After last issue's biting and insightful satire on Cerebus and Dave Sim, it is perhaps inevitable that the lighter topics of supernatural law would be a little bit of a letdown by comparison. Lash continues to deliver an entertaining look at an unusual side of the law, but as always, the interest that a reader has in the particular case will determine a lot of the reaction to each story. For my part, I found Mr. Negativity to be more annoying than anything else, and sort of out of the bounds of the supernatural. I was more interested in the zombie story which took up a smaller portion of the book, although to Lash's credit the two stories do dovetail nicely in the end.
Supernatural Law is a very accessible book, because despite the continuing soap opera subplot elements, each issue tends to stand alone as one or two cases of the attorneys. That's definitely the case here, as the gimmick of Mr. Negativity and the outcome of his case is where most of the plot resides in this issue. For me, this approach backfired, because I never developed any kind of sympathy for the character, and so following his plot arc didn't hold much interest for me. Had I been on his jury, I don't think his case would have gone very well.
Fortunately, Mr. Negativity is not the only thing in the book. The continuing saga of Alanna and Jeff's attempt to purchase their building outright, the romantic tribulations of the lead characters and the development of Jeff Byrd as a lawyer and Corey Wolff as a receptionist all get a few panels or pages to grow in this issue. And the secondary story, about a man living out an unforeseen zombie life, is the sort of offbeat examination of horror cliches that draws me to Supernatural Law in general. However, I did think that Lash telegraphed the ending by several pages.
The artwork gets a new face this issue with Trevor Nielson on backgrounds, and while I enjoy Melissa Uran's work, you can really see the difference. The gray tones in this issue are very strong, and the characters seem to pop out from the backgrounds a little more, giving everything a more dynamic look. I also enjoyed Lash playing with the panel borders, having Mr. Negativity "interrupt" other characters at various time, which was a clever conceit of comic-book storytelling.
Supernatural Law is one of those books that has been quietly providing a solid read on a regular basis for a good, long time. Although this particular issue didn't make me laugh as much as past ones have, I still enjoy the strong craft that Lash has in terms of writing and art, and I'm surprised and pleased that the high concept of the series ("lawyers of the supernatural") seems to have legs.
