Books: Daredevil (2012 - 2013)

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Daredevil
Vol 1
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Paolo M Rivera and Marcos Martin
2012


Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Daredevil
Vol 2
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Paolo M Rivera and Marcos Martin
2013



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Daredevil
Vol 3
Written by Mark Waid
Art by , Marco Checchetto, Chris Samnee and Khoi Pham
2013



Available now from Islington Libraries
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From Mark Waid - who (to me) is best known as the guy who wrote the (excellent) Astro City [1] - but (going from the members of the Comic Forum at least) is better known now for all the evil and nasty things he got up to with Irredeemable comes a fresh take [2] on everyone's favourite blind superhero with devil horns and a red leather one-piece: who's also a lawyer and who consistently has the type of relationship problems that even Jeremy Kyle would balk at.

But yes - you know that already from all the glowing reviews and stuff: blah blah blah. What you want is for me to tell you what exactly all the fuss is about with this new-minted-freshly-pressed version of Daredevil (no previous experience necessary - so you can just pick it up and get straight into it)? Well - ok: just take a looks at that cover to Vol 1 - I mean maybe it's a little bit too small on your computer screen (no?) so I'd do a favour and just describe it for you: it's Mr Daredevil all decked out in his fancy red leather jumping around: only what looks like far away like a blank magnolia/vanilla backdrop is actually a cityscape where the building and birds aren't filled in with lines and colours and blah (like a normal thing) but rather they're written in with sounds: so the birds wings all say "flapflapflap" and their heads say "coocoocoo" [3]: all this being the big clue that unlike most of the other Daredevil books that I've encountered on my travels so far [4] is that it's the first Daredevil series to really dig deep into this whole blindness thing [5] and try and represent it on the comic page. 

Of course (and I can't be the only one to ever think this right?) - but it's damn peculiar to have a superhero who seems to have been created as an aspirational figure for the blind seeing how (no duh) comic books are so very much a visual medium [6]. I mean - if you compare it with another differently-abled person [7] anything else would make a lot more sense: like someone whose wheelchair was actually a high powered inspector gadget machine (or whatever), someone whose hyperactivity gave them the ability to walk through walls [8] or (and this is my favourite and someone should make this come true because it so obviously make a really cool comic seeing how it plays to it's strengths): a deaf guy whose has super-developed sense of sight (call him Dareangel or something). Point being if someone is in a wheelchair, or has ADD or is deaf - then they can read and enjoy the comic and (hopefully) feel a bit more empowered. While anyone who's blind it's like: "Oh dude - there's this thing about a blind superhero that you'd really like only - damn - because it's a comic book: you can't - oh well." 

So. Erm. Yeah. Wait. What was I saying?      

Well yeah - so: even tho (for the reasons above) I've got this unshakeable feeling that it's like totally unfair to the blind people out there - it is kind of cool that there's these Daredevil books that take the concept of sightlessness seriously. Previously (from the Daredevil's I read - which I'll be first to admit probably isn't much in the grand scheme of things: but is still probably a dozen more than your general layperson - so) most writers would pay lip-service to the whole blind thing by going in for some detailed description of the sights and sounds of the city (and oh boy - if I had the time I would totally cut and paste all of the grandiose descriptions that have been set down over the years: but come on - you know what I mean right? "I can smell the yellowish chemical tinge of the mustard in their hot dogs from five blocks away." etc): but Waid and his co-conspirators go in for a much more bold "purple vision" which you kinda have to see to really understand: but kind looks like a cool effect from an 80s action movie [9].    

Compared to the crash and bang of all other superhero comics out there: which (as much as I do end up loving some of them) are a little bit electric guitars and crashing drums (especially the previous versions of Daredevil which have always have a particular tendency to pile on the strings in a doom-laden way) this brand new sprightly version of Daredevil comes across more like a piano sonata - light and breezy and almost delicate in the way it plays upon (and subtly upends) it's well-worn clichés. I mean yeah: you've heard the story of good versus evil a bazillion times: but hey - just because I've eaten cake before that doesn't mean that I'm not going to enjoy a few cheeky slices especially if someone knows how to bake all the right ingredients just right: mixing them all up in a concoction that I'm just going to go ahead and describe as simply devilish (ha!). 

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[1] Which I really really really should write a post for: but man - oh well: whatever: maybe in a bit.

[2] Can I get away with saying "fresh take"? Kinda makes me sound like a voice-over for a cheesy mid 90s film trailer: but maybe that's just a problem that exists only in my head?

[3] Which always reminds me of that Bill Hicks joke. But yes. 

[4] Most of which I must say are really damn pretty good and is really (have I said this elsewhere on here?) the only real competition Batman's got in terms of mainstream superhero character comic books that people who don't normally read mainstream superhero character comic books can also enjoy and appreciate: only (for whatever social reasons) - Batman is afforded waaaaaaay more respect by the general public than the blind guy with the white cubs all dressed up in a red leather one-piece (which I guess we can probably blame (as with so many things) on Ben "Smugface" Affeck). But yeah (whatever) my point being: if you're looking for a good time: go read a Daredevil comic (especially if it's one written by Mr Frank Miller or Mr Brian Michael Bendis).  

[5] Of course - I'm sure that this is wrong. And hey - if anyone out there wants to do an "well - actually I'll think you'll find…." then go ahead - knock yourself out. 

[6] I mean - writing has braille right - but (as far as I know - and maybe this is like a whole other: "well - actually I'll think you'll find….") there's not a way that you can make comics for the blind - is there? 

[7] That's the proper - not-offending-anyone way to put it - right? 

[8] Ok - so that one is a bit weak and is basically just The Flash - but whatever: leave me alone.

[9] In fact: it really reminds me of this bit of trivia from John Carpenter's Escape From New York: "The wire-frame computer graphics on the display screens in the glider were not actually computer-generated, as computers capable of 3D wire-frame imaging were too expensive when the film was made. To generate the "wire-frame" images, special effects designers built a model of the city, painted it black, attached bright white tape to the model buildings in an orderly grid, and moved a camera through the model city." But I dunno - maybe that's just me?  

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Links: Comics Alliance Article: Why You Should Be Reading ‘Daredevil’, Comic Book Resources Article: PIPELINE: Why "Mark Waid's 'Daredevil'"?, Comics Should Be Good Article: Would Mark Waid’s Daredevil Just be an Average Superhero Comic Book Back in the Old Days?, PopMatters Article: Mark Waid’s Narrative Multitasking in "Daredevil", Sequart Article: I Once Was Blind: Waid’s Daredevil & How Expectations Can Ruin Even the Best of Things….

Further reading: Daredevil (2001 - 2006), Irredeemable, Astro City, Hawkeye, Richard Stark's Parker,

All comments welcome.

Books: Superman: Birthright

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Superman: Birthright
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Leinil Francis Yu
2005




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


So yeah: last night I went to the IMAX and saw Man of Steel on the biggest of big screens and then today I read this book: Superman: Birthright which is (for those of us who know) one of the very few actually pretty good Superman comics out there: you know - one of the ones you can read without feeling like it's sapping a IQ point for every page you read - or at least (oh dear): that's how I liked to remember it...

I mean: everyone knows that the only good Superman comics out there [1] are: Superman: Red Son, Superman: Secret Identity and Superman: All Star Superman - right? Those are the three that you can comfortably hand to any one and not feel like you have to make some kind of excuse as you do it "Or yeah - maybe just ignore the cheesy dialogue" or "I realise that the story doesn't quite hang together" or whatever.

And for me the very telling detail here is that the first two books aren't really "proper" Superman stories - (in that - technically speaking you know: they're not really about the Superman that everyone knows) Superman: Red Son telling the story of what would have happened if Superman's baby rocket ship thingie had crash-landed in the Ukraine instead of Kansas and Superman: Secret Identity telling the story of a whole different Clark Kent (it's kinda complicated to spell it all out and I don't want to spoil it any - so you know: just go read it). And the third on the list - Superman: All Star Superman - whilst being the closet thing to the Superman everyone knows - kinda exists in it's own (beautifully constructed) unique little space. Or - to put it another way - it's not really Grant Morrison telling a Superman story - it's more Superman being used to tell a Grant Morrison one (I don't know if that's the best way to put it - but it's hard to go into detail without falling into talking about pocket universes and parallel worlds and stuff: so maybe I should just leave it).

But yeah - point being: if you're looking for some pure unadulterated Superman comic fun there's not really that many places to turn to [2] and so (or so you would think) thank heavens for the delights of Mark Waid and Leinil Francis Yu and this little book called Superman: Birthright [5].

Except - well.

Well: let me digress (just a little)....

