The Stop Button

The Black Queen’s back again, this time fully in her supervillain period, wearing a skimpy outfit and a cape. Far cry from when she was a “notorious female mouthpiece.” But also a far cry from her scheming in the shadows to take over the city with an army of gangsters.

Now she’s just seducing men, getting them to betray their employers (and wives), then killing them for good measure. With killer lipstick, something Commissioner Dolan really should figure out before the last page of the strip.

It’s mostly an action strip. After some setup with Black Queen and the connection between her victims, Spirit starts chasing her, and then there are only occasional interruptions to their action sequences. They have a big showdown on a bridge, with Eisner and studio getting to do a lot with the angles not to mention the actual fisticuffs (or whatever the equivalent since Spirit doesn’t want to hit a lady).

While Black Queen becoming a supervillain is certainly a surprise character development (especially since her plotting has downshifted from robbing the federal reserve to robbing a jeweler), the strip’s got so many great moments one doesn’t slow down to think it through especially since there’s so much humor running through it.

One of Dolan’s cops is convinced—always—the Spirit has done it. So every once in a while, someone will have to remind him, but no, it’s obviously not the Spirit. But the recurring humor gag works, especially once it’s clear they’re not giving it up just because Spirit didn’t do it.

There’s also some “Spirit invents” this strip, with suction cup shoes playing into the chase sequence at one point. Again, despite Black Queen putting on a leather bikini, a cape, and some stilettos—it’s a great kitchen sink of Spirit. There’s personality from Dolan (contending with his dimmer bulbs), Spirit getting in some banter, and a nice “first act” setting things up.

And the art, obviously. The art’s so dang good. And the exposition’s working on getting witty, too.