The Virgin Read: Mightily Tearing Through A Solo Vacation

The Mighty # 8
Written by Peter J. Tomasi & Keith Champagne
Art by Chris Samnee & John Kalisz
Published by DC Comics

Happy Labor Day! I think that's the most oxymoronic holiday we have. A day in the name of Labor and we, as a nation, all take the whole weekend off. I'm not complaining or anything...I'm just sayin'.

I chose to ready The Mighty this week, and what a pleasure it turned out to be! I had a couple of other books in hand at first--there was a Supergirl comic and a Spider-Man issue that almost made it home-- but I decided to go with something that caught my eye and looked like something I might not normally take a chance on. I don't have a good explanation for that, except that I seem to enjoy writing these more when I've read a comic that I had no advance knowledge of when I picked it.

I really enjoyed it. The very first page depiction of a coffin was well-drawn. It got me wanting to pay attention immediately, and the sequence on the next page, which is a close-up of the husband grieving, followed by a slow pan out to include the man I would come to know is Alpha One, got me excited to find out what was going on.

What I found so well written in this story was all the stuff that was unwritten. The subtext. I've never read this series before, but I clearly understood that not everything was as it seems. Now, that's hard to do, don't you think? In film it's easier to pick up on because you have either good actors and/or great film direction and usually some sort of musical underscore to help tell the viewer that "things are not as they seem." But in print? In comics? I can't imagine that's easy.

And although it was clear to me that things were a little wonky - I didn't totally know what, exactly, it was. I did not know why Cole (the grieving man) dug up an old body and cut off its hand, but I was intrigued by it, rather than feeling excluded by it. I felt the same way again when I watched Alpha One bury a nuke in a baseball field. It was clear that he wasn't telling anyone about this. I was left to wonder just what kind of super hero this guy is? Has the story been that he's the type to create problems so that he can then go solve them and look like the hero? I knew that I wouldn't be finding out the answer to that question in this issue, as he set the timer for 72 hours. But again, I did not feel excluded by the comic for not knowing this, I just felt invited, actually, to stay tuned--but not in a way that felt greedy. I felt like I was being given as much of the story that the comic could hold, with a touch of "more to come".

It certainly helped that I liked the art. Not just for the way things were drawn, but for the fact that the art was used to tell as much of the story as was the dialogue. If not more. In fact, just like in life, the words often contradicted the action - so it was the art that held the real story. I love that!

Now, of course, I have since sought the answers to my questions. It was almost an episode of I Didn't Even Ask. But it went more like this: 

"Do you really want to know everything that happened up until this issue?"

Me: "Well...yeah. Wait...okay, yeah."

And I have also learned that the series is probably going to be cancelled. !!! Seriously? Why? This is really good. This is a complex superhero story. This has real human motivation and emotion all over it. And intrigue! And it uses the comic form really well! Why don't people want to read this? I'm learning that the comic book industry can be so heartbreaking.

So, if you haven't read any of it, go read it. I wanna buy the previous issues and catch up. I'm kind of bummed. I could have gotten into this one.

-Nina Stone, 2009

Comments

[LurkerWithout]

"Why is getting cancelled?"

Because not enough people are buying it to allow it to continue because the majority of the comics buying public seems to prefer stories about the Rainbow Lanterns or the Return of Barry Allen or Known Cop Killer is Put In Charge of Super-Heroes. You just get used..well no you don't get used to it. You just learn to bitch about it and move on to the next Doomed Comic You Think Is Really Cool...

[Lugh]

It's not just little known stuff that this sort of thing happens to, either - "Cool Writer and Artist Team Who Are Making Boring, Typical and/or Oft-Maligned Superhero Title Great" get pulled off (or move on but it's worse when they get pulled in the middle of a storyline or before they get to do everything they wanted) and replaced with lesser talent all the time.

[seth hurley]

I'm pretty sure this was solicited as a 12 issue series, although I could be wrong.

I'm wrong all the time, like that time with the IUD & bombing Cambodia.

[Matthew J. Brady]

The other thing is, people seem less and less interested in superhero comics that aren't about the usual Marvel/DC characters, and for good reason, since there's really not all that much that you can do with them that's very interesting, in most cases. This might be an exception (and your review does have me intrigued, but I'll be surprised if I ever get around to actually reading it), but those are few and far between.

[Chris Jones]

I was also under the impression that The Mighty was always intended to be a miniseries. There's probably not going to be a second one if it's not selling that well, though.

I'd heard that the first few issues sorta sucked, but it's possible that it got better since then.

[Matthewwave]

I get Previews every month, and I'm pretty sure no solicitation for any of the issues mentioned The Mighty being a 12-issue mini-series. I'm pretty sure it was solicited as an on-going.

A very good one, too. I'm bummed to hear about it likely getting cancelled, but, on the other hand, I've been expecting it since I read the solicitation for the debut issue.

Matthew

[Kris]

Issue #10 has at least has been solicited for November. It's not dead yet...

At the risk of just setting myself up for disappointment, I may pick up a few issues.