Local Man #3: Another Day, Another Nightmare

In Local Man #3, Tony Fleecs and Tim Seeley have slowed the plot down, taking into much-needed pockets of character and world-building. There’s a bit of well-done situational comedy, characterization, and plot progression amidst the talking heads to keep the book well-balanced. This issue is heavily focused on two conversations Jack has, using them to engage the reader with the macro nature of superhero culture in the world of Local Man and Jack’s profoundly human side.

This issue follows Jack on his investigation tour, his first stop a meet and greet with ex-super villain turned self-help guru Frightside. She lives her life with a monster inside her that reacts upon her fear, her natural anxieties, and the image of her monster, allowing society to turn her into precisely what they see her as. As she and Jack talk, the onion of morality surrounding superpowered individuals in this world begins to melt. Hodag and Frightside are both fine people who have been led astray into doing stupid things because the world had positioned them to be bad people, whereas the members of Third Gen, who were equally, if not more unhinged than them, got platformed as superheroes due to their visual appeal. The conversation is filled with a rich sense of unspoken regret and guilt from Jack and Frightside. The second conversation, between Jack and Inga, props up their discussion by discussing Jack’s most human desires and mistakes. Both scenes don’t read as the author talking through our characters to deliver a cleanly cut, Eisner-ready deconstructive thesis. Instead, they flow naturally from how our characters behave, act, and think. They’re both additive to the book’s overall thematic narrative.

The situational comedy writing in this book is well-done and serves and sets up important plot events in this issue that spurs Jack’s first public act of heroism as ‘Local Man.’ That act of heroism, not spoiled here, was very well-placed and emotionally engaging. The mystery murders plot continued to play out within this issue as well. It’s a brilliant narrative flow that leads directly into putting Jack in the ire of his former team, Third Gen.

The backup story finally spells out the beginning of Crossjack and Neon’s affair. Seeley’s art brings an intense melodrama to the short tale, and Fleec’s art in the main book gets better with each issue. Both are clear-cut masters of sequential art and visual storytelling, but they know how to pick colorists that make their art truly special. Sobriero & Simpson do so much with lighting, depth, and dynamic coloring to keep every page of this issue, even the ones with just Jack talking, visually engaging.