Nope, you didn’t miss anything. But if you’d posted a couple of hours later I’d have had this post up, explaining that while the basic conceit of the story (the US trying WW for murder) is on fairly solid ground, the actual courtroom scenes didn’t bear even a passing resemblance to a real grand jury (as evidenced by the fact that real grand juries don’t meet in courtrooms, for one).

shocked no ones pointed this out yet…Mark Shaw is one of the many former Manhunters. Azrael hasnt been brought up yet, but he might be referenced next issue.

It’s interesting.

Basically, if you were to distill everything I hate about modern superhero comics into it’s purest form, you’d have Manhunter.

Overly violent, based on a “Legacy” hero, (Read: Fourty year old Fox/Schwartz concept repeated ad infinitum in lieu of having to think of new ideas) trying to jam us into some sorta gritty “reality” (Read: Hi! I’m Marc however-I-spell-my-last-name and I read Watchmen!) while avioiding anything that might possibly evoke a sense of wonder… And, ooohyeah, Infinite fucking Crisis tie-ins. And the main character’s kind of a bitch.

It may have got better in the interum. Lord knows it couldn’t have got much worse. But it’s still a little disturbing to see how many comic fans have tastes which are completely opposite from mine.

I would recommend anyone interested to check out the first two trades, however. This is a difficult series to jump into midway through an arc, but that is mostly because there is always a lot going on with various subplots and large cast of supporting characters. However, once you get a handle of who everyone is and can look past the book defying many superhero conventions (particularly in its handling of a female protagonist), its one of the most enjoyable superhero books on the market. Andreyko has such a great grasp of nearly every character that he writes (which is many, as the book is constantly riddled with guest stars) that I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a nod for a higher profile DC book when Manhunter concludes later this year.

Regardless, there are few books that I would give as high of a recommendation for as I would Manhunter.

Meanwhile, I’ve not read the series from the beginning — the first issue I picked up featured Phobia torturing some poor hapless shirtless dude, in a disturbing yet somewhat erotic sequence (which I suppose might alarm all you “DC’s too rapey” pundits, but hey, Phobia a kick-ass villain, so I dug it). Anyway, by then the series was already well into its teens, so I’m not sure how Kate connects to the Manhunter lineage.

On the other hand, I do question Andreyko’s choice, in this do-or-die arc, to toss in so many different subplots. Chase, Mark Shaw, Azrael, Blue Beetle now too — it’s like he decided to toss everything plus DC’s kitchen sink into this baby, in hopes of luring the several dozen fans of each of those C-list characters to boost sales just enough to keep Manhunter afloat. It seems like a bit too much. I’m all for Chase; I would’ve saved the Mark Shaw stuff for later, hoping that the series will actually be revived.