REVIEW: Irredeemable #2
Release Date: 6 May 2009
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Peter Krause
Covers: John Cassaday with Laura Martin, Dennis Catero, Jeffrey Spokes
Colours: Andrew Dalhouse
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
What happens when the world’s greatest superhero becomes the world’s greatest super villain? Apparently, we all bend over and kiss our collective perskweeters good-bye! In Mark Waid’s new original series, the heroes of Sky City are being brutally deep-sixed one at a time. A handful have managed to stay one step ahead of the destruction and are in a desperate race to do what heroes do best: Save the day.
This series is shaping up to be gigantic. I know my last comic review had the phrase “best comic I’ve read from BOOM!” in it, but this comic? Whoa. Seriously. It’s taken the level of excitement I had for Mr. Stuffins and refined it into the comic equivalent of a Bushmills on the rocks (or whatever your adult beverage of choice is). Everything I enjoy as an adult comic book reader is in this comic. The operatic drama and turmoil filled stories are balanced perfectly with the spandex clad fisticuffs you expect in a superhero story.
This issue follows Kaidan as she’s searching for The Plutonian’s former girlfriend, Alana. It’s the hope of the remaining members of Paradigm (the super group that The Plutonian used to be a part of) that Alana can share some information that will be useful in stopping him from killing them all. Kaidan finds Alana in what’s left of Sky City and convinces her to spill her guts about The Plutonian. We get the details on their whirlwind romance, that Modeus was the only villain he feared, and she drops a clue the size of Jupiter as to why The Plutonian might have gone off the deep end.
Unlike issue 1, we never see The Plutonian in the present; we only see him through the memories of Kaidan and Alana. We get to see him as the hero and human he was before whatever happened to him that made him turn. The scene about secret identities of heroes being revealed totally exploded my brain. I felt so bad after that happened and confused about why it went down that way. I guess none of the people involved ever read comic books before because it seemed totally against logic to do what they did. I’m trying not to give spoilers, but holy crap, Alana got off light! Trust me, you just have to read this one.
Besides the writing, this comic has a great artist in Peter Krause. I hate to sound like a broken record when it comes to the art in comics, but thank you Mr. Krause for giving each character a distinct look and not skimping on the settings! There’s a realistic quality to it while still maintaining a comic book feel. Doing all of that is not an easy task (especially not in the time frame set for the comic making process), so I really appreciate it when an artist puts that extra effort into the artwork.
I know that it’s pretty popular right now to do that re-examination of the superhero thing. First reaction to this series might be to blow it off as a knock off of those other titles. Give it a try! Waid doesn’t rely on foul language, super intense and over the top gorefest art, or the ever popular dirty sex scene to spin this story (not that there’s anything wrong with any of that). It doesn’t mean that there isn’t a sense of urgency in the action or that the pressure to survive The Plutonian and save the day isn’t intense. Irredeemable is setting up to be a wickedly awesome story.
