cvn88 wrote:I took the whole "I can't remember who I got that from" as an indication that somebody is helping RM from behind the scenes and that's a major reason why she's so far ahead of the game. Of course, it could be that she just acquires a lot of stuff from a lot of people - can't wait to see just what's going on here.
I'll start with the flaws I got and move on to the good, because, like a few others, I'm still struggling hard to wrap my head around Ring Mistress and just how or why she's gotten where she's gotten (I could go on a whole 10-page rant on her if she ever gets her own "Character Discussion", but I'll try and be brief.)
Beyond the problems I have with HER robots being decades more advances than any others (did "Galatea" just have a Pinocchio moment and become a real girl?), Ring Mistress bothers me for two reasons:
1) Who she is - Granted, there's nothing really wrong with her personality or anything... but she is just so entirely unprofessional. She acts very carefree, caution-to-the-wind. Her schemes succeed despite there being huge, gaping flaws in her logic and holes in her plans. She's younger than practically any of her peers in the scientific field (Silver Satin, Ted Twiss, Belinda, Gilbert Petto, Doogan, Shelley, etc.), and yet, despite being barely out of college-age, she's just a hundred times smarter than everyone else whose been playing the same game for decades longer. I see Ted and Marcy studying and testing and working hard to make their equipment, I see Belinda creating Mechana over years and years of hard work and research, it explains how Gilbert works for decades to make his Doll-machine... and then Terra Creed waltzes in and apparently tops all the most brilliant scientists in the city that's the technological marvel of the whole world with practically zero effort on her first try. It would be like Snowflake suddenly becoming a much better leader and heroine than Ms. Metrobay on her first mission... the time, experience, and personality don't support the outcome.
For lack of a better phrase, it feels like she hasn't "paid her dues". She, as a character, just creates an anachronism I struggle to make sense of in the Metrobay world, and that's why I was still sort of hoping she was perhaps secretly a member of the oft-ignored Time Command storylines, because that would make sense. Even in THOSE stories, set hundreds of years in the future, robots weren't as advanced as Terra's nano-dolls. And, to spring off of her "I forgot where this came from", that just further shows how unprofessional she is. She BUILT these creations, and yet she doesn't even remember how she did it, where the parts came from, or why these parts work? Maybe that can be explained that someone else, someone more experienced, has been giving her a leg up, but otherwise it just confuses me. A good craftsman knows his tools and what their uses are; a bad one doesn't, and usually the end product shows this. Yet, again, Terra's "product" is better than any other, despite her apparently not putting nearly as much time, effort, or attention onto her craft.
2) What Ring Mistress Wants - What DOES she want? What is her motivation? To be better than Doogan? Well, she accomplished that goal in her very first issue, yet she apparently still has something against him. Does she want money, like how she was originally selling heroines as slaves? Apparently she can afford secret bases full of expensive robotic equipment that, as far as I know, is not directly funded by APEX or Max. Does she want love? She already brainwashed herself her old lover to become her wife. Does she want more knowledge and power? She's already the "smartest" woman in the world, able to create literal self-aware life while others are tinkering with the equivalent of LEGO blocks. And yet she risks everything on continuing to gather intel on the Superheroine Squad via her Honeydoll robots - but why? What intel would she use that for? "Better" robots? She puts herself at risk, and when "Galatea" shows programming she wasn't prepared for, she immediately ignores it. That's a huge red flag. I mean, compare that to Valient Grrl's birth, where the second she showed an ounce of individuality, Max freaked out and ordered a complete start-over because he knew that wasn't what he intended to happen. So... what does Ring Mistress want? Why is she still hanging around instead of packing her bags and millions of dollars and flying down to the Caribbean with her slaves and wife?
I mean, here's the deal. A villain needs to have something missing in their life to be a good villain. Belinda's freedom is limited to a prison, for example, or Max has his riches, but the one thing he wants most (Pink Pussycat) he can't have. Even Irene in this story lacks the approval of her Grandfather and the threat of being cut off from the family fortune driving her actions. Ring Mistress has EVERYTHING. She has completed her revenge. She has proven her intellect to the world. She has money. She has power. She has knowledge. She has a smoking hot wife. She has her freedom. She has everything anyone would want. So... why is she still around?
Okay, sorry for that bitch-fest. Now let me gush praises about the things I liked.
The ART - Leaps and bounds better than anything you've done before. It's amazing and inspiring to see how far you've come from your beginnings to where you are now. You've started to really understand and master lightning, posing, and effects. I'd say the staging still needs some work (don't be afraid to use some crazy camera angles and dynamic shots), but everything else is some of the best work on this site.
The CHARACTERS - Again, as much as I ranted about Ring Mistress and her robots (my least favorite part of this story), I adore what you're doing with Irene, Tulia, and her trophies (my favorite part of this story). Irene is just a far more sympathetic villain with a crazy cast of helpers, unique sexual quirks, an endearing accent, great motivation and plot characterization, a good look, human failings and setbacks, and still possessing ruthless ambition.
And, what's this? My favorite comic redhead Sparrow makes an appearance? Fantastic! And you captured her trash-talking, in-your-face style of banter perfectly. One of the reasons she's so great is because extreme personalities like hers just stand out and become lodged in reader's minds, and her appearance alongside her sister in this story is no exception. The call-back to her brainwashing in "Legion of Superheroines" and comments to Notre Dame were also appreciated.
Also, I do love "DarkHoney". While the outfit remains a little weird (she reminds me of a girl cosplaying as Umbreon Pokemon), I adore the idea of locking the "real" Bea inside her head and letting a new personality run amok in her body. She's truly a corrupted heroine, using her brains and body in a way that is both perverse, wicked, and a lot of fun to watch. She's a heroine, but in Irene's control, all those talents are focused on attacking and capturing those she would otherwise fight alongside. It's always fun to see a villain defeat and capture a heroine; it's always MORE fun to see a fallen heroine forced to do it instead.
The WRITING - While it's still a bit rough around the edges in places, you're finding you're groove for these stories. "Resort Tales" tone was all over the place (from funny to scary to tragic, sometimes between panels), but this is consistently hitting the same sort of goofy, sexy, superheroic peril fun I think most of us enjoy from these stories. For starters, it's good to see less complicated and abrupt story details and detours - you seem far more focused and confident, and it shows in the story and art. Characters are acting consistent now, plot points flow into each other, and the pacing of the issues is much improved. Like you're art, you've gotten much, much better over a short amount of time.
So, there ya go. I'm very eager for more. Looking forward to it, so keep up the good work.