Katana #3

Is it just me? Did I misinterpret the point of the foldout covers? I mean, there HAVE been a few that do a good job at being shocking without spoiling the END of the issue. But it seems most of them cover the shocking cliffhangers the issues end in. This issue is no exception, and for bonus points, the twist is shows has me worried and might contradict other events. Or it might be foreshadowing a future connection.

But this issue lost me from the start. I finished it out, but within the second line of dialogue I threw my hands up and went "f*** it, I'm done." Killer Croc is looking through a book while riding in a plane and, I swear to god, he says that it's "got a fossil of a hundred-million year old ghost dragon." WHAT. THE. HELL. How does a GHOST Dragon have a fossil? And then he says he has dragon blood. I don't even....

"Katana. What kind of name is that?" SAYS KILLER CROC.

And honestly, this issue is all over the place by itself, but even worse in the context of the rest of the series. Each new issue practically starts fresh, barely touching upon the events of the previous issue and utilizing completely different contexts and direction. And then there's always the obligatory unwilling training with the drunk kung fu master. He just seems to be there to fill the stereotype, and this issue Katana gets the better of him for absolutely no reason. She's getting her ass kicked, he's trying to teach her a lesson, and then she gets a damn good shot in WITHOUT LEARNING ANYTHING. WHY?

And there's too many unexplained clans. The Sword Clan and the Dagger Clan and I can't tell how connected they are to each other or anything else. The Dagger Clan seems to have been downgraded to generic yakuza thugs, COMPLETELY opposite of their appearance in Birds of Prey, and I still have no idea why Katana's connected to them whatsoever, or why they show up in this issue, or why Katana goes after them instead of the Sword Clan. I mean, that's supposed to be the focus, so why not just have her go after a small group of them instead of throwing in the Dagger Clan for no reason or explanation. AND THEN Killer Croc. AND THEN The Creeper. It's just overwhelming and chaotic. And seriously, The Creeper's now an ancient Japanese Yokai or something? And yet last month we had Jack Ryder set up to become The Creeper in The Phantom Stranger.

In Conclusion: 1.5/5

Despite not being Alex Sanchez, the art's actually pretty good in this issue. But that's just about all that's good. The plot is a mess by itself, but it's magnified insanely by Nocenti's poor pacing.