Gail Simone brings two things in Welcome to Tranquility that are sorely lacking in most comics; a strong female character and a sense of humor. In addition, the concept behind the comic is an interesting one that the team has a great deal of fun with.
If you missed the first issue, the concept behind Tranquility is as odd as it is simple. When super-heroes wish to step out of the game, whether to retire or perhaps to raise a family, they head to the town of Tranquility. This provides for some very entertaining relationships and conflicts since the town is filled with heroes and villains, war veterans and seditionists. Old nemeses are now next door neighbors while some old heroes have been brought low by age.
In the middle of this is Sheriff Lindo, the woman in charge of keeping peace in Tranquility. This task has become more difficult with the recent murder of one of the town’s inhabitants. Early in this second issue the reader gets to see Lindo interrogating a suspect. This type of scenario is filled with character pitfalls, particularly when it comes to female cast. Usually the reader ends up watching the tough guy caricature with the gender flipped. Think the female detective from Heroes. However, Lindo, despite being baited, keeps her wits and cool about her. What threats she does make are implied and have more of an affect than slamming on the table while screaming. This is not to imply that Lindo is some kind of super-human (although she might be). She has moments of weakness, but like any strong person she gets up afterwards, brushes herself off and gets on with her job.
Perhaps trickiest of all, though, is that Simone manages to create a sexual female in Lindo without falling into the all too common trap of making her a tramp or frigid. Lindo has human desires and she’s not afraid to admit to them, even when others use these to taunt her.
Lindo, isn’t by far, the only well rounded, interesting character in Welcome to Tranquility. There’s Judge Fury, the retired super-hero turned mayor that still wears his mask (and kicks ass) or the medical examiner with the ‘eye problem’. All of the characters in Tranquility are interesting and often funny.
The art in Welcome to Tranquility is easily equal to the writing. It has all of the standard items that make for good comic art, such as good character design and facial expression. Googe, though, goes the extra mile. He has fun with the paper outside the frames and often uses non-standard techniques that convey information in fun ways that don’t necessarily rely on being part of the straight narrative. The newscast (for a lack of a better term) at the end of the book also gives the reader an idea of how the outside world sees Tranquility without forcing the readers into watching another box with a talking head spewing news.
Bottom Line: A fun book with a great deal to like about it. It’s worth every penny you’ll pay for it.
If you liked this review, be sure to check out more of the author’s work here.
