Three issues in, and I'm already running out of new things to say about Love Fights. Really, when the sum of my opinion is "this book is great, you should all be buying it," and Watson continues to demonstrate why with every issue, what more can I say? Perhaps I can say that Watson combines an obvious love for old school comics with a modern, ironic and observational take on things reminiscent of Marvels or Bendis's work. Or that though this is a story about a super-hero world, it's not about super-heroes, but instead about a woman trying to make her name as a tabloid reporter on the super-hero beat and a writer trying to make his name on a sinking comic-book title based on a super-hero and how they are starting a relationship. Oh, and how the writer's cat has developed super-powers. Huh. Turns out I do have new things to say about Love Fights after all.
One of the things that Watson does so well is to make the relatively mundane interesting. Love Fights is set in a world that is full of the unusual, love children of super-heroes and cats with super-powers and all that sort of thing. However, the heart of the book, the stuff that really grabs me, is the more mundane story of how a relationship will develop between Jack and Nora, two regular people whose lives, despite the unusual elements in them, come across as relatively ordinary and certainly easy enough to relate to. The notion of reaching for a better career when your superior doesn't see your potential, or overcoming your fear of taking chances to start a relationship, or of deciding when to tell an uncomfortable truth to a friend, are all the kind of things that all of us face, living in our world without super-heroes. I'm just as intrigued about the secretive job that's keeping Russ busy (my guess is that he's trading up to pencilling, or doing his own comic) as I am about the nature of the Flamer's child and the scandal that seems to be brewing.
Mind you, that doesn't mean that Watson is simply using the super-heroes as window dressing. To some extent, the super-heroic background is there for flavor, making Jack's job one of licensing rather than strictly writing fiction or having Nora and Jack look on over a statue of a fallen hero instead of just a random beautiful view or having them bond over Nora's impressive knowledge of comics instead of a favorite song in common. But there are just as many story elements that wouldn't work the same way without super-heroic elements. The proof that Nora is offered is heart-breaking, and it would be hard to do the same kind of thing without super-powers. And of course the whole notion of Jack's cat deciding to become a super-hero is hilarious, and his uber-heroic personality especially makes that storyline really funny to me.
Watson's artwork, a sort of minimalist style that is very distinctive and seemingly best-suited to slice-of-life tales, might seem an unusual choice for a super-hero story, but it works in this context. He's got some great references in his work, from the Dark Knight Returns pastiche that made me chuckle to a sort of implied G.I. Joe touch in Jack's worries about his cat's mysterious origin. In addition, the magic of super-powers comes through in Watson's art, from the flame effects coming off of one of the characters to Jack's vision of the violent state of modern super-heroics. And as always, his work on the real expressions of normal people is terrific, conveying so much of the basic personality of the characters in their general appearances as well as the way they act within the story. It's also worth noting that his work on the city shows off his strong sense of design.
Burgeoning love, an impending scandal that could cause some real complications for that romance and other personal and business difficulties lurking in the background, and we're only three issues in. Love Fights is an exceptional series, seemingly a big departure in subject matter from Watson's previous work but actually fitting in nicely with his general approach. Unless you're one of those people who doesn't like Watson's art style or black and white comics in general (in which case, I just can't get you, sorry), be sure and give Love Fights a try.
