Just when I thought Martin Eden couldn’t shake up his readers more than he has in the previous issue of Spandex, he goes and writes this sixth issue.
Japanese ninja guy against evil witch - Yay!
The all-queer team has been beaten by Les Girlz, an all-female supervillains group. They’re being held, their powers dampened, their secrets revealed. And what secrets! In the best tradition of superhero drama, Eden delivers a series of punches that I didn’t see coming—and yet, they were foreshadowed in previous issues, through small clues here and there, including in the bonus material which seemed innocuous at the time. What Martin Eden does very well is turn our expectations on their heads while avoiding to make a mess of the characters, contrary to what often happens in mainstream superheroes. In fact, the multiple revelations in the previous issue and this one only make the characters more complex and rounded. Eden uses tropes of the genre (a dead character coming back to life, the true nature of another one, the shady past of a third one, etc.), but there’s never anything cheap about it, and that probably comes from the fact that Eden knew from the start what he wanted to do with his characters. He’s not trying to shock readers to sell more copies, he’s only telling the story he’s wanted to tell—though there’s one, last big reveal at the end of the issue that might in fact shock some readers. Sorry, I’m not telling you anything more.
I’ll only tell you that there are also a couple of action scenes, and they’re as well choreographed as anything else Eden has done in this series.
There are little touches of real-life concerns among all the superhero plot, such as the difficulties of recognizing one’s bisexuality, even in a world where gay or lesbian people can leave their life quite openly. I really liked the way it was introduced, because it was not done heavy-handedly and it rang true.
There is one down side to all that tension and these revelations: Martin Eden has announced that the next issue will be the last of the series, though he intends to do an extended special issue. While I really enjoy the stories Eden has been telling here, I think it’s a good thing that it’s contained and planned this way. Quit while you’re ahead and all that.
There is another announcement in this issue, and it’s the upcoming hardback from Titan Books collecting the first three issues. It will be out in May, and hopefully will reach more readers than the self-published comics, which as usual you can buy (paper or PDF) from the author.
Bluesky feed