Manhunter by Marc Andreyko

Manhunter is about the latest in the long line of costumed adventurers to go by that name. The name Manhunter dates back to the 40's when there were two, count 'em, two characters running around by that name; Dan Simmons and his dog Thor, published by Quality Comics and Paul Kirk, a big game hunter turned costumed vigilante, introduced by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

There was a Manhunter introduced in the 70's, written by the late great Archie Goodwin and drawn by Walt Simonson, which was a reimagining of the Paul Kirk version from the 40's and presented primarily in 8 page backups in Detective Comics. This is my favorite version of the character.

Then there were the android precursors of the Green Lantern Corps created by the Guardians of the Universe.

DC connected the android Manhunters to the others by making the previous heroes known as Manhunter sleeper agents of the android Manhunters in the 80's.

Coming out of the Millennium mini series, a new Manhunter was introduced, Mark Shaw.

In the 90's, following the Zero Hour event, one of the new books that was launched was another Manhunter series starring another Manhunter, Chase Lawler.

In the Power Company series written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by Tom Grummett, featured as a main member (or partner)on the team a Manhunter, who was the last living clone of Paul Kirk, named Kirk DePaul.

Now, Marc Andreyko has introduced his version of a new Manhunter, LA based federal prosecutor, Kate Spencer.

Like Spider-Girl, Manhunter is the title that won't die. I think it has to get cancelled every few months so it can pick up new readers when it is relaunched.

I've resisted picking up this series for one reason or 20. Recently, Marc Andreyko was on the Wordballoon podcast and John Siuntres, who is honest but glowing whenever interviewing subjects, really raved about this series. So I decided to try it. I recently bought the first four trades of Manhunter and I have to say this latest version of Manhunter is really good and I like it. The "but" is, I don't know that I love this book. I don't need to buy it either in singles or in trade. In fact, if I knew someone else reading this and could borrow it from them I would. Or if I knew someone else who would like to read it, I'd loan/give them my trades and borrow the rest from them if they decide to like it.

And of course as I'm typing this I get the news that Manhunter's final issue (again) will be #38. So if it really is cancelled, I'll probably buy the rest of the trades to finish the story. If it's not, I have the fifth GN in my shopping cart at Amazon.com, but I haven't made a decision yet.

The first four trades are out now, and the fifth is due April 2009.


Forthcoming:


As for the cancellation notice, for those who need their Kate Spencer fix, she is in the ongoing Birds of Prey series featuring female heroes from the DC Universe including, Oracle (formerly Batgirl), Black Canary, the Cassandra Cain Batgirl, Power Girl, and Huntress. I think that book is currently being written by Gail Simone and it should be a good fit for this version of Manhunter. Also, I read that they would be releasing a Manhunter featuring the Paul Kirk version in some fashion.

Me, I'm giving it a C. I can really see where someone would really enjoy the series, but it just didn't hook me.

Rating: C