Slingers #1B

Background

None.

Story 'So Whose Idea Was This Anyway?'

Each issue 1 of Slingers told the same story, but at times told the story from a different character's point of view. See Slingers #1A for the full details.

After Johnny and Eddie hang up after talking about Cassie's accidental death, Eddie changes into his Hornet armor and flew away to meet with the others in Times Square. Eddie was a college student at Empire State University, living in the dorms and happened to notice through a window an argument between two students turn physical. A jerk named Brian Broyd was yelling at his cowering girlfriend, Susan Sawyer. He told her she was dressed like a tramp and he knew what she was doing. As Brian threw things at Susan, Hornet crashed through the window and slammed him into a wall. He considered knocking him in the face but let him run. Hornet nearly left silently like a mystery man, but couldn't help liking the way she gratefully looked at him. He told her she'd be ok, but she got scared when he used her name. She ran after Bryan and Hornet decided to leave for Times Square.

Later, when they came across the transit worker on the train tracks, Eddie ran off to change into Hornet. Despite everything, he still enjoyed this. He was thinking of how cool his armor must look glinting in the sun as he dove towards the worker until he saw the guy start to pull out a gun. Luckily the man on the tracks was very much in pain and a poor shot, making it easy for Hornet to dodge and swerve around the bullets. However, he miscounted and as he dove towards the gunman again, another shot hit his wing, crashing him next to the man. Fortunately, the train was stopped by Prodigy and Hornet took off with his rescue. They landed near a group of cheering onlookers, who kept Hornet from grabbing the man after he ran off.

General Comments

It’s a little sad how predictable comic books can be. I love that Eddie gets to feel strong in his Hornet suit, despite feeling weak because of his palsied arm. He has anger and wants to beat Bryan's face for scaring Susan but of course he held back. He was still reckless enough to crash through the dormitory wall to stop him from hurting her further. If Slingers had progressed for a long enough time, I'm sure that Eddie would have given in to that anger at some point.

His fight with the guy on the train tracks was underwhelming. He talks about the cliché math problem of two trains moving at certain speeds as he dives to save the shooter, then briefly evades the shots fired. I'm not sure how he flew away after one of his wings was shot, but no big deal. His action scene was just very brief.

Overall Rating

Again, I like the start.