Stars In Your Eyes
EVERYONE ON THE COVER HAS AWKWARD LEGS. And the empty space around them doesn't work too well, it doesn't feel like they're threatened much, just a small handful of unmanned turrets... that's honestly nothing to these guys, and frankly they're walking like it isn't.
DAMMIT EDDIE! STOP BEING THE EDITOR THAT REMINDS US THAT THE EXPOSITION RECOUNTS THE PREVIOUS ISSUE. SERIOUSLY. STOP. THEY ARE EXPLAINING THE EVENTS TO US WITH THE DIALOGUE, WE GAIN NOTHING BY BEING TOLD THEIR EXPLANATION IS ABOUT THE MOST RECENT ISSUE.
It's really interesting to see Starfire's motivations. It actually stung a bit when she said she had absolutely no interest in fighting for Tamaran. Then we get into her backstory, and you understand why. Jason and Roy both give interestingly varied answers based on their own experiences, and for once Jason isn't the main headliner of an issue, which is nice to see. I AM a bit confused though, Starfire paints a picture of an extremely empathetic Blackfire, we even see her sad to send her little sister away, and crying for the pain caused when they reunite. I can imagine Blackfire being twisted into the monster she is now, but the way we're shown the past Blackfire, the idea that her entire nice persona was a fake just doesn't seem feasible.
Isabel.... is conflicting. I LIKE her, she's a nice strong female character; but her quick adjustment to the insane situation is a little cliche and hard to believe.
Wow. And people thought STARFIRE'S costume was bad. I mean, Blackfire's costume is certainly not quite as outright skimpy as Starfire's was; but... it just SCREAMS bondage dominatrix. It's insanely overwhelming in its sheer sexual atmosphere. And her boobs are bigger. It's just way too blatantly sexual, even compared to Starfire, and it doesn't have the same justification Starfire's does. Her hair looks AWESOME though...
The co-feature is so-so. The artwork is of a decent similarity to Kenneth Rocafort, even if it doesn't have the fun panel layouts, but the story is a little odd, and hard to follow. The main story, amazingly, doesn't feel cut too short when it sacrifices pages to the co-feature to maintain a $2.99 price tag, but the co-feature always feels like it doesn't have enough pages to tell its story. We get rushed through some stuff, and put into a very confusing conclusion. Plus, I'm a little confused at Essence's motivations. I really like her, which is why the issue where she attacked Red Hood out of the blue was so off-putting to me, and so I like the her she is here, but it seems contradictory to the her she was last time we saw her.
In Conclusion: 4/5
There were some annoying things in this issue, but most of it was very enjoyable. Kenneth Rocafort always treats us to super fun visuals, and it helps carry along such a high-octane story. But it isn't without depth, and this issue has a lot of that. The co-feature doesn't feel to interrupting, but it doesn't feel long enough in and of itself. The good outweighs the bad on the whole, but I do feel like this issue could be a bit better, more so than most issues.
