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| Front cover of Marvel Comics TPB Invisible Woman: Partners in Crime |
Score (out of 5 Capes)
For the incredible art and the strong, solo portrayal of Invisible Woman, I give this four out of five capes.
My Review
Over the long history of the Fantastic Four, Susan Storm Richards, the Invisible Woman, has played and been portrayed in many different roles. Dedicated Teammate Sue. Supportive Spouse Sue. Wise and Protective Mother Sue. Even, for a short time, Sexy Sue with high hip cuts and peekaboo chest hole in her surprisingly scant uniform.
This brilliant mini-series gave us Strong, Solo Sue.
While she occasionally plays on the name-recognition of her famous foursome, her teammates do not appear in this series, other than one or two almost-incidental panels. The kind of appearance that only the most thorough fandom databases would credit as an appearance at all. She is very much out on her own in these pages.
Freed from the constraints of the pre-defined roles she plays in her team, Sue shows us several new sides - there is more to this character than we knew!
Credit goes to author Mark Waid for putting together a solid espionage tale. It is a clever and yet very natural genre for a woman with powers of invisibility and force fields. What secrets could be learned, what missions could be completed when the spy has the ability to make themselves or other things invisible to normal human vision?
In classic Bond fashion, Sue must pursue her marks through dramatic high-speed chases - great, innovative use of her powers to make selective parts of a roof and wall transparent while tracking their fugitive! She must battle a double-crossing gangster in the depths of seedy Madripoor. She dresses to the nines in order to get some information while at a swank party. She must deal with old and new partners, always with incomplete information. And, looming over it all, is a megalomaniac master manipulator who ensures that all is not what it seems.
Waid keeps the action coming, driving the story at breakneck speed. Through all of the challenges, Sue the Invisible Woman is seldom at a loss for what to do - she can handle anything that comes her way and is clearly not dependent on her brilliant husband or fiery brother to handle her challenges for her. No, she is capable, confident and, no matter how messy things get, always gorgeous.
Waid's tale is not without its flaws; though infrequent, there are several moments that leave the reader confused. The flashback timelines do not always add up. Characters seem not quite right. Very minor issues that cause momentary confusion without adversely impacting the overall story.
The art also has a hiccup or two. Mostly, they are awkward layouts of a series of thin, horizontal panels in which the dialog sequence does not follow convention and causes momentary confusion. Some different layout choices could have avoided it.
But that is the only nit I can find to pick with the visuals. They are, cover to cover, astonishing! The loving care, the attention to detail, the awareness and brilliant use of lighting, show some of the best work I have seen from Mattia de Iulis.
If art is painting with light, then this book is indeed a work of art.
Page after page glows. The use of shades and outlines in portraying Sue's powers in action are consistent and convey all the reader needs to know. I want to rip out several pages and turn them into posters in my room, they are that level of amazing.
Sue Storm Richards stands on her own, strong, fearless. Her intelligence and intellect are on full display. Her commitment to the righteous cause is unwavering, even when she needs to go rogue to do the right thing. And the confident and innovative uses of her powers breathes fresh air into this character with her long history as a cooperative team member. Go Invisible Woman!
What I loved
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| Invisible Woman in beautiful light, standing strong on a force disc |
So many pages of this book are breathtakingly beautiful, some - like this image from the first chapter - downright poster-worthy. Artist Mattia de Iulis handled all the art duties, from pencil to ink to colors, and used that end-to-end control to give us these gorgeous visuals.
Everything works with this image, just one of several perfect ones in this book. There is so much to love here, from the layout, with the strong, confident and heroic pose, to the touches of fabric in the classic uniform - no head-to-toe body-coating spandex, instead we see lines in the fabric, pulls and ripples and texture.
And the feather in the cap of the art team is the perfect lighting, with the low sun, clouds and back-lit Sue. The play of light and shadow is absolutely amazing over and over in this collection. Amazing!
What I didn't love
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| Panel from issue #1, Sue watches her children in a park |
While his panel shows more of the amazing light-play I mentioned above, with the dappled sunlight on her hair, this panel is also an example of several little niggly plot inconsistencies in this book. In this case, the story has just finished a flashback sequence to ten years earlier, when an engaged but not yet married Sue Storm handled a delicate spy mission. No way those children are under ten years of age. The timeline is not consistent.
I am surprised that a writer of Mark Waid's caliber would let such bumps slip through. They are not many, perhaps five over the course of the series, and only a couple with any immediate role in the unfolding plot. But each is jarring and distracting when they hit. The perfectionist in me is disappointed.
Related Reviews
Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four
One of the Fantastic Four Will Die!
Fantastic Four: Extended Family
Quick Reference Details
Writers: Mark Waid
Artists: Mattia de Iulis
Published By: Marvel Comics
Published When: Jan 22, 2020
Parental Rating: Teen
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| Back cover of Marvel Comics TPB Invisible Woman: Partners in Crime |
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