Dismissed With A Glance

Rachel Taylor Brown - “Susan Storm’s Ugly Sister” Susan Storm is the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four, and her superpower is that she can become, well, an invisible woman. Susan Storm’s Ugly Sister, an invention of songwriter Rachel Taylor Brown, did not need to be bombarded with cosmic radiation to acquire a similar talent — she’s simply found that her homeliness allows her to escape the notice of most everyone. The character is bitter and disturbed, and indulges in revenge fantasies in which she uses her “invisibility” to her advantage in murdering oblivious men. Brown’s arrangement and vocal performance is brilliant, emphasizing her character’s extreme discomfort and ethical conflict, as well as projecting a sort of sullen placidity that is periodically interrupted by tiny outbursts of simultaneous rage, angst and guilt.

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- Matthew Perpetua