don't quite "know" Violet yet... but still.
While I have really enjoyed Shawn Crystal's work, there is a bit of ambiguity about it that I have trouble following. Two arcs back, we had scenes with Violet and Pretty... and we (or at least I) had trouble telling them apart. Here, we have Violet's classmate... and it isn't made clear that this is the right woman. My first time through, I thought it was a simple case of mistaken identity... there wasn't any "tell"... and it made the reveal at the end feel like kind of a let down. Like the scene happened... then I caught up to it. Perhaps this is a case of my being too dense to follow...
Bits and Pieces:
Perhaps a small step back in quality from the last story arc, however still worlds better than the first couple. Storytelling is solid, however, a bit of ambiguity in the art make certain reveals less clear... and therefore carry less impact.
7.0/10
I liked the art. Cartoony and stylized. Reminds me of some of Batgirl's Burnside art.
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