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CODENAME: KNOCKOUT #4
"Flashback '73: St. Grace Under Fire"
Recommended (7/10)
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DC Comics/Vertigo imprint
Writer: Robert Rodi
Pencils: Louis Small, Jr. & Yanick Paquette
Inks: Mark Farmer
Colors: Moose Baumann
Letters: Jack Morelli
Editor: Tony Bedard
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
This issue confirms for me
the one big flaw in this book: the protagonist, Angela Devlin, is the most
boring character in it. Because this issue features a few pages of the always
hilarious Go-Go, but it's mostly the story of how Angela's parents, the gung-ho
G.O.O.D. agent Celeste St. Grace and the slimy and almost wacky E.V.I.L. agent
Damon Devlin. Both of Angela's parents are a lot more fun than she has turned
out to be, and this story is cute and fun. It is also laced with nudity and sex,
and it's far more sexy and enjoyable with the art of Yanick Paquette, who
performs most of the art chores this issue and does a fantastic job of it. The
book is still moving at a pretty slow pace in setting up its status quo, and it
runs the risk of becoming a bit of a repetitive joke, but I've still got a soft
spot for it as it stands.
For the most part, G.O.O.D. and E.V.I.L.
have been around as abstract concepts more than concrete organizations (there's
symbolism in there somewhere, I'm sure) but this issue gives us a bit more of a
glimpse of what they used to be like. There are elements of spy parody in this,
with the head of G.O.O.D. looking like Shaft and the head of E.V.I.L., a
shriveled old woman and her post-Nazi freak, running the organization like a
cult. These elements are good for a laugh, and serve as a nice backdrop to
introduce young Celeste and Damon. They are both instantly likable, with
Celeste's naive enthusiasm being rather charming and Damon's sense of humor
reminding me pleasantly of Go-Go's.
I really enjoyed the conflicts between
these two. Celeste has the gorgeous physique of her daughter, but she's unaware
of it and somewhat repressed, making for hilarious scenes where she tries to
meet her contact. Damon's free spirit is a perfect contrast to Celeste, and the
"opposites attract" theory is put into effect when they meet, with the
expectedly violent and unpredictable results. I bought into this relationship
completely, especially in a book like this where plausibility can bend to the
rules of comedy.
What really impressed me this issue,
though, was the artwork by Paquette. He uses some terrific camera angles,
particularly the one where we first see Celeste in London, but more importantly,
he has a grasp of human anatomy that is important for this book. His Celeste is
truly a bombshell, believably but impressively proportioned, and he conveys
roguish good looks and physiques for Go-Go and Damon as well. I still wish for a
bit more of a brighter color scheme, but Paquette's work here is much sharper
and stronger than Small's work has been so far.
With this issue, the setup of the book
seems to have been completed. We finally know Angela's choice, a cliffhanger
that has been teased for three issues now, and we also have a bit of a view of
what made Celeste and Damon the people they are today. Rodi has done a great job
of making Celeste, Damon and Go-Go intriguing and fun characters, and I hope he
can do the same with Angela, because so far, she comes across as a boring bimbo
compared to the more colorful cast around her.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
