Manhunter #24
Manhunter #24
September 2006
$2.99
Released July 19th, 2006
Psychobabble Part Five: "Can't Get You Outta My Head"
Writer: Marc Andreyko
Layouts: Javier Pina
Finishes: Fernando Blanco
Letterer: Phil Balsman
Colorist: Jason Wright
Manhunter is without a doubt one of the best books on the market. Andreyko manages to churn out plenty of twists and turns to keep his readers guessing. Picking a favorite moment in the book is hard because there are so many enjoyable ones. Very rarely does a writer manage to have an issue in which I don't have a single complaint, but Andreyko managed to do it just this month. Great stuff.
The battle with Doctor Psycho was extremely well done. I love the fact that Psycho discovers Kate is truly Manhunter and then forces her to wear part of her costume while he wears her mask. The kiss was disgusting and I loved Kate's reaction to it. It's also very interesting to see that the Society has turned against Psycho. Seeing as they saw the conclusion of the battle, does this mean they also know Manhunter's secret identity? Needless to say this is the first time I've ever actually been interested in Talia al Ghul.
The revelation about Sweeney Todd is absolutely disgusting. His motive is finally revealed as we discover that all of his targets are females on the cusp of developing metahuman abilities. This also explains why he targetted Chase, whose abilities are apparently beginning to kick in even stronger than they were before. No explanation for how exactly Sweeney knows these women are about to gain abilities, but I'm sure Andreyko will explain that next month.
It was nice getting to see Kate's (brief) visit with Ramsey's sister Violet, and the Mark Shaw subplot continues once more. Why exactly is he running? What's causing his blackouts? Will we find out in next month's "final issue", is it something that won't be revealed until the extra five issues, or what? Regardless I can't wait to find out.
The artwork is as always absolutely gorgeous. Each of the characters is gorgeous, and Pina is terrific with his characters' expressions. The colors also really stand out this month, adding to make the artwork even more beautiful. If Manhunter does conclude with issue 30, I really hope to see this creative team somewhere else soon because they are truly amazing.
Grade: A
Kate tries to calm down the nervous Psycho as the jury returns to render their verdict. Just before the verdict is revealed Psycho's psi-inhibitor goes off and Psycho lashes out at everyone in the courtroom with his psychic abilites, declaring his case is dismissed. Kate tries to grab her suitcase but Psycho snatches it from her and hits her in the face with it.
Someone manages to get out of the court room and inform security that Psycho is loose. Security attempts to unleash a paralyzing agent in the courtroom, but it malfunctions too. Psycho proceeds to disable the security camera.
A regretful Mark packs his bags and prepares to leave, noting that Dylan has been the first good friend he's had in a long time. Mark's thoughts are suddenly interrupted by yet another headache. Once the headache subsides Mark leaves; as he does so we here somebody laughing.
Dylan and Cameron are looking through her old yearbooks when her cell phone rings. Dylan heads into the kitchen and discovers a note from Mark; upon reading it he wonders what Mark did.
Cameron visits the morgue, where another of Sweeney's victims rests. The mortician reveals to Cameron that they can't identify Sweeney's knife, but each of the women is now missing their pituitary gland and each carried the metagene. Each woman's metagene was on the cusp of becoming active. The moritician suggests that Sweeney may be eating the women's pituitary gland, which produce growth hormones.
Psycho is enjoying himself as dozens of people in the courtroom beg for help. Psycho sees Kate trying once more for her briefcase and realizes she's Manhunter. Psycho once again snatches her briefcase and forces her to wear her costume while he wears the mask. Psycho is unaware as heavily armed DEO agents arrive at the courthouse.
Psycho decides to force Kate to kiss him and instructs her to do it herself, stating that if he'll turn her into a vegetable. Kate kisses Psycho and then bites down on his tongue, ripping it off. Kate seizes Psycho's temporary distraction to grab her staff; Psycho decides to use the people in the courtroom to beat Kate to death.
Kate disables the people in the courtroom with a low level blasts from her staff and then knees Psycho in the head. Kate removes the mask from Psycho and masks herself before injecting some sort of energy blade into his brain. The DEO agents enter the room and Manhunter snaps the blade out, leaving part of it in.
The remaining blade seems to somehow incapacitate Psycho, cutting him off from his powers. As the DEO agents escort Psycho out of the courtroom, Manhunter checks the juries verdict; she's pleased to discover she convinced them to vote not guilty.
Somewhere else Talia al Ghul and the Society are pleased that Psycho has been incapacitated as they all agree they're better off without Psycho.
Later on Kate is about to pamper herself with a bubble bath when she receives a call from Bones. Bones congratulates Kate and tells her that every supervillain in the system is going to want her to represent them, which means that they're officially in.