So I realise that this might be a little bit contentious (and yeah - maybe I should do a little bit more research before I occidentally put my foot in anything - but what the hey: this ain't a scholarly text or something like that - it's is a blog right? Which I'd say puts it only one one step above someone chatting nonsense in a pub: so just pretend you're sipping on a pint sitting across from me and roll with me a little here...) but the notion of a god of light isn't exactly a new one: you know - there's Horus, Sol Invictus and - yeah - Jesus - sent from above, powered by the sun, pretty much invincible and all very big on the notions of forgiveness etc.

Now I'm saying this in order to score any cheap shots - (although god knows I sure do love scoring a good cheap shot now and again) - but more to say that if you care to look at things in a certain way [6] there's loads of stuff embedded in the Superman myth that's centuries old and that just to go with a "hey - isn't Superman a lot like Jesus?" thing which Man of Steel traffics in an awful awful lot [7] is kind of setting your sights a little bit too low: like you're only referring to Oasis when you could be referring to The Beatles or something.

Because yeah Superman is old. I mean - this is the month that he celebrates his (goddamn it) 75th anniversary (and my brain is struggling to come up something else that's been around for that long and coming up with nothing so yeah) and - yet - the go to idea with both Birthright and Man of Steel (I'm going to try and bring both of them together a little bit in order to make sure that I can somehow finish writing about this today with it all fresh in my head) is how do we re-invent Superman for a modern audience? How do we make him fresh and dynamic and sexy and new? And I guess that my feeling (having ingested both the film and the comic in the same 24 hour period) is that you can't. I mean - you don't dress up other 75 year olds in revealing-skin-tight outfits because let's face it (sorry 75 year olds) that kind of thing just ain't right. And it's the same thing with stories. You know: when they're done right it's because they're products of their environment and social blah and whatever and trying to retell the same story with a fresh spin when the original people who told it are long since dead seems a little - I dunno - dumb.

I mean - I'm not saying it can't be done: but like I said at the start - all the best Superman stories comics has (at the moment at least) are the ones that approach the issue sideways and don't just keep retreading the basics [8]. I mean - one thought which crossed my mind as a watched Man of Steel was - wouldn't it be easier (and maybe more interesting?) to make a Superman story that was set in 1938? Or would that be a step too far? I mean - at least it would (maybe?) make us feel like we're seeing something that we hadn't already seen before?

Which I guess is what would have made Birthright and Man of Steel feel a little bit - I dunno - significant. So instead of having the legend bend to our circumstances - we should bend to its. And instead of thinking in terms of Jesus (which yeah - I realise for a lot of people is the be all and end all of everything) - it set it's sights more towards the epicness of - yeah: human's worship of the sun (or something) [9]. I don't know.

And I guess what this misses is that - hell - Man of Steel (albeit unintentionally) ends up saying quite a bit about our present head-space as like a global society - namely (I mean - if you want to go there) that life is over-rated and - hey - if someone needs to die in order to make a point about something then: oh well. I guess that's the way it has to be [10]: which (damn) isn't exactly the hopeful message I was expecting to be left with when I left the warm comfort of the IMAX [11].

But - then again: maybe the real problem isn't that enough is being made to properly ground the story (or whatever it is I'm trying to say) and more that - well yeah: it's 2013 and we're all still sitting around and watching multi-million dollar films based on the same story that our grandparents used to read? I mean - I'm not saying that everything needs to be new, new, new all of the time: but yeah - Man of Steel in lots of ways is pretty much the perfect superhero film: it does just about everything that you could want: there's lots of fightings and explosions and large-scale destructions and blah - but to what end? I mean: I felt like this was a film that got to grips with who Superman is much more than the Nolan Batman films - but God: does any of that really matter? I mean: the way that all of us fans react to these blockbuster superhero films is: well - how faithful did it manage to stay to to what has happened before in the comics and the canon and the blah blah blah - when instead it feels like maybe we should be asking: well - did this film do anything to me as a human being? Did it make me appreciate the world in a new way? Did it make me see or feel things in a way that I hadn't before? I mean yeah - ok - I can believe that a man can fly [12] but so what? Why should I care? You know....?

Instead it feels like that the attitude of the people telling these Superman stories is that we're already invested in things and really we're just supposed to admire the small little personal touches that they can to the overall legend - like The Aristocrats [13] but with less swear words and a cape or something. And - man (another totally obvious point yeah): but it's just a bit depressing to realise how much of a male fantasy Superman is. Because we know that every guy harbors the twin feelings of being an outcast and a freak and an alien at the exact same time that they think that (given the right chance) the could be superheroic and all powerful and better and kinder and more good than everyone else around - but (come on) could they not at least try and give things a bit more of a feminine touch so that it doesn't feel like a total sausage fest? (Or - let me put it like this: everyone knows who Jor-El is - but what's Superman's Kryptonian mum called?).

