“Dart Attack”

Plot: There’s a brand new Dart on the scene. Not only was she behind the kidnapping of Dragon’s children, but now she wants Dragon dead, too.

Comments: This is another one of Larsen’s object lesson stories. In a world where so many are super, and most of them are idiots, how many scars do they leave on young, impressionable minds?

I wish I could keep track of all the alternate realities and timelines and parallel lives that run through this book. But even the characters in the book can’t keep it straight (for the record, I’m sure Larsen can, but he may be the only one). Dragon meets his new sergeant this issue (in the rebuilt police station after the last one blew up, killing everyone inside except for Dragon of course), and goes on patrol with an old partner, who tries to help him address the fact that his body just died, and he’s actually taken over (in some unknown way) the body of the villain that killed him.

But since it still looks like Dragon (those green genes will out!), what’s the difference? Dragon’s already dealt with cloned wives, multiple versions of most of his lovers, a replacement daughter for the one that went bad, and a son from another dimension. He takes it in stride, and his new partner might have too, if Dart didn’t pick that moment to slice him in half with her magic sword.

Dart’s story is one of living close to the halls of power (she’s a legacy hero, the daughter of Sgt. Marvel, but more in the Syndrome mold than any of the better examples she could have found, like the original Dart herself … who died horribly more than once, but was a hero and a teacher). Good people are thin on the ground in Dragon’s world, and while Allison Summers is more effective than Dart ever was, she’s also completely amoral, and may have killed her own parents and grandfather. Okay, striker amoral; she’s a sociopath.

Dragon faces her with everything he’s got, and she does wind up outclassed, if surprisingly not dead. She’s another subplot from this point on, as is Daredevil, one of the few revived heroes from Chicago’s golden age who seems to be making a go of things. Only he’s a little naïve for the sneaky freaks Dragon knows so well.

Larsen is on a roll again with this title. As always, it’s full of surprises, action, tight costumes and massive creeps. The inking is especially solid and detailed these days. Can he do it? 200 issues, all with the same artist/writer? Of course he can. Next month, he’s 75% there!

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