Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Mother Panic: Gotham A.D. #2 Review and **SPOILERS**


Here Kitty Kitty


Written By: Jody Houser
Interiors Drawn By: Ibrahim Moustafa
Interiors Colored By: Jordan Boyd
Back-Up Art By: Paulina Ganucheau 
Lettered By: John Workman
Cover By: Tommy Lee Edwards
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale Date: April 25, 2018

If you'd have told me this time last year that Mother freaking Panic would be one of the books I was looking forward to... first I'd ask, why would you be interested in such odd Chris-trivia... then, I'd tell you that you're crazy!

Early on in our Young Animal endeavor, Mother Panic was fourth with a bullet.  Hell, maybe even fifth when that Bug! mini-series hit!  This title has become a true bright spot in the... uneven Young Animal offerings of late, and I'm happy to be checking it out with you.

Without further ado...




Picking up where we left off last issue, we find ourselves on a tourist trip through the pristine nature preserve known as Robinson Park.  Hey, that might be named after somebody!  It's here that Mother Panic's latest contact, "The Cat" dwells... but she doesn't appear to dwell alone!



She meets the Cat... who, is pretty evasive at first blush, not admitting to anything, and that includes her identity.  The flora of Robinson Park is also a bit wary of Violet's presence and gives her the once-over.  Lucky for her "Ivy" appears to like her.  If you recall, Vi was meeting with the Cat in order to free her mother, the Oracle, from Arkham.  The Cat more or less tells her that she's barking (meowing?) up the wrong tree.



Undeterred, Violet heads back to the compound.  It's here that she begins living up to her code name... acting not unlike a "mother" to the sensational character find of... 2017 (I think), Fennec Fox!  It's a great shift in character for Violet... having to look out for a wild-eyed adventurous tot.  After all, we're more accustomed to folks (like Dr. Varma) trying to keep Violet herself out of trouble!



Gala's Gotham "Collective" is fleshed out a bit here.  It's pretty clear that they're not "on the level"... not that we really had any doubt.  Here we can see that the "vigilante" they manufactured last issue was actually a super villain... who was allowed to rampage in order to allow the high-flyin' GCPD the opportunity to save the day in front of a crowd of Gothamites.  Perception, after all, is reality.

The way the story is progressing is really assuaging the concerns I had at the end of last issue.  I was afraid this was heading toward being a Bat Book (guest-starring Mother Panic), but this definitely still feels like Violet's book.  The Bat-Characters do loom rather large, don't get me wrong, but they're not nearly as intrusive as I feared they'd be.

Bits and Pieces:

We're world-building, folks... and having a pretty good time doing it.  This All-New, All-Different Gotham makes you want to learn everything there is to know... and Mother Panic, excessive f-bombs and all, isn't a half-bad tour guide.


8/10

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