DC Pride: A Celebration of Rachel Pollack #1 – Rachel Pollack, Joe Corallo, Writers; Scot Eaton/Tom Sutton, Michael Allred, Rye Hickman, Artists; Tom Ziuko, Laura Allred, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: This oversized one-shot pays tribute to the late, great trans comic legend, who was responsible for some of the most bizarre and iconic stories to come out of DC in a long time. Like last year’s Pride Through the Ages, it combines old stories and new.
First is Doom Patrol #70, by Pollack and Eaton, which features the first appearance of Coagula—DC’s first trans superhero. This is an odd choice for a reprint, because it’s a mid-arc story that features a lot of out-there elements. Who is Negative Man’s significant other? A lot of the book might not make sense for the uninitiated, but two things stand out. One is that Coagula’s intro is a very heartfelt story of a woman with a truly odd power coming into her own as a hero. The other is that the villain, Codpiece, is wildly hilarious. A man with a small penis complex who builds himself a super-cannon… down there for revenge purposes. It’s a great look into the early days of Pollack’s unmistakable writing style.
Next is Pollack’s long-out-of-print Vertigo masterpiece, The Geek, with Michael Allred on art. Allred is obviously still active at DC today, so it’s fascinating to see the indie master’s first step into the universe. This is as surreal as you’d expect from these two talents, a bizarre reimagining of the character Brother Power The Geek, here portrayed as a victim in a sadistic circus run by the mysterious Doctor Abuse. At the same time, a very different story emerges of Brother Power’s true love Cindy, who is living a sad live in the normal world as a sex worker. This roughly fifty-page story transforms Brother Power into several different forms, and manages to tackle some thorny issues including feminism, white supremacy, and more. It’s also terrifying in places, with one of the most evil villains I’ve read in a long time, and a truly weird last act that gets cosmic. Great to finally read this.
Finally, there’s an original story by Pollack’s collaborator Joe Corralo and artist Rye Hickman, which serves as both a follow-up to the recent Unstoppable Doom Patrol series and to Pollack’s run. Coagula obviously had a very short run before being killed off—but why is Robotman suddenly having intense dreams of her? For less than ten pages, this story packs a lot into Kate Godwin’s strange journey back to the world of the living, and pays tribute to Pollack’s strange and beautiful legacy. Now it’s over to the rest of the DCU to keep building it.
Like in life, Pollack’s style will not be for everyone, but this issue is a wonderful sendoff to her time as a DC myth-builder.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
