Mother Panic #12

Written by: Jody Houser & Jim Krueger
Art by: Shawn Crystal & Phil Hester
Colours by: Jean-Francois Beaulieu & Trish Mulvihill
Published by: DC’s Young Animal

With this issue we come to the end of the first year of Mother Panic, and what a year it has been. The launch of the DC’s Young Animal line had me intrigued from the get go when it was announced that Gerard Way would be curating this “pop-up” imprint for DC and that he would be writing Doom Patrol and co-writing Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye. However, Mother Panic was going to be an issue that I was going to check out, but never would I have believed that I would enjoy it as much as I have.

Gotham City produces heroes like there is no tomorrow and adding a new one to the mix seemed like a risky venture. Violet Paige as a character, however, has become an intriguing study of what exactly makes a hero. She’s a cybernetically enhanced human with a MASSIVE chip on her shoulder - and for good reason.

As Violet is being held by Gala and is about to be her new “masterpiece”, she finally comes to grips with whom she has become and decides, then and there, no longer to take it. Her old friend “Twelve” is still under the influence of Gala and trying to kill her, but Violet unfortunately has no idea how to save her. This all leads to final confrontation with her as Gala looks on.

In the B story, we get to learn more about Violet’s mother Rebecca, and some of what we learn lends itself to new mysteries that will be explored further. You can tell with Rebecca’s story that Houser is setting up year two of Mother Panic, and I for one can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

In the backup story, Gotham Radio, we finally get the conclusion of this mini-story from Krueger and Hester. In my last review, I mentioned how Hester and Krueger took full advantage of the 3 page format. This issue, however, I’ll admit to being a little lost at first, not realizing at first that we were finally face-to-face with the killers of Danny Ruby. The conclusion itself feels like a bait-and-switch “How the hell was I supposed to see coming?” but in the end, I really enjoyed it. Krueger did a good job with the dialogue to make the reader understand the motivation behind the killing. However, the mystery of the vigilante killer is revealed, so we’ll see if Gotham Radio continues.