The first issue of this latest in the Seven Soldiers is about sex, and that is both its greatest strength and its greatest liability. The catalyst for this heroine's origin is the notion of the super-hero as sex symbol and how one man's obsession with those symbols destroys two lives. What's distracting about this book is that the artist opts to sexualize the title character at every turn, and it ust comes off as gratuitous cheesecake. The ideas behind this new character are solid, but the visual execution thereof flies in the face of the very points the script attempts to make. This is probably the weakest comic in the line overall, but there's still plenty of promise for future issues.
Dr. Lance Harrower had a brilliant idea and managed to make it a reality: a metallic smartskin that imbued the wearer with super-powers. Unfortunately, Harrower also had an unusual fetish for super-heroines, and he dreamed of transforming himself and his wife, Alix, into gleaming, sexy, superhuman gods. That obsession pushed him to make a bad decision, and his initial test on a human subject proves disastrous.
Alix Harrower is a vision of perfection, the ideal female form perpetually clad in the most provocative attire -- and man, does it get boring quickly. The art seems more focused on teasing and tantallizing an adolscent male audience rather than delving into the emotional conflicts that drive this origin story forward. I like Paquette's art, and Bair is a good fit for him as an inker, but the cheesecake factor here is so amped up that it just can't be ignored. On top of that, Paquette's update of the Bulletman/girl costume concept looks, well, silly. Mind you, if you're going to stick with the bullet-shaped helmet, you're stuck with silly.
It's a shame the art disappoints, because Morrison's story of a husband's effort to keep secrets from his wife really rings true, despite the fantastic circumstances involved. Of course there would be men obsessed with wonder women in a world of super-heroes. Of course there would be super-hero porn in the DC Universe. It wouldn't be Paris Hilton's video or Pamela Anderson's that would make the rounds in the DC Universe; it would be Phantom Lady or Jade. Morrison's brief exploration of the seedy underbelly of a world of wonder.
Alix's obliviousness to her husband's emotional agenda actually doesn't lessen her character. She's no bimbo, and she's not wilfully blind. Her husband has a super-powered, metal-skinned mouse in the basement. It makes sense that she'd think his time alone in the basement at the computer was about his work, not pleasure. Morrison delivers a nice spin on the reluctant hero archetype, and I look forward to what he has in store for the character next. 6/10
