Okay, I've had a few days of making fun of the book, so back to trying to find the positives:
Val Vostock beats the hell out of Larry Trainor in this issue. Like, seriously, seriously beats him.
In the old days, Larry and Cliff would very often get into fights, but the punches rained down as if it were two baseline human beings fighting, and threats of the use of superpowers always brought either Rita or the Chief in to calm things down. Most of the time.
But Larry did some pretty dodgy things over the last few issues, and in these Dark Knight/Watchmen times (the late 80s, that is), the allowable level of violence in superhero comics was on the rise. And Val never once resorts to using her powers, instead letting all of her training as a covert government agent kick in. Even when restrained, she manages to unleash some final fury on the too-little-too-late apologies of Mr. Trainor. I kind of wonder if there's a post #MeToo analysis to be made here. Larry treats his needs as greater than the needs of Val. I don't know if Mr. Kupperberg intended it, but he's given a very blunt super-powered metaphor for rape here.
The other thing that occurs to me over the last few issues is whether or not Morrison's original intention might have been for Val and Larry to merge into Rebis - I feel like it would be a natural extension of the two characters' (three characters'?) stories. But Val continues to have a presence as an agent in her own right, having spent more of her existence in the shadows than she did in the dubious light of the Doom Patrol. Which is a far more fitting story for a character who is definitely one of the better parts of the run. Hmmm. Perhaps it's time to track down all of Val's appearances....😏
More to follow.
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