Stepping up to destiny.
Creative Staff:
Story: Steve Orlando, Jody Houser
Art: Jamal Campbell
Colors: Jamal Campbell
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
SPINNING OUT OF THE PAGES OF JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD! She’s one of the country’s most successful businesswomen, an iconic fashion pioneer, a crusader for social justice and an incredibly powerful member of the Justice League of America. But Mari McCabe’s life wasn’t always this way. Follow her path to becoming the heroic Vixen in this crucial special!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
After thoroughly enjoyed the Atom special that we had previously, the Vixen special ahead of the JLA relaunch was definitely high on my list to check out. I’ve really enjoyed the resurgence of the character in the pages of Bombshells these past few months as well as the live-action incarnation on Legends of Tomorrow and Arrow the last couple of years. Steve Orlando provides the writing continuity here with the other specials and the upcoming series and works with Jody Houser to tell the tale. What helps to elevate it a bit more is some strong artwork from Jamal Campbell in giving it a very good look, especially when it comes to her powers through the totem, something that’s not always done well with other incarnations.
With this serving as a semi-origin for the character in the present continuity, we get something that works well as exposition to introduce Mari McCabe. Mari’s position in this continuity is interesting as she’s a number of things from supermodel to activist to someone that runs a lot of afterschool programs to help kids in need, which ties to her own past. She comes across as passionate about it all but a bit disconnected because of all the brands she manages, which makes it easy for her to be thrown for a loop when one of the girls in her program is brought on and goes on about how she’s never met her before and that she’s been trying to get in touch with Mari to help find her mother who has gone missing. It’s the motivation needed to kickstart Mari to reconnecting with her true past and figuring out her future.
That’s given some solid time in flashback as we see her in Zambesi with her father, a reverend, as the two are coping with the loss of her mother. Her uncle is trying to take the totem to secure power in the area because of the power to emulate animals within it will give him a strong advantage, but it’s something that’s destined for her as we can easily figure out. The past serves to show us who she was and what defined her and her altruistic streak, which she’s done well with but as we saw has become distant because of. Seeing her embrace her connection to the totem and taking on the name Vixen as she seeks out the girls’ father is standard fare stuff and the villain isn’t memorable in the slightest, but it works to showcase her abilities and the path she’s staking out for herself.
In Summary:
While not as strong as the Atom special for me, the Vixen special does a lot to establish the character and make her accessible while giving her an interesting if familiar path forward. She’s got a lot behind her that can be utilized in ongoing adventures with the JLA thanks to her business and social media side and there’s a lot to like in the use of her abilities here. She’s just a very real and grounded character in a lot of ways, even with her present self initially being so aloof and distant because of her work. That connection to her origins is what will drive her forward. The team did a really good job here and the artwork from Campbell is exceptionally solid, helping to boost up the grade for this a good bit more because it captures so much so well.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: January 11th, 2017
MSRP: $2.99
