I’m glad I went back and read this one again in the spot where it’s supposed to land in the series. It was good to see a case that was less complex than a lot of the things that have been created later in the series.

That being said – this particular case was quite short. If I had to guess, I’d say it was because it was part of a comic series / graphic novel.

I’ve never been a huge fan of comics themselves, but I have always loved the art. This particular story is really well done and I very much enjoy the art that goes with it. There was one thing that stuck out to me ~ and it’s part of the reason I’m going back and doing the re-read.

I’ve heard / read some folks that call Harry (the main character in all this) misogynistic. I don’t see it that way, but I’m a guy so my opinion might be biased. Since I’ve heard this complaint in more than one place I’ve tried to take note of various bits that might highlight that for others. This particular case has one thing that struck me as something a person could point their finger at and say “that ~ that’s what I mean”.

Murphy is there. She’s a strong and independent female character, even if she’s conflicted about how she feels about Harry. The villain of the piece is also a woman. There are in fact as more noteworthy strong female characters in here than there are males.

However.

Then there’s Willamena aka ‘Will’ – the assistant to Dr. Reese. She is 110% the damsel in distress. She does nothing but deliver information and need to be rescued. She cowers behind Harry more than once. I hadn’t particularly noticed it before, but I could totally see where people might find this character problematic. I found her a bit annoying, but genuinely realistic. There are some people out there that just can’t “do” the violence / scary situation thing. They freak out. They cower. They fail. It just so happens that this cowering person in need of rescue is a woman. Except… why is it always that way? I didn’t see it before, now I’m questioning it.

I would suggest digging up a copy of the graphic novel and taking a peek for yourself. I think it could be an interesting conversation. On to Storm Front!