DR. BLINK: SUPERHERO SHRINK #2 REVIEW

[Blake Petit]

Review by: Blake M. Petit Blake@comixtreme.com
Quick Rating: Very Good

The story of Wonder Boy! (Number Five.)

<a href="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/media/660/Dr_Blink_2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/660/Dr_Blink_2.jpg" align="right" border="0"></a>Writer: John Kovalic
Art: Christopher Jones
Ultragal Back-Up By: Alex Robinson
Cover Art: Christopher Jones
Publisher: Dork Storm

Review: For the uninitiated, this hysterical series by the creator of Dork Tower is about a psychiatrist for the superhero set. This issue is kind of a departure for Dr. Blink. Past issues have been a focus on the good Doctor himself, or on his superhero clients and how their treatment is effecting their lives. This issue, however, the doctor and the superhero follow two entirely different storylines that don’t really intersect that much.

Our “A-Plot” stars Jim Hogan, a lonely, aging man whose one claim to fame is that he was once Wonder Boy, kid sidekick to the dark avenger called Nocturne. But the thing is, he wasn’t the first Wonder Boy. Or even the second. He was the fifth kid to wear the suit, and by then, it wasn’t quite the claim to fame it was for the first few. Jim has had a rough life, following a path like a lot of former child stars in the real world. His story has its moments of comedy, especially in its obvious spoof of the Batman mythos, but at the same time, it has a lot of more serious elements to it. It’s not the flat-out comedy you’ve come to expect from Kovalic. That’s not a criticism, mind you – quite to the contrary, it’s an unexpected and entertaining shift.

The “B-Plot” is that of the good Doctor himself, as he struggles with the fact that he’s losing clients to his proclaimed “arch-rival,” a television pop psychologist named Dr. Larry. (Ten points to the first person to figure out who this is a parody of.) This plot is played mostly for comedy, although we do get a couple of tender moments with Blink and his daughter together. Kovalic manages to take a mostly-comedy story and work in a quick moral without getting heavy-handed or preachy, and that’s how it should be.

Jones’ artwork continues to impress. He’s got a light, cartoonish style (which no doubt helped him land the gig penciling The Batman Strikes! for DC), but it’s a solid style that I really enjoy, even for a mainstream superhero title. From the lighter stuff to the darker scenes of Jim’s sordid post-Wonder Boy life, it all looks really good.

We also get three pages of Ultragal, a new strip by Box Office Poison creator Alex Robinson. When Ag comes out to her boyfriend Brad as a superhero, rather than freaking out, he wants to jump headfirst into her lifestyle. Which, for various reasons, turns out not to be a good idea. It’s a cute strip, and if it’s going to continue there is clearly a lot of potential there.

So it’s a fun story (with a quick cameo by Kovalic’s Dork Tower crew that I really appreciated) with great art. What else could you want?

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