The slow-boil thriller Danger Street continues to titillate this week with issue #4, and boy, are these various characters getting ever closer to crossing paths. A boy is dead, his gang wants revenge, a New God is headed to Earth, and so-called heroes are trying to reverse the accidental murder. A lot is happening in Danger Street, all narrated by the Doctor Fate helmet in the story style of epic fantasy.
Picking up where we left off last, the Dingbats are right behind Lady Cop in their investigation of the blue alien that killed their friend. They want revenge, and they’re using the local library to get answers. Similar to the last issue start where we saw Lady Cop having trouble with a printer, the Dingbats are in an ordinary library using the computers. Tom King and Jorge Fornés don’t let us forget the mundanity of regular life, even with super hitmen and flying alien gods zipping around.
This issue turns surprising when Manhunter meets up with one of his prey. A capitalist thug eyes beautiful untapped nature and aims to defile it, but before he can, he’s running for his life. Manhunter is truly frightening in this narrative, like a cold robot murdering quickly and easily. There’s a level of realism to his hunt here that reminds us how grounded this story is.
Meanwhile, Alien and Barbarian are on the hunt for a grave–and Barbarian is quite suave about it with a librarian–while Orion zips to Earth. There’s a layer of comedy to his travels to Earth as the Mother Box directs him to take a left after 13,736 miles, for instance. Regardless of the powers of these characters, King is always good at grounding them and making the fantastical seem mundane.
You’re screwed, kid.
Credit: DC Comics
Two characters who get key scenes in this issue are Creeper and Lady Cop. We learn a bit more about Lady Cop and her motivations to be a cop, as well as her view on Superman. Let’s just say she isn’t waiting around for superheroes to do her job. Meanwhile, Creeper might be onto something, but he comes to a depressing realization at his day job as a TV news pundit that he may not have the autonomy he deserves. With Creeper, it’s interesting to see his unabashed violence by night juxtaposed with his nurturing by his boss the very next day.
Even more takes place, like a murder in a theater, and the Dr. Fate helmet continues to reformulate how we perceive these characters with its narration of ogres and princes. If the narrative was at a simmer, it might reach a slow boil, but we’re not there yet. I’ll argue it’s going a bit too slowly by the end of this issue–it felt like we were on the cusp of a boil last issue, yet we’re not there yet–but we’re bound to see things explode soon enough. Orion will make sure of that.
Danger Street #4 continues to deliver modern and mature superhero comics you rarely see. This is the narrative you show someone who makes fun of comics, not because it’s adult, but because it’s nuanced and takes every scene very seriously.
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