Quick Rating: Legalese, Mumbo Jumbo
Title: 13 Court Street

Writer/Artist: Batton Lash

I like Supernatural Law. I loved the concept when I first heard of it (in the distant recesses of a long-gone century). Who can resist the image of a werewolf in night court? Isn’t it where all the worst critters belong? It just reeks of high-concept Mel Brooks. (Now there’s a description to contemplate. Noel Coward doing monster jokes? Oh, yeahhh… he did Blithe Spirit… . Am I saying that Batton Lash is the Noel Coward of comics?)

This issue portrays a night in the offices of attorneys Wolff and Byrd. Naturally, since they represent the creatures of the night, they’re open at odd hours, particularly when it’s a full moon, as in this case. The added conceit is that the tale is told from the building’s point of view.

Let’s have an interlude…
Is Supernatural Law the great American comic book? How do you define such a monstrosity? Is it discarded ideas re-energized and fed back into the cultural mainstream? Is it a successful deconstruction of the cultural history? Is it Pop Art? Is is Post-Modern? Does it have a beat and can you dance to it? Perhaps the great American comic book simply holds a mirror up to the country and reflects what is there. By that standard, the current superhero comics fail to offer meaningful observations. Like most popular culture, they are reflecting the country as it was or only considering themselves and their history. Supernatural Law shows us lawyers, an all too omnipresent portion of our population. It tells stories about the way we live. It is not as personal as American Splendor or other graphic blogs. Supernatural Law is about us in a way that no other comic book suggests.

But enough about Finland, let’s return to our regularly scheduled review…
I really like the artwork in Supernatural Law—it feels Eisner-esque in the best possible way. I want Lash to draw a detective comic- I want him to draw a superhero comic- I want him to draw- actually he draws all of them and calls it Supernatural Law. What a great concept!

June, 2004