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Tim Seeley's never caught one spy, I'm told. Tom King's never even caught a cold. Mikel Janín got his degree from Disneyland. But it's January, 2016 and DC Comics is … err … my man. I didn't plan this out very well. Ba bow bow.
TO QUOTE Ian Fleming: “He was a secret
agent, and still alive thanks to his exact attention to the detail of his
profession”.
THE REVIEW:
Now this latest issue of Grayson may or may not actually
take place after the prior issue. There
is no mention of the events of Robin War, particularly its closing reveal, so
if you haven't read it yet, not to worry. There shall be no spoilers in this issue or this review. Although it does
appear that the solicits are worded in such a way that one might interpret said
event to occur between issues 17 and 18.
Or alternatively, they could just be referring to that which is set up in this
issue. And to me, that would mean that
the aforementioned thing-that-shall-not-be-spoiled may already have happened,
casting a very interesting shadow over the events in the forefront of this
issue!
Anyway, enough with the tip-toeing of ambiguity, let's move
on to Dick. If you haven't been
following this series for its opening 15 issues, tut-tut-tut, you've been
missing out. You're really a horrible
person. What's up with that? Go read them now. I'll wait.
[Four days later]
So as you've just learned, the short version is that after
having his secret identity as Nightwing exposed in Forever Evil,
Batman literally bullies Dick into going undercover with the international spy
organization Spyral (from Grant Morrisson's Batman, Incorporated) by
faking his death (off-panel) to investigate their efforts to identify the
secret identities of masked heroes. One
thing leads to another, some people get shot in the head, Dick gains some
unexpected allies thanks to his easily identifiable ass, and we get to the
point where we are at now: Dick knows that Spyral needs to be destroyed (If you cheated and didn't read the first
fifteen issues as instructed, you still need to go back and read issues 13
& 14 for the long version of why Spyral needs to be destroyed. I'm not going to do everything for you here).
OK. So what happens when a vigilante-sidekick come vigilante
come secret-agent turns the tables on the spy agency he's working for? Well, we get a comic book that dives head
first in to a pool of spy film tropes.
Dick (Agent 37) has convinced Tiger (Agent 1) to join him (mostly
off-panel) in a globe-trotting mission to take out all the other Spyral
agents. It's a full-on buddy-cop comedy,
with a musical montage, and silhouetted spies with guns (and crossbows). There are beautiful women with adolescently
inappropriate names, high speed car / ski chases, fist fights, explosions, buff
wet men in tiny swimsuits, skydiving, mountain climbing, motorcycles driving
down stairs, shark fights, white water rafting, tanks, and white tuxedos. I think the only thing missing was a villain
bent on destroying civilization, putting Agents 1 & 37 in a preposterous
trap while describing her plan in great detail.
Though I'm sure we'll get to that in just an issue or two (fingers
crossed).
To be honest, I've loved this series from day one (Does it show?). While the transition from Nightwing was very
awkwardly handled, taking just Seeley and King's story starting with Grayson
issue 1 as its own entity has been a fun and action-packed ride. It's one of those series that I periodically
need to loop back and re-read several issues to connect the dots of the
espionage web they are weaving.
Fortunately, the artwork has been absolutely fantastic all along, a
valuable feature when character identities are revealed over time. Janín does a great job on all levels,
providing crisp, bold action scenes with a style that fits both the
otherworldly tech of a superhero universe and the spy genre well.
And it's all just juvenile enough to work.
In this issue, once you get past the mockery of / tribute to
James Bond and the musical action montage that follows, things are not going
well for Matron Bertinelli's little club.
What's a girl to do when her two best agents (well, best agent and
thirty-seventh best, as we learn that agent numbers are ranks, not random
designations) take down more than two dozen of her operatives? Well, escalate, of course. And the escalate reveal is indeed glorious,
my friends.
When a girl escalates, what are the two boys to do in
return? Make a deal with the devil,
perhaps?
THE MUSIC:
Despite the high-speed action filling much of the issue,
there was a running gag through the first half that got a certain song stuck in
my head. Nope, not Secret Agent Man nor
Goldfinger,
though Dick's theme song plays as a medley of the two in my head. It's the Del Noah & the Mt. Ararat
Finks' cover of Henry Mancini's Push the
Button, Max! (Professor Fate's theme) from The Great Race. Does it count as Chechov's gun if you're
incessantly reminded of the gun / button in every scene until it's used?
It's an oldie, but a goodie, and no riff on the spy tropes
would be complete without a proper password.
And no, I'm not talking about the 2001 movie starring not-Catwoman,
not-Wolverine, not-Brick, not-War Machine, and not-… that guy who's totally not
based on Bruno Costa anyway. I'm talking
about the 1932 Marx Brothers movie Horse Feathers from
which this issue (and dozens of other references in the past 84 years) gets its
password: swordfish.
THE CONCLUSION:
Speaking of Checkov's gun, there's another one in this issue
that didn't pay off. Did you catch it?
You should be very excited about the reveal of five familiar
faces and two new characters representing… well, you'll have to read it to see
who I'm talking about. Let's just say
that the covert organizations of the DC Universe are well represented and it
indicates all sorts of fun machinations going on off-panel in between
books. And there's a certain large
gentleman I hope we get to see in a suit and tie more often. That image is magnificent.
More importantly, how's your Japanese? It's been over a decade since I studied it,
but my Google translate skills are pretty good.
But that only works so well. Our
new friend Keshi (presumably named for the Japanese toys made from eraser gum,
or, possibly, a literal eraser) opens with a Japanese line; "私は助 け得ることを 名誉に思 います", in response to that thing that happens. My best translation is “I would be only
honored to assist”, or something along those lines. Can anyone provide a more solid translation
or is that the sufficient gist?
(Literally "I intention be honored to aid only.")
My only complaint over this issue is the weird pun / type-o
with Spyral and Leviathan being referred to as “the snake eating its own tale”
… which I want to say is a joke, but if it is, I don't get it. Dick's certainly a character big on wordplay,
but it's a visual and thus makes no sense in context. Plus, with all the recent copy editing slips
(“Cost City,” the city of “Gana,” “Pakistanian,” etc) I can't help but wonder
if it's one of those rather than some clever gag that I'm too dim for. I'm still working on really 'getting' Mister
Malevo's little trans-farmer / acher joke from issue 14… (Herding is like ushering? Huh?)
Okay, maybe I have two complaints. (And two unfired guns?) Unless I'm missing an infantile pun in “Amelia
Spellman”? Surely it's not a reference
to the only other Amelia in Dick's life?
But I'll put this one on the shelf and wait a few issues for it to pay
off before I let it get me riled up.
I want to do one of those little lists of things for us to
all speculate on between now and issue 17, but the thing I really want to do is
speculate on the seven hidden faces that are revealed, or, more importantly,
who the six of them who don't get a subtitle might be representing. But aside from the two new characters (Keshi
and Gwisin), that's really too fun a discovery for me to spoil for you.
So I leave you instead with a simple lament; “Spy Wonder, we
hardly knew ye.”
Oh, and is it someday yet?
*** Just reading and writing and rambling in the back of the Joker's old Ho-Home-On-Wheels... Keath.
Oh, and is it someday yet?
*** Just reading and writing and rambling in the back of the Joker's old Ho-Home-On-Wheels... Keath.
GRAYSON #16
Reviewed by David Andrews
on
February 16, 2016
Rating:

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