Image Comics 2017
Created & Written by Gail Simone
Created & Illustrated by Cat Staggs
Lettered by Simon Bowland
The mind-breaking crime fantasy continues! Slick Chicago hitman Cason Bennett and mousy Seattle housewife Juniper Blue have inexplicably switched bodies and lives, and a heartless, relentless killer seems intent on killing them both.
Gail and Cat are taking the Freaky Friday concept to a whole new level here. Honestly as I started reading this I was almost lost and confused before I remembered that last issue ended with the pair swapping places. I loved the fact that as i’m reading this it all started coming back to me and then the mysterious voice on the phone got through to each of them and we started to really see how different their personalities were.
Seriously Gail goes and does some magnificent work on the characterisation here. You may see some things when they are in their “regular” bodies but being swapped like they are their personality traits really stand out. With these new more pronounced ways of seeing them their current predicaments are even more outstandingly delicious. I don’t mean this guy who seems to hold some kind of grudge against the both of them either. No I mean in their day to day lives.
Oh sweet mother of pearl bailey does Cat make these interiors sing. The attention to detail is phenomenal and that it looks just short of photographic blows my mind. Seriously the way the characters pop, the facial expressions and most importantly the body language that we see is effin brilliantly translated onto the page. It’s easy to see why feminine men are seen as gay that female take to them Cat nails the feminine mannerisms on him in ways you never expect to see. The way page layouts are used through their angles, perspective and the utilisation of backgrounds make this book as incredible as it can be and so much more.
Now it’s interesting to see a man like Bennett being thrust into a housewife’s body. A stepmom and honestly a trophy wife. He’s a guy who’s been doing things with women that aren’t his girlfriend or wife so that he now finds himself having to deal with a schmuck of a husband and a teenage stepson well it’s absolutely fabulous. Her whole demeanor is one of a bitch who don’t care, not a care or a worry in the world and does as she pleases. It’s so different from the subservient woman in his body.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how Juniper grows as a person being stuck in his body. With what we’ve seen and what we learn how she’s going to become a stronger person is going to be something to see. It’s probably going to have to be the bigger transformation.
Separately each of these powerhouse creators is known for doing some incredible work but together it seems they are taking that to a new level. Who knew they could already be on top and still produce work that was even better than anything they’ve done before? The quality of work here raises the bar and standard for everyone else in the industry.