“Naomi” #3 continues to flex its narrative and artistic chops by subverting the superhero origin story in unique, touching and authentic ways. Warning: spoilers ahead.
Written by Brian Michael BendisCover by Jamal Campbell
Illustrated by Jamal Campbell
Lettered by Wes Abbott
A brand-new character in the DC Universe comes into focus as Naomi confronts the one person in her small town she is convinced knows the secret of her mysterious adoption and her obsession with Superman. The truth is going to change both her and the DC Universe forever.
We’re almost certain Naomi is about to learn the truth of her origins in issue #3, but Bendis surprises – and honestly, delights – by subverting the “Chosen One” narrative in favor of digging into Dee’s backstory. Dee’s from Thanagar, and he and his love were tragically separated as they tried to escape a life of perpetual warfare. Now he’s trapped here on Earth without her, and Naomi’s crash course in the Multiverse is cut short by a very irate mother, and a father with deep secrets of his own.
What Bendis does here is both imaginative and unexpected. Instead of the instantaneous wunderkind, we’re treated to a new kind of hero origin that’s refreshing in an over-crowded DCU. New characters often don the mantles of their predecessors and step immediately into their shadows, forever to be compared to the original with decades of stories and reams of character development under their belt. Naomi’s something new, and Bendis captures her youthful voice effectively while giving space to her confusion, yearning and pain as she struggles to find out who she really is. Her reactions to Dee and her parents in issue #3 read smoothly as from a teenager who’s independent, bright and reaching for what we’re all reaching for: the mythic. She’s got a narrative she’s trying to fit herself into, like we all do, and it’s uncomfortable and heart-rending in the right ways to see that so far, she’s mostly been wrong.
Campbell’s art is very special, and he knows how to blend cartooning with realism and rich details to make Naomi almost vibrate off the page. Her style, clothing and demeanor are utterly Gen Z, as is her reliance on technology and her ability to keep pace with the revelations in this issue. She’s clever, silly, inspiring and youthful, and her face reflects all of these turbulent teenage emotions as she realizes what Dee’s telling her and tries to keep up with her mother’s abrupt entrance. This moment in fantastic comic style with bright lights, high-contrast background reds, defined action lines, irregular panels and a good deal of horror as Naomi watches her mother be violent for the first time. Dee’s impressive size is rendered tenderly symmetrical to Naomi as he curls in on himself in sorrow. Naomi’s mother runs the emotional gamut from rage to grief as her father tries to prepare Naomi for what she’s about to see in the cave.
Bendis’s quick dialogue cuts help keep up the frantic pace, but Campbell’s velvety colors, careful backgrounds and clear faces add a calm continuity to keep us in the emotional tension of the moment. Light sources are important in this issue in several moments, like when Naomi and Dee are talking in the garage, when her mother enters and later, when Naomi sees who her father really is in the cave. It’s a nice visual thread that never feels jarring or pasted onto Campell’s subdued and finely textured palette. It’s hard to give nighttime scenes a lot of depth, much less an entire nighttime issue, and Campbell’s choice to eschew high-contrast colors in favor of nuanced gradient tones is a smart one to help ground Naomi’s journey in the so-called real world. This choice also pumps up the impact when we move away from the here and now into the Multiverse, with all of its wonderful and strange mysteries.
Abbott’s lettering is important in this comic, because Bendis’s storytelling relies on characters interrupting each other and building on each other’s speech. This means lots of small, stacked balloons that have to be seamless with the art and easy to read, and this is no small feat. Abbott does it well, and chooses a font that’s youthful and gently rounded to match Campbell’s line and soft depth. Sound effects are economical and blend nicely into the page, and Abbott stays away from too much styling on balloons or narrative boxes for clarity. There’s very little padding and tails are slender and only as long as they need to be. All of these minimal choices mean that Bendis’s and Campbell’s wordless panels hit with the punch that they need to because Abbott’s work is so precise and focused elsewhere on the page.
We’re left with quite a cliffhanger in this issue and without much bearing as to what’s coming, and if if her dad is actually from somewhere around Rann, there’s a lot of storytelling potential here to keep this book loaded with universe-bending goodness while Naomi’s journey slowly unfolds. Bendis and the team are so adept at flipping the Superman origin so far, I almost don’t want Naomi to have any kind of powers. I want her to be like the rest of us and be able to find herself on her own, without the superhero narrative taking over what’s so far been a really important journey about love, home and emotional strength. This book has a slow burn without dragging out or inflating any of its chosen reveals thus far, and we should all be reading along with Naomi to see what’s next.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – “Naomi” #3 continues what’s been an excellent introduction to a unique new character in the DCU, with heartfelt storytelling, beautiful art and colors and excellent lettering.
