Musings about Freedom Fighters...(No spoilers)

The other book I bought yesterday that I found particularly worthy of blogging about was Freedom Fighters. (Better late than never.)

I know what I said about the art but I really do want to give this series a chance. My problem with the art still stands, but I'm starting to believe it's intended to have some sort of metatextual meaning now. There were actually scenes in this book where the Phantom Lady stood next to a non-hero female character and that female character was drawn decidedly normal.

The art is very stylized, but she seemed to be of modest proportion and decidedly not shiny or plastic looking, which definitely makes me think those of you who suggested the design was intentional were right.

Stormy interests me. Though I still hope that's not her real name. She's got some interesting technological tricks up her sleeves and I appreciate seeing a female inventor/scientist character. (I was also very happy to see the fuss raised in 52 about actually including a female scientist.. It made me start to suspect their exclusion was deliberate, as opposed to an unconscious implication that there were no female technical scientists equal to the men in the DCU.)

The comparison to Power Girl made me laugh too. I really do like Stormy. She came off as the most sane and competent person in Battle for Bludhaven (along with Gardner Grayle, who I like a lot for no real reason) and she continues to be appealing here. I like her personality and her competence. I even like her design, barring the odd plastic aspects.

I'd love if there turned out to be an actual point to the plastic design though. I still say she's an auton.

The downside to the issue (and the series) is that I'm having a lot of trouble getting a handle on the characters that aren't Phantom Lady or Uncle Sam. (Uncle Sam is, of course, awesome. Without fail.) I'm utterly indifferent to them. None of their personalities are really shining through for me yet.

There's still time of course. This is only the third issue. But I'd really like to see a bit more from the other characters. Also, couldn't we have another woman on the team? Emma looks interesting, but couldn't we have a new Miss America as well? If other, not plastic, women were portrayed a bit more frequently, I think I'd lay off of her a little more.

The new Black Condor seems entertaining, he and Doll Man interest me most of the redesigns so far. So I probably will stick around to see where it goes.

Besides, the awesomeness of Uncle Sam with that plane is more than enough to earn a second chance!

(Also, completely unrelated: Mystery in Space is awesome. I must read more of this Captain Comet fellow)