Jenny Sparks #3 – Tom King, Writer; Jeff Spokes, Artist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Tom King has often been praised for/accused of using his comics as therapy, exorcising many of the demons he has from his past work as a government investigator in war zones by having his characters experience similar things. That’s never clearer than in this book, which is told from the perspective of an immortal who seems to be unable to let go of the trauma they endured – whether that’s Jenny Sparks or Captain Atom is up for debate. The latter is still holding a large group of civilian hostages in a bar, alternately tormenting them, playing games with them, and giving them “boons” to prove himself a God. But when the League makes their first attempt to breach the bar and rescue them, he proves how powerful he is and how far gone – including some scenes that seem to be pretty firmly out of continuity, and one that’s incredibly bleak and shocking.
But the best part of this issue takes place in Baghdad in 2004, the same setting for King’s first creator-owned work – the semi-autobiographical The Sheriff of Babylon. Jenny Sparks has taken up residence here, smoking and harassing a local coffee shop owner. Superman meets her there – and it turns out the entire thing is a unique ethical test for him, putting him at the site of an IED explosion that will have serious casualties. It’s an intriguing question about what kind of disaster Superman will intervene in and which he believes he can’t, and Sparks seems determined to call him on his cognitive dissonance. The idea of a past relationship between these two seemed to come out of nowhere last year, but it is a very intriguing bond between two people who look human but will always be apart from them due to the circumstances of their creation. This is a really cerebral story that might read a bit better as a graphic novel down the line.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
