Issue: Irredeemable #18
Release Date: October 20, 2010
Creator and Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Peter Krause
Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse
Cover(s): Dan Panosian, Paul Renaud, Jeffrey Spokes
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Continuing with the “Holy Crap” moments from last issue, this issue keeps things going downhill for Earth at a jaunty pace. One reveal cleared some stuff up for me that I had suspected early on but wasn’t too sure about, and the other reveal is something that was set up in issue 1.
First things first in this issue, Kaiden still hasn’t had the chance to tell any of the remaining members of the Paradigm that Cary’s brother isn’t dead (which we all already know because he’s hanging with what’s left of Encanta and the Modeusbot without a face). Kind of important to know, I would think, especially for her and Cary (how will this affect his new god-like abilities?). Second to this is that we finally find out what Hornet’s “Vespa” contingency is (more on that further down, so SPOILERS if you haven’t read it yet). Finally, we have a smallish kind of reveal (depending on how you look at it) with Plutonian and Modeus/Samsara that cleared some confusion I had about Plutonian, his abilities, and his faculties.
I can’t tell you how much I laughed at this scene. I literally laughed out loud with a perverse sense of glee that Plutonian really is a complete and utter psycho killer and that he knew the entire time Modeus was hiding out in Samsara’s body. While this is all well and good that our baddie is still a baddie and still hasn’t had the wool pulled over his eyes by anyone just yet, I’m not convinced that Modeus has been thwarted that easily. Assuming they’re working together, Modeusbot is still out there doing… whatever it is he’s been doing. I don’t think the War of Who’s the Bigger Crazyhead Villain is over between these two just yet, but this was a great battle won by Tony.
So, onto SPOILERS. Turns out Hornet was a weaselly little man and selling out all the alien planets the Paradigm had saved over the years to an alien race he called the Vespas in exchange for them leaving Earth and only coming back in the “off chance” Plutonian flipped his lid. Well, guess who’s come to make good on that deal? Okay. The Vespas supposedly have tech that can take out Tony, and when they show up they are looking significantly more badass than they looked in the Hornet flashbacks. What’s to keep them from not taking over Earth at this point?
And if Qubit knew they were on their way from Hornet’s message, why did he kill Orian before his group of alien conquerors showed up? I mean, the two alien races could have, in theory, battled each other for Earth and weakened each other’s forces, giving what’s left of Earth to pull itself up by the boot strings and save themselves from whichever alien race was left standing and Tony would have been taken out by the magic sex candle wax. I get that Qubit still thinks the human race owes Tony more than that, but maybe he hasn’t been keep up on current events and noticed that Tony’s pretty much kicked the ass of the entire planet and isn’t the same person Qubit thought he was.
My only gripe is that this title still feels completely separated from Incorruptible when the two titles are supposed to be coexisting.
Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars
