To call these final two issues awful would be wrong, but not by much. I'm not sure exactly where the blame lies as the art is some of the worst I've seen in a comic book and is such a giant step down from Giuseppe Camuncoli that I would be tempted to call it a "leap off a cliff" down instead of step down. Ale Garza's characters vaguely resemble who they're supposed to be, but look distorted, years younger, very ugly, and, really, he's just not up to the tone set by the book to this point. However, I'm not that focused on the art most of the time and very rarely does it outright ruin a comic for me (although, this would come very, very close).Joe Casey's writing here is not great. The plot is convoluted while being empty of substance, which is a weird trick to pull off. The jump-cut technique of previous issues falls flat here... and the story really just devolves into a heavy-handed young versus old conflict. As an allegory it's not horrible, but that's all it really is by the end, and that's not really enough.
In this issue, school is back in session, and Punchy and Destra prepare to take action after their summer findings. There are new teachers, lectures and Kefong has a new costume. Not much else happens. The conflict between the people behind the Seminary, the faculty and our core group of students heats up--over what is hard to say. It never really goes beyond "Do what we say because we say so," but that's next issue more than this one.
The seeds are planted with Destra questioning a teacher in class about morality, except Destra's outburst seems driven by nothing more than a desire to disagree with the teacher. Even her fellow students look at her like she's crazy (but is that what Casey wanted or is that what the artist drew?). Obviously, the book is about teenage rebellion and the questioning of authority, and how, sometimes, there's nothing to it beyond a desire to question for the sake of questioning... But, we're supposed to side with the kids, it seems, and that's difficult when their heads are up their asses most of the time. That's teenagers, though. If Casey did one thing right in this book, it was capturing the feeling of being a teenager and how teenagers are (they're selfish, self-absorbed assholes... it's true). If anything, the book fails because it tries to be objective, it tries to show that the adults are unfair/clueless and that the teens are morons/assholes at the same time, which may be true but doesn't work in a narrative sense here. It breaks from the teen drama mould it's based on in tone, but never transcends it in plot.
This issue continues to imply that Sykes and Vee are something special, but I'm still not sure exactly what Casey means here. At the end of the issue, three corporate bigwigs come to the Seminary to observe and offer suggestions despite objections by Miss Klanbaid: Abraham Zazz, a fashion designer for superheroes; David Swan, Destra's father and exec at Devonshire; and Jack Marlowe, CEO of Halo.
The actions of Punchy and Destra in this issue are to begin to inform their fellow Intimates of what they learned over the summer (which isn't actually much when you think about it) and lay plans to escape from the Seminary before something worse happens.
But, that's next issue.
Infoscroll items from this issue:
* "A SENSE OF HUMOR CANNOT BE EDITED OUT OF THE COLLECTIVE SOUL OF HUMANITY, ALTHOUGH CERTAIN ENTITIES CERTAINLY TRY (THUS EXPOSING THEIR LACK OF SAID SENSE)..."
* "FUNNY HOW THE WORD 'FASCIST' BINGS UP SO MANY EMOTIONS FOR ME, ESPECIALLY CONCERNING THIS SERIES..."
* "DESTRA'S WILDEST MOMENT OF TEENAGE REBELLION: (CENSORED FOR GOOD TASTE AND LACK OF SENSE OF HUMOR ON SOMEBODY'S PART)..."
* "CAN SYKES HEAR VEE? CAN HE UNDERSTAND HER? IS THERE ACTUAL COMMUNICATION TAKING PLACE? U-DECIDE..."
* "HEY, IF YOU THINK THESE INFO SCROLLS ARE WEAK THIS ISSUE, JUST WAIT UNTIL NEXT ISSUE..."
* "THE SEARCH FOR LOYALTY AND COMMITMENT IS A FUTILE ENDEAVOR WITHIN THE PAGES OF THIS PARTICULAR SERIES; ONE MUST LOOK ELSEWHERE FOR THE TRUE VIRTUES OF HUMANITY..."
* "AT SOME POINT IN THE NEAR FUTURE, NONE OF THIS WILL BE AN ISSUE..."
* "NUMBER OF INFO SCROLL ITEMS THAT HAVE GOTTEN KICKED BACK FOR THE MOST RIDICULOUS OF REASONS: AT LEAST FIVE..."
* "CRAWLING TO THE FINISH LINE BY OUR FINGERNAILS; WOULDN'T YOU RATHER BE PLAYING VIDEO GAMES?"
Next issue, it all ends and Casey's infoscroll stuff gets even more vicious, angry, sad and human. See you tomorrow.
