My So-Called Secret Identity #1 Review
Are you tired of how female superheroes dress and behave in mainstream superhero comics? Well, writer Will Brooker and artist Susan Shore have created a comic for you called My So-Called Secret Identity which features as the main character a woman who doesnt dress in revealing outfits nor act the damsel in distress. Her name is Catherine Abigail Daniels, a PhD candidate living in Gloria City, a thriving metropolis plagued by terrorists and superheroes in equal measure. And if youre not a hero or villain, youre little people. If you read this comic without reading any of the publicity, you wouldnt think this was a superhero comic. Theres an explosion early on in the story where a bomb goes off in a subway but thats not indicative of superhero comics. Instead, we get the internal monologue of Cat on page 1 mentioning special powers apropos of nothing which amounts to little more than knowing her city better than she knows herself. The line reminded me of Will Eisners The Spirit who associated strongly with Central City, his beat, and encountered numerous femme fatales who were often dressed seductively. To have that comparison in a comic like this which is aimed at representing women wearing sensible clothing is a neat flip on Eisners classic series whose own character was also without any real superpowers. But it seems Cat does have superpowers - I remember things. I see the links between things. I see the connections. I see how things join up. You want to know my secret power? To put it simply, Im really, really goddamn smart. (p.12, 13). So she can read something and then remember it later. Not only that but she can put together information and reach conclusions based on that information. Seriously? Thats not a superpower! Its barely a power as almost everyone has this ability. Who cant read something in a book and remember it later? And even if she is one of the few in the world with eidetic memories, its really weird to label it a superpower. Lets talk about the title - My So-Called Secret Identity. Forget her secret identity, this is a girl who cant get her basic identity straight. On page 1 she introduces herself as Catherine Abigail Daniels before telling us her dad called her Kitty or Kitty-Cat. Then on page 8 when she meets her new landlord who calls her Catherine, she corrects her saying Kitty then switches to Cathy. Then she meets her fellow lodgers Kit and Kay (really) and introduces herself to them as Cat. Then later on page 20 she meets a guy at a bar and introduces herself as Kit then Cat. What is it with this girl and getting her name right?! Shes given herself 7 different variations of her name in a single issue! I mean, how can she not know her own name? This is a supposed PhD candidate remember. Oh you can remember? I guess, according to this comic, that means you have a superpower. The comic is littered with several casual cliches like the male teachers in Cats university treating her condescendingly because shes a female - is this book set in the 60s? Then she mentions how the local donut shop serves cops, a bland detail that adds nothing in distinguishing this comic from every other media that enforces the stereotype that cops spend their time patronising donut shops. MSCSI is basically a comic featuring an ordinary woman, albeit one who has trouble with her name, living a fairly boring life. Its not a superhero comic - the final panel of the book featuring a floating figure with a floodlight for a face is the only indication otherwise. But Im not convinced that Cat is the feminist answer to Wonder Woman or Black Cat. Brooker and Shore have succeeded in dressed Cat in clothing most women would wear rather than the skin tight outfits superheroines don, but thats about it. But by actively avoiding any superhero story tropes, theyve created a comic devoid of story and an underwhelming and uninteresting heroine whose clothing, ironically, seems to be the real focus of the comic.
