Status Updates From Katana, Volume 1: Soultaker

End Notes:
At the start of this, I had the bright idea of doing a status update after every issue. I just couldn't keep that going after issue 7. It seemed like this would be a goldmine of over-the-top Ann Nocenti inanity. But, though a few issues did skirt that level of train-wreck, the bulk of it ended up being just regular-awful, as opposed to the shock-awful I expected.

Notes:
(1) Despite my previous assessment that this hasn't been as terrible as I expected, issue seven was actually fairly painful to get through.
- I spent pretty much the entire time shaking my head and muttering "what!?"
(2) Supernatural love triangle. We have just crossed over into YA territory.
(3) There's this new villain, "The Falconer." Wasn't that an SNL character?

Notes:
(1) I've read the Creeper origin already, back when I did my run of "Forever Evil" tie-ins.
- I can't say that my opinion's changed... though, I wasn't shocked by how terrible it was this time. Likely as I've read it before, or perhaps I've been living in Nocenti-land for too long and have become used to the stink?
(2) On the positive side, the story does make sense.

Notes:
(1) What drives me nuts is that there's so much blood and serious, mortal wounds, yet no one's injured or gets medical attention, and everyone's immediately able to fight again.
(2) Villains flee in shame. Not exactly made to look like formidable foes.
(3) What was the point of Killer Croc? Does he come back? Is his story continued elsewhere? Plot holes need filling!

Notes:
(1) Alex Sanchez shares art duties with Cliff Richards on issues 5. I'm a big fan of Richards, he should be a much bigger deal, and not just a fill-in guy.
- I don't know what it says that the series regular is so far outshined by his backup.
(2) This is still dumb, but at least here it looks pretty while being dumb. Being pretty makes stupidity a lot more tolerable.

Notes:
(1) Issue 4 was another not-terrible one. It suffers mostly from situational disjointedness.
- Katana suffers a major setback. One scene she's rushing by, telling people the matter's urgent, and the next scene, "days later," she's back at her waitress job looking slovenly and depressed.
(2) Of course, "WAP" had a totally different meaning in 2021 than it did in 2014.

Notes:
(1) Nocenti makes a big deal about this ultimate weapon, the spiral sword. It doesn't exist, she invented it.
- It's not so much a sword as it is a flat-metal whip... though in execution, it's more like a gymnast's dance ribbon.
(2) So get this: Katana's husband's soul is trapped in her sword. So she has intimate time with it. But he's not the only one in there. SMDH

Notes:
(1) After a shockingly not-terrible first issue, the second issue is back to the good ole exasperating, brain-melting Ann Nocenti I know and loathe.
- I was getting worried for a sec.
(2) Ann Nocenti makes the mistake of having everyone speak like Ann Nocenti.
- Jazzy colloquialisms don't really sound quite natural coming out of twenty-somethings or elderly Japanese.

Notes:
(1) First issue wasn't terrible. I think, with a reputation like Nocenti's, if it's not viscerally appalling, then you feel let-down.
- I just recently read Nocenti's "Klarion," and this isn't even in the same ballpark of bad.
(2) Really, it just reads like teenage fan fiction, from the clunky dialogue, to the stupid concepts, to the feeble grasp of Japanese culture.

Notes:
(1) October buddy-read with my comic book crew. Theme is "The Horror Show": horror books or horrible books.
- Being Ann Nocenti, it's plainly the latter.
(2) Why subject myself to another awful Ann Nocenti ordeal?
- The same reason people eat Tide Pods or Carolina Reapers... because sometimes poor judgement stares you in the face and says "You don't have the gonads!"

Embarking on a good ol-fashioned hate read