Katana #1 Preview

[nightrider]

It's monotonous, adolescent, and it demeans female characters to always be pulling water from that well.

It's also handled in a desperately unsubtle manner. There are ways to show Katanna as a powerful figure without her having to stuggle against an Evil Man who tells her she should be a Good Little Wife.

I don't think you know what the context it is in. Its Japan, there are certain sports and occupations where men feel that its more meant for men. Sword fighting especially and it is not uncommon to see people with very traditional thinking speak like that in Japan. This can be seen in many of the japanese period films and TV shows.

This sort of situation happens in real world, even now, so I don't see how it is monotonous or adolescent if its a real issue. Just because you don't want to read about it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Also, Katana isn't really "having to struggle against that evil man who tells her should be a good little wife". She acknowledges that he uses his devil tongue as a weapon and trash talking an opponent isn't really derogatory.

Even if it isn't in this context, why is it bad to read about an evil sexist when superheroes deal with mass murderers all the time? Is mass murdering somehow better than sexist? If villains can be mass murderers, why not rapist or sexist?

[OBrianTallent]

I am very much looking forward to this book. No I dont expect it to last that long, but one of the good things that can be said about the current DC is that a lot of characters are getting some decent runs of books, basically mini series without calling it that.

[Mindworm]

The book was better than what I thought it would be, given that Nocenti was writing it. The art was ok also, though not great. I'm having a hard time figuring out what I actually see at the middle panel on the second page, not counting the cover.

[Rafa]

Noccenti is awkward. Hr writing is like a mix of Tony Daniel and erotic fanfic. Please fire her immediately, I don't want to see another characters push or title die because of poor 90s writing. I'll stick with the book though.

[NinjaMic]

As a person who thinks her Green Arrow and Catwoman were straight up AWFUL,


this actually wasnt bad. Art could've been better but I expected much worse from the story


I might keep up with it

[El Sombrero]

Thought this was a strong debut for sure. Nocenti's writing is fantastic throughout. I think she has a strong handle on Katana's character, and I love the themes of honor, heritage, love, revenge, femininity, etc that permeate the book. Japantown is exciting and the exotic & slightly bizarre artwork works well, although I thought on a few pages Sanchez's work became cluttered or sloppy. The only nit I have to pick is that there isn't much of a sense of a storyline being established here. I guess Katana is just going to face off against a bunch of Japanese weapon clans? The execution here is good enough that I'd be cool with that, but in the next few issues I will want to see Nocenti establish a sense of direction.

Good issue though, I mean I thought this really felt like what a "Katana" book should feel like, and the character work for the protagonist was a lot better than Nocenti had achieved with Ollie Queen or Selina Kyle.

[thewarning]

Yikes. I thought this was awful. Art was strange, coloring made little sense to me, and I just could not get into the writing.

"'Epic fail,' as the young people say," indeed.

[RandomFalls]

That... That was awesome. Loved the art, loved Katana's inner monologue, loved the fight scenes. Nocenti's personal brand of crazy is brilliant here.

Such a shame that no one will probaby get it and it'll be cancelled pretty quickly.

[LoneNecromancer]

Thought this was a strong debut for sure. Nocenti's writing is fantastic throughout. I think she has a strong handle on Katana's character, and I love the themes of honor, heritage, love, revenge, femininity, etc that permeate the book. Japantown is exciting and the exotic & slightly bizarre artwork works well, although I thought on a few pages Sanchez's work became cluttered or sloppy. The only nit I have to pick is that there isn't much of a sense of a storyline being established here. I guess Katana is just going to face off against a bunch of Japanese weapon clans? The execution here is good enough that I'd be cool with that, but in the next few issues I will want to see Nocenti establish a sense of direction.

Good issue though, I mean I thought this really felt like what a "Katana" book should feel like, and the character work for the protagonist was a lot better than Nocenti had achieved with Ollie Queen or Selina Kyle.

The sense of direction I thought was quite clear; it's about her learning how to master her sword.