Manhunter, Vol. 4: Unleashed

Manhunter #4

by Marc Andreyko, Javier Pina (Illustrator), Fernando Blanco (Illustrator)

Collecting issues #24-30 of the acclaimed MANHUNTER series written by Marc Andreyko! Manhunter Kate Spencer takes on her biggest case yet with Wonder Woman as the client, but the stakes are higher than anyone knows! Is the Amazon princess guilty of murdering Max Lord?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Fiction, Wonder Woman, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 2008

About the author

Marc Andreyko is a comic book and screenplay writer, best known for writing the 2000s ongoing series Manhunter for DC Comics.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Dr. Psycho's trial ends, Kate gets a new case: Defending Wonder Woman for the murder of Maxwell Lord!

First off, Dr. Psycho got what was coming to him in spades and I was glad Kate did the dealing.

In the previous three volumes, Kate's involvement with the DC Universe has been pretty minimal. Not anymore! She meets the entire Holy Trinity of the DCU, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman! Her interactions with Superman and Batman go about as expected but I love the interactions between Kate and Wonder Woman, both in her civilian identity and as Manhunter.

Andreyko should be writing Wonder Woman now. Out of all the comics in my vast holdings, maybe five are issues of Wonder Woman. If Andreyko wrote WW, I'd buy them all. The way he portrays the Amazon is masterful. One of my favorite moments is Kate thinking "She's enchanted my son. Hell, even I get a little 'Ellen' around her."

The supporting cast continues to shine. I'm hoping the plot threads with Mark Shaw and the budding romance between Cameron and Dylan get a chance to bear fruit before the plug gets pulled on the series.

Marc Andreyko's run on Manhunter continues to meet and exceed my expectations. I'll be sad when I finish reading the series.

2024 reread: Still a great book. Kate's a compelling lead but the supporting cast do a lot of the heavy lifting as well. The super hero action parts are almost superfluous.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has to be one of my favorite surprise series. Marc just keeps giving us quaility character moments that build upon great superhero stuff.

With a awesome court case gone wrong manhunter has to step up in a big way. If that's not epic enough, wonder woman makes her way to manhunter for help. Theres also a solid plotline with Chase and her past coming to haunt her.

There's only one other storyline in here and overall that one is kind of weak. Saying that, this is a great volume. A 4 out of 5.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonder Woman! I don't think there's a single superhero for whom I have such high hopes and such low expectations. I adore her as a concept, and the really good Wonder Woman stories are amongst my favorite comics. But she's an easy character to screw up. I am very pleased to report that Andreyko nailed it.

So, what is Wonder Woman doing in Manhunter's book? Remember that Kate, as a civilian, is a lawyer. Now a defense lawyer, specializing in supercrimes. The perfect choice for a superhero being put on trial for murder, wouldn't you say? Yes, this is a follow up story to Wonder Woman killing Maxwell Lord during Countdown to Infinite Crisis (The OMAC Project and Superman: Sacrifice have the details). Yes, the government trying to railroad Diana over this does seem like a very poorly thought out decision, which is part of why I completely buy it. I love the way Andreyko portrays Wonder Woman. He gets her, in a way that not enough writers do. But I can honestly say that I wasn't at all worried. I've read enough Manhunter at this point to know that Andreyko has absolutely no problem writing strong female leads. Watching Diana and Kate interact is a treat, and it's always fun to get to see Kate work in a courtroom.

There's an awful lot going on with the side characters, maybe a bit more than I would like. But if I'm honest, the only reason I'm concerned about the side stories is that I know the end is coming. There's only one more trade after this one, and I'm not sure how much warning Andreyko had that the end was coming. Such a shame it had to end at all, because Andreyko is doing really good work here.

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the severe effort of the fans to guarantee that the book series continued, a far from standard story emerged from this addition.

[Anne Bollmann (Annelise Lestrange) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review originally posted on The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange :)

The Story
(Goodreads blurb)

Collecting issues #24-30 of the acclaimed MANHUNTER series, written by Marc Andreyko! Manhunter Kate Spencer takes on her biggest case yet with Wonder Woman as the client, but the stakes are higher than anyone knows! Is the Amazon princess guilty of murdering Max Lord?


The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader :)

So, I wanted to make some things clear before starting my review. First, this was my first hero comic book ever, but not my first comic book ever. I’ve been reading those since I’m a child: Tex, the Texas Ranger; Asterix and Obelix; Garfield comic books; Disney and children’s comic books. I’m not completely clueless of the genre. At the same time, I didn’t use to have the habit of taking comic books seriously, unfortunately. I promise that I have changed, but it was only recently that I gave a serious thought to starting a “serious” comic book reading. Third and last thing: I watched so many hero cartoons when I was a child (sometimes I still do; all it takes it’s for them to be on the tv, haha!) and still watch a lot of heroes movies, so it made sense to finally give a try to heroes comic books. From this, this read was born.

I know that reading a comic book isn’t always something neat and organized or ordered at all, so I had a had time adjusting to the fact that I was starting to read something that wouldn’t give all the previous information that I needed to have a perfect understanding of the storyline in any moment at all. Also, I had to brace myself for loose ends, as I only bought volume four for Manhunter. I mean, okay, the trial of Wonder Woman is a “closed story”, but one inside a big picture. Now add all of this to my high criticism of the art on this volume (in which sometimes women looked like dudes or drag queens in the worst way possible) and the fact that the story kept coming and going to other parts of the plot instead of focusing on Manhunter and Wonder Woman’s problems and you have a highly disappointed reader.

Even if I had the opportunity of picking up the other issues of Manhunter, I wouldn’t. I gave it three stars on Goodreads because it was my first time and this comic book managed to keep my attention while I was reading, but I don’t think I’ll re-read it or trying a new hero comic book again in a while :/

As I already said, the narrative kept coming back and forth between Kate (Manhunter’s actual name) and her attending to Wonder Woman’s case and this random guy in another part of the world. Besides, the story wouldn’t stop coming back and forth in the past without even a note or subtitle to indicate it. Seriously, this drove me mad. I had to re-read several pages until I understood a little where I was :(

The plot was simple, as Kate had to prove that Wonder Woman was innocent of Max Lord’s murder and we all already know how this ends. I can’t say much more because I sincerely didn’t understood the rest of the plot to form an opinion about it.

The characters are the only thing that kept me reading this comic book. I loved Kate and Diana’s relationship and how Kate was deeply attracted to Wonder Woman (in case you’re new to the heroes world, Diana is Wonder Woman’s real name <3). Also, Batman was hilarious on his few scenes, haha!

As I already mentioned as well, I didn’t really liked the art, but I really loved the original cover for this volume (I have the Brazilian Portuguese edition and the cover is ugly, haha!)

And, of course, some pictures inside of the volume were brilliant, but I can’t give more than three stars for the art as a whole :( It was too bulky.

Overall, I think this was a good experience. I don’t know if I’ll be reading more heroes comic books for a while, but I tried.

That’s it! Thank you for reading :D

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know what? I hate time jumps. Unless we slowly get flashbacks over time, so the whole story is there - that's okay. I know that it was the 00's, and comics companies were bleeding money, but I'm still mad DC's event was 1 year later. Ah, well.

Despite that, I think it really worked here. I would have liked to have seen Kate step down from being a federal prosecutor - hopefully that's coming up in a future story. But it's all so natural. Todd and Damon, her ex's new wife and baby, Cam and Dylan.

This is just a flat-out good series, especially if you like superheroes that realize killing *is* an acceptable last resort.

Plus, there was some fabulous Wonder Woman goodness. There's a moment when Diana reveals her knowledge of Kate's alter ego, and Kate starts to square off because that's "what superheroes are supposed to do when they meet up," even though she knows she'd only last 6 seconds at best.

Wonder Woman? Laughs. I can dream about a similar scene being in Batman v. Superman.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wowsa!!! Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman show up. The legal twists in this make it great. Highly recommend.

[Sam Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get why Manhunter was so transgressive when it came out- in the post "Id*nt*ty Cr*s*s" DC multiverse, dynamic, new characters with exciting and innovative storylines were basically unheard of. On top of that, women were pushed so far out of the limelight that runs like Rucka on Wonder Woman which, in spite of being wholly unremarkable-to-bad a decade plus later, were considered a breath of fresh air. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with liking something because it stands out amid a collection of trash. This is also in part what makes Morrison's runs on All-Star Superman & Batman so exceptional.

Manhunter is not All-Star Superman or Batman, Inc. It's fine given the era, but Andreyko's writing of women is still less than perfect and the overarching narrative is marred by it's excessive EDGY ADULT tone. The idea of Kate working to defend Wonder Woman after her "murder" of Max Lord is as clever and high a concept as the whole series has had to this point. Sadly, this comes off as less "She-Hulk" and more contrived morality play, closer to the extreme edge of something like Identity Crisis than to something more playful and thoughtful .

Kate Spencer is a nuanced character and this series is solid, if not as outstanding as its reputation. This volume was better than the last but is clearly heading towards something maybe too dark for my tastes, judging by the last page.

[Ronan The Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man oh man(hunter), this series keeps on coming strong. There’s a lot packed in here, but all of it executed strongly. There’s court drama, a vat of acid wax, Wonder Woman involvement with Superman/Batman cameos, and a surprise party. There’s nothing I didn’t like about this volume. All the ongoing storylines developed nicely, Dylan and Cam being mushy while taking on a D-list villain, topped off with a healthy dose of foreshadowing. Wonder Woman approaches Kate for legal representation, and Kate gets some training as a bonus. Kate’s really come a long way, as a hero, a lawyer, a friend, and a mother, and it’s great to see. The writing is as sharp as ever, the art has grown on me (even though I liked it to begin with). It still feels actually dark when it’s trying to, and not moustache-twirly. All the characters have a defined voice and cameos are written well. And for being a “low-key” series, it sure seems like a lot of important things go down in this book. The ending was sweet too, and though I’ve loved this series, I’m not sure it shouldn’t have ended there? But maybe that’s just fanboy-anxiety. Regardless, this series is highly recommended, and this one of the best volumes imo.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this out of order. I read Manhunter, Vol. 1: Street Justice and found it kind of "Meh." Interesting ideas, but the character didn't feel like a fully realized character to me.

