Shadowpact 9 and 10

[knight_moves]

I happen to be reading Bill Willingham's Shadowpact at the moment--had a yen for Justice League Dark, and Shadowpact pretty much seems like Justice League Dark: The Beta Version (with a better name)--and I find the plotting of superhero stuff rather good, but the characterization a bit lacking. There's not much in the way of friendships, rivalries, romances... not that you absolutely need those for a superhero team... but what we get instead is stuff like this, Willingham running his super book like it's a military sci-fi RPG campaign, and I just find it natterly.

I mean, it's basically a lot of verbiage to say "we'll kill bad guys as a last resort," which has always been the case for superheroes. Barry did it, Clark did it, Diana did it (to a lot of controversy at the time, so maybe that's what Willingham is addressing, but it's never mentioned, so). But Willingham writes it with this smug, Reddit intellectual air that makes it more aggravating than it needs to be. And I recall his run on Robin had this same kind of 'character lecturing the audience like it's a grand revelation' writing, and whether you agree with it or not, I just find it kinda ostentatious. I mean, he has his characters literally holding a press conference to announce this.

And it doesn't really affect the plot. You don't have Batman refusing to work with Shadowpact or Wonder Woman agreeing with them or a villain deciding to surrender because he might get killed if he resists anymore OR a villain deciding to go all-out because they might kill him. It's just... nattering.

Anyway, that's enough discourse for now. I'll try to find some regular ol' dick jokes to post next time.