Superhero soap opera

 

Love Fights is set in a world where superheroes are real members of society and  fighting their way across the city can cause blackouts or disruptions to train service. During one such shut down, Jack, a penciller for the comic book devoted to The Flamer, meets Nora, a transplant to the city from Wisconsin hoping to make her way up in superhero journalism. He’s smitten, but he’s tongue-tied and shy, convinced that girls aren’t interested in real guys, only the flashy superheroes and lets the moment pass. Soon, Nora is on the trail of a new scandal; The Flamer has a secret love child and this bombshell threatens his integrity (heroes honor). While Nora looks for answers, Jack continues his work on the comic, which is of course based on The Flamers actual deeds. The usual rom-com  type misunderstandings get in the way of Jack and Nora actually having a date or a relationship at all. He’s also got conflicts at work, as his inker has been hired away to pencil his own run on a major comic. Add to this the fact that Jack’s cat Guthrie goes missing for a time and when he returns, he can talk and has superpowers, calling himself Future Feline. Then things get complicated.

I loved the artwork, fast and creative in it’s all pencil form. Watson has a great eye for tweaking the superhero world, giving them the same headaches as your average celbrity and giving them  villains with names like  Kimono Dragon, Dust Bunny and Abra Cadaver. Some of the inside workings of being a comic book artist and writer were interesting, too. I just didn’t like the main characters all that much, except for Guthrie, and didn’t really care if they ever got together romantically. Still, the story itself was a good diversion on a stormy afternoon.