Of the books from last week, I didn't expect the second issue of The Thing to be the one I couldn't find. Maybe it's really popular. The public was clamoring for more of the ever-lovin' idol o' millions! But for now, let's talk about some Gotham vigilantes.
The cast - Barbara, Cass and Stephanie - have moved to a section of Gotham called the Hill. Oracle's Clock Tower base was blown up, and Batgirl and Spoiler got framed for the act by some altered footage. So they're trying to maintain a low profile because someone called "The Seer" had previously breached Oracle's network. But she's got a plan to establish a new, encrypted network! Which, if I'm correctly interpreting those red eyes we see on the monitor screens in panels where her back is turned, has failed immediately.
Cass and Steph aren't terribly impressed by the Bat-mopeds Oracle provides, so they rip off a car from some guys that tried robbing Cass earlier and go cruising. I know I don't know anything about this version of Cass' backstory, but it's weird to see her enthusiastically stealing and driving a car. Cloonan and Conrad establish a few threads besides the Seer, or the girls' WANTED status. A mysterious graffiti artist, an art showing called "SPELL BOUND". Yep, nothing at all ominous there. Some road repair crews acting weird. Plus a couple of neighbors. They don't have names yet, but probably they will. Soon! Maybe.
So I have no idea what's going on in the Bat-books these days, or what the Seer wants, but I think Cloonan and Conrad give us enough. The girls are supposed to maintain a low-profile, but they're not very good at that, and this has repercussions. Stephanie still has a lot of her boundless energy and optimism, and Cass has moments of stoic badassery, so it's not like I can't recognize the characters. Although the differences between them seem reduced.
Some of that is Cass being a little more vocal, better adjusted. But Corona drawing Steph wearing overalls over a t-shirt somehow makes her seem younger than I think she's supposed to be. Maybe that's not an uncommon look for girls in their mid-teens (Stephanie has to be at least 15 here, right?) I do wonder where the heck her mother is, for Steph to just move in with Cass and Barbara. Is she an emancipated minor, is she adopted now, is she legally an adult? I highly doubt the last one, but hell, I don't know.
Corona alternates between a thick, almost splotchy line, and going so faint it gets lost under Carey's colors. He is trying to give each of the main characters a different style in their civilian clothes, so we'll see if that continues going forward. The Hill itself trends towards being rundown and kind of economically depressed, but it is Gotham we're talking about. The residents should count their blessings it's still standing.
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