Deadline started off strong, and actually grows stronger in the second issue. A lot happens this issue, not just in terms of the investigation into the story that Kat is working on, but in terms of developing the world that Rosemann and Davis are giving the reader a view into. The Marvel Universe is a wide world, with room for a wide variety of super-heroes and super-villains, and I love that we're seeing a little more into the nooks and crannies of that world. It doesn't hurt that Bill Rosemann gives Kat Farrell a compelling and believable voice, or that Guy Davis is delivering one of the most vivid and real looks at New York and the smaller side of super-crime that I've seen.
Rosemann has an interesting view of how journalism works in Deadline. He is playing Kat as more of an investigative reporter than the staff writer that she actually is, but he's given her (and the reader) an excuse for this change of style. She's after a promotion, and if that's not a motivation anyone can sympathize with, I don't know what is. However, while Kat is going about her business in a fashion that may not be completely realistic as far as real-life reporting goes, I do think that Rosemann has captured the basic ideas of a newsroom and the competitive and cooperative games that go on in that or any other office situation.
Kat Farrell is a really good character, thoroughly believable and real, with a sarcastic sense of humor and a likeable stubbornness. She's ideal crusading reporter material, and her mixture of strong will with an understandable desire not to get herself killed gives her an interesting and realistic dichotomy of personality. She reads like a real person, not a character going through the motions of the plot, and Rosemann deserves a lot of credit for making her narration and her dialogue so much fun to read. He also deserves credit for creating a great cast of supporting characters, whether it's creating new characters to fill in niches in the criminal substrata (Dr. Pow and Eightball) or fleshing out established characters in the same vein, such as the Tinkerer.
Of course, credit on all of the character work must also go to Guy Davis. His take on Kat Farrell makes her cute, but not gorgeous, and she has a studious appearance to her when she's working. Basically, she looks more like a reporter and less like a supermodel doing a reporter's job, as we often see in comics. And the realistic approach Davis takes extends to everything, from the amazing portrayal of New York City to the folds in the costumes that makes this all feel more grounded and approachable to the background detail. Take a look at the background of the "Bar With No Name" sequence and there are a couple of good in-jokes in there, all while setting a scene and telling a story effectively.
I can't recommend strongly enough that those who miss Astro City check out Deadline, because the approach here is very similar. We're getting a look at the Marvel Universe through some different eyes. Even better, we're learning as much about the lives of these point-of-view characters as we are about the world they live in.