Because - yeah: even tho (having read Birthright a few years back) I remembered it as being a hot and delicious slice of Superman pie - rereading it in the cold light of day (having placed it in my head as "oh yeah - that really cool Superman story that makes it all feel fun and brand-new") I was dis-hearted to realise that it was all just a little bit stale and tasteless.

I mean - maybe part of the reason is that I do get Mark Waid confused (for some reason?) with Kurt Busiek (I have no idea why [14]) so I was thinking that I was going to get something a little bit more canny: I mean - yeah - Mark Waid did write Kingdom Come and the (at times brilliant) Irredeemable - but I guess one of the points I've been circling around is that: if you want to write a Superman story that actually sings (instead of just grunting in a semi-tuneful fashion) - you need someone who's willing to mess around with things a little and - well - Mark Waid doesn't really seem to be that type of writer.

And Leinil Francis Yu (who some of you will recognise from his work on the Ultimate Avengers books) has a very snappy art style with loads of foreshortening happening everywhere at once (so everyone's limbs looks like they're  pointing away in triangles) - but - well: it feels like something that's maybe best for short sharp bursts rather than something made to be sustainable over time (and man - I don't know what it is: but there's something about the way he draws that makes me feel like I'm not getting my full recommended daily dose of iron or something. It's like having something at McDonalds: half an hour later and I'm still hungry).

So - well: yeah - after all that - what have we got? I mean - I'm pleased that I saw Man of Steel because it meant I could entertain myself with some interesting internet reading afterwards [15] and yeah: it's actually pretty impressive how superhero films have finally got to the point where they can wreck some serious devastation and make the end of the world seem like a real possibility (I mean - as much as I love the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films - in terms of action - they felt more like expensive television rather than an epic wide-screen no holds bared film: but maybe that's just me?) and - as an aficionado of what I'd like to call the "cinema of transcendentalism" [16] I did get a kick by the climax that basically got just a little bit abstract with all the white light and all: because - yeah: that's something that I feel film does really well (and that I never really get to see enough of).

But at the end of the day: I guess what I'm trying to say is that - it's the 21st Century and we need some new myths and we're not going to get anywhere if we keep going back to wells that are already long since dry.

And saying that: when the sequel comes out I'm probably going to be first in line at the IMAX again because I'm a stupid idiot.

Oh well.

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[1] I mean - (well yeah) - some people out there might try and argue that Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's Superman for All Seasons is not a colossal waste of time: but those people would be wrong.

[2] I should admit that actually All Star Superman is probably the best place to turn to for a really good Superman story and that I've kinda stacked the deck a little by saying it's not really a "proper" or whatever and saying that it doesn't really count. But I guess thinking about it - it's more that it's too refined or something maybe? It's like a burger, chips and a milkshake [3] as prepared by a gourmet chef - I mean: yeah - it's refined and tasty and delicious and I've never had a milkshake so finely blended or chips so crisp and a burger so juicy and succulent- but it's cooked so well that it's almost too much you know? Like: sometimes you want a burger, chips and milkshake that's just a little bit cheap and nasty: and that's part of the fun of it? So yeah: All Star Superman is where you should go if you want something upper class and distinctive and something to hold up as one of the pinnacles of what comics can achieve as actual - (oh fine let's just say it) art while -  Superman: Birthright is what you want if you just want something that's going to show you a good time and leave you with a smile on your face: or what we tend to call - just plain old entertainment [4]. Yeah?

[3] My go-to metaphor for superhero comics / films for all the obvious reasons.

[4] Although I wrote that when I was only still a few pages in: and - well yeah: by the time I'd waded all the way in up to my waist I kinda realised that maybe "entertainment" is maybe stretching it just a little bit.... But yeah: let me try and sum up my feeling somewhere up above instead of down in a footnote.

[5] Or - if you're looking for it on the Islington library catalogue "Superman: Birth Right." which makes it sound a little more dogmatic or something somehow.

[6] Reading this Wikipedia page (Jesus Christ in comparative mythology: "For over a century, various authors have drawn a number of parallels between the Christian views of Jesus and other religious or mythical domains. These include Greco-Roman mysteries, ancient Egyptian myths, and more general analogies involving cross-cultural patterns of dying and rising gods in the context of Jesus myth theory.") I discovered the marvellous word "Parallelomania" which basically translates as: "Just coz you see - doesn't mean it's there."