This volume was much better, even though I missed volume 2 and 3 in between. I liked it enough that I might even go back for the ones I skipped.

So much I enjoyed in this one! But the best bit had to be this version of Wonder Woman. I love Wonder Woman in concept, but most of the comics I've read featuring her are…disappointing. But this version of her really worked for me, and the plot that brought her and Manhunter together was clever and believable.

[Tom Maseth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 4 collects issues 24 - 30. It is one year after the Infinite Crisis. Kate Spencer is now a defense attorney. Director Bones instructs her to defend Dr. Psycho. She also defends Wonder Woman as she is charged with killing Maxwell Lord.

[Neil Carey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Treading water with Amazons Attack set-up, the ongoing dead wood of the Max Lord business... this is where what had been a promising book died. Shame, really

[Alana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoying this title. It grew up and away from trying too hard and settled into a consistently great series with a good cast.

[Lexxi Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmms. It's harder to write a "review" weeks later (ok, three days) when there's been at least one more book in the same series read in-between.

Wonder Woman pops up. Ask for help from Manhunter in her role as a lawyer. For Wonder Woman is on trial, or before a grand jury, for the crime of murdering a government official. There is strong evidence suggesting that Wonder Woman did the crime. Including Wonder Woman noting and/or admitting that she did the crime.

Meanwhile . . .. Hmms. Here's where it gets tricky. I think this is the volume wherein Manhunter's helper, that guy from the witness protection program who used to basically work for all the bad guys in Gotham, that guy. Dylan? He's dating Kate's friend Cam. Cam's sister is kidnapped. Cam heads to Gotham to take care of it. Dylan follows. Helps.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I'm still enjoying this series, I'm not as excited about the increased focus on Kate's supporting cast. The resolution of the Dr. Psycho trial and the suggestion that Kate's switch from the prosecution to the defense is part of a more long-term scheme were especially interesting, and I enjoyed Kate's interactions with Wonder Woman. In a lot of ways, Kate is very much like Wonder Woman, only with a greater emphasis on the problems caused by her personal life and less power.

All in all, an enjoyable series, and I'm glad it's been extended.

[Thrishni Subramoney · Rating 4 out of 5]

We catch up with Kate Spencer a year after the Psycho fiasco and find that she is now part of a pantheon of local heroes and is being elevated into the big leagues. And we are talking Amazonian big leagues. As in Wonder Woman. Also Superman and Batman.

Dylan and Cam meanwhile run a compelling B story in their own right.

There is a C story involving Mark Shaw which I personally thought was a bit blah. But maybe it is building up to something big, so I shall reserve my judgement.

All in all, I am really enjoying this series now. Would recommend it.

[Jeffrey Jelmeland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, I have officially fallen in love with this book. The depth of character that Andreyko brings to the character is amazing, and I actually see this character as more than just a hero, but as a human being who doesn't live a larger than life life. Now I find myself in a position of wanting to read more of the story and finding that this is the last collected volume at this point in time. Very much looking forward to the next in the series.

[Bill Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once upon a time, Wonder Woman killed Max Lord, a villain who had been pretending to be a hero so that he could gain access to other heroes. The heart of Unleashed deals with Wonder Woman's trial for the crime. The pages are beautiful in spots, but the story lacks any real threat to any of the lead characters. The story is solid, but the topical humor is dated and the dark red text over black captions is difficult to read.

[victoria.p · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved that Kate defended Wonder Woman, and all of their interactions. I also wish we'd gotten to see more of her with Batman, since he clearly Does Not Approve. And even though I knew it couldn't be Ted, I was sad when Batman proved it wasn't. (PS: Wonder Woman was totally right to kill that dude. I don't care what Batman and Superman say.)

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if it's the Perry Mason fan in me or what, but the legal battles interspersed with superhero battles strikes a pleasant sort of balance. The Wonder Woman grand jury storyline was a good coda to the Maxwell Lord storyline.

[laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

wildly disappointing. a terrible use of manhunter AND wonder woman.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like they are hiding a A level hero story (Wonder Woman) in secondary title. And you would think the trial of Wonder Woman should be in one of her titles.

Need more Mark Shaw!

[Jdetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad version of Wonder Woman, although not the best, but he's got the rest of his cast down pat. I love these characters!

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another strong entry in an entertaining series.