Zeb Larson reviews C.O.W.L. #10…
After weeks of vicious attacks by Camden Stone and Geoffrey Warner’s villains, C.O.W.L. finally has a new contract with the city. Now, will Geoffrey be able to reign in the fabricated villains? Plus, Detective Evelyn Thompson confronts John Pierce’s killer.
C.O.W.L. feels like it’s wrapping up much too soon, given that there’s only one issue left before the series ends. It’s a shame, because this has been a marvelously inventive series that has suggested interesting new directions for the superhero genre. More problematically, it does not feel like there is enough space left to resolve all of the different plot threads raised by this series. There are too many characters who didn’t get up enough attention in prior issues and too many thematic issues that should have been given more time. I will be discussing spoilers in this review, so read on only if you’ve already read the first issue.
Two C.O.W.L. members are attacked by an unknown assailant after word of Radia’s rescue of the Alderman spreads. At the hospital, Geoffrey confronts Radia and threatens to kick her out of C.O.W.L. for crossing the picket line. Publicly, he celebrates her rescue of the Alderman, but when Camden Stone demands that she be killed, Geoffrey appears to agree. Evelyn is working to bring in a witness to John’s death, though with little success. Reginald is interviewing Karl and trying to get him to state that Frank led the riot at City Hall, threatening to expose him for the attack on Stone’s casino. In so many words, Karl tells Reginald to go to hell. A robbery in a pharmacy with a few unknown characters gets two cops killed, and Evelyn gets an unexpected break when the robber who first distracted John confesses, noting that he saw Arclight kill John.
C.O.W.L.’s success has been creating a large stable of characters and raising a host of interesting themes. Now that we’ve got one issue left before this series ends, it’s hard to imagine that all of these ideas can be given some sort of resolution. The book never spent enough time with Reginald Davis, apart from one issue, and it would have been nice to see race and racism play a larger part in the book. Karl Samoski has been a frustratingly mute presence in this issue, and notwithstanding his role here, it’s almost been easy to forget about him. John’s role as a member of the KGB Six got frustratingly little attention.
A lot of this issue feels rushed, especially with the pharmacy robbery and the ambush of the two men in the beginning. I spent a while just trying to figure out who those characters were, and it feels like a mistake to introduce these new things as the series comes to a close. For the next issue, we’ll have to see Stone try and kill Radia, Evelyn arrest and Arclight’s arrest, the fallout within C.O.W.L., Warner’s reaction to everything, and then some time spent with all of these characters (to say nothing of the pseudo-Nosferatu we saw this issue). Warner will have no time to try and hold things together before it all falls apart; we essentially go from him holding most of the cards to the deck of cards being on fire. Of course, we may get a twist ending in which he gets away with what he’s done.
It’s not that C.O.W.L. hasn’t been a remarkable book. That is in some ways the problem, as its scope and potential has not matched up with the time allotted to the book. Of course, we as readers are not made privy as to why the book is ending. Based on how Higgins and Siegel have described the intended plot arc of the book (John’s death was supposed to be the first issue), it seems unlikely that they planned to end it here. One gets the feeling that this was supposed to be much more prolonged. Honestly, if we’re lucky, Higgins and Siegel won’t try and rush the ending but will leave some strings dangling. There’s a possibility that the story could be continued, and rushing to resolve everything won’t work well for anybody.
Zeb Larson
https://youtu.be/8HTiU_hrLms?list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5
Originally published May 15, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