[7] As pretty much everyone else on the internet has already pointed out (there's a reason that this Grantland article is called Jesus Christ Superman) - there's a moment when he steps out of a spaceship and seemingly for no other reason than to be like "oh - hey - check me out I'm just like Jesus" he turns around and does an arms-outstretched Christ pose because - erm - because (?) - because of the wonderful things he does? I don't know. Personally I preferred things when they were a little bit more subtle and referred the whole being tested by the devil in the wilderness thing and having his standing on a Terminator-style desert of skulls. But what can you do?

[8] Although - yeah - credit where it's due: Man of Steel does manage to dole out the basics in a pretty nice way (even if it does end up making itself feel just a little bit like a particularly glossy episode of Lost).

[9] Or in other words Superman that's less Passion of The Christ and more Sunshine crossed with 2001: A Space Odyssey. That's the Superman film that I would like to see.

[10] And oops - Mark Waid is not a fan: "Seriously, back in Metropolis, entire skyscrapers are toppling in slo-mo and the city is a smoking, gray ruin for miles in every direction, it’s Hiroshima, and Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich are somewhere muttering “Too far, man, too far”…"

[11] Also (am I reading too much into this?) - but did they set Superman up as - like - the standard bearer of the forces of Creationism? Check it out: at one point one of the bad guys says "And if there's one thing that History teaches us it's that Evolution always wins." which (seeing how it's a bad guy who says it) kinda lines up Evolution as being boo-worthy and - if that's the case - then: hell yeah - let's hear if for Intelligent Design! (Or in other words:  I would not have been at all surprised if Superman had responded with a punch to the face and a quip like: "Evolution that.")

[12] Although I've got to ask: how exactly does that work exactly? Like is it a physical thing or a mental thing that propels him through the air or what?

[13] ""The Aristocrats" (also known as "The Debonaires" or "The Sophisticates" in some tellings) is an exceptionally transgressive (taboo-defying) dirty joke that has been told by numerous stand-up comedians since the vaudeville era. Over time it has evolved from a clichéd staple of vaudevillian humor into a postmodern anti-joke. Steven Wright has likened it to a secret handshake among comedians, and it is seen as something of a game in which those who tell it try to top each other in terms of shock value. It is thought of as a badge of honor among expert comedians and is notoriously hard to perform successfully. It is rarely told the same way twice, often improvised."

[14] And gosh - looking through who's written what - it's pretty clear that Kurt Busiek (Marvels, Arrowsmith, Astro City and - oh yeah - Superman: Secret Identity) is much more the more talented one: but I guess that doesn't answer why I get them mixed up: maybe it's because they're both kinda B-list when it comes to comic book writing or something? Like - you know: the directors whose names no one ever really remembers (like Andrew Niccol or Peter Weir). 

[15] And if you're the same as me then I would recommend you read this, this and this.

[16] Which - yes - is a term I have just made up now: but basically means - films which stop trying to portray physical reality and instead try to portray mental states (as in: this and this and - yeah ok - this).

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Links: Grovel Review, The Place Where Things You Love Die Review, Comic Book Resources Article: Super-stars (part 1): Mark Waid's "birthright," The Official Origin.

Further reading: Superman: All Star Superman, Superman: Secret Identity, Superman: Red Son, Superior, Irredeemable, Kingdom Come, Ultimate Comics: Avengers, DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore.

All comments welcome.

Books: Captain America: Man Out of Time

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Captain America: Man Out of Time
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Jorge Molina
2011




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


I don't wanna be too judgemental or anything but: Radiohead don't look like that.

I wish that I could have found a picture on the internet that I could link to here. But - basically - there's a bit in this book where Radiohead play for Captain America - and - well - instead of looking like Radiohead - they look like a 8 year old boy's idea of what a rock band should be. And - duh - obviously - Radiohead don't look like that.

And - hey - you know what? - maybe I could have got over that - but then - in the end - there's what's supposed to this big cathartic moment - Captain America learning lessons and moving on and etc and blah - and it all rests upon - Radiohead (namely: Kid A). And it just seemed really silly - because it's supposed to be all emotional and whatever: but coming from a book that couldn't even get close to drawing Radiohead right. And - yeah - it annnoyed me. And - the reason I'm saying all this - is that the Radiohead problem is endemic of the problem of this whole book. I mean: it's written by Mark Waid - who I really like from Kingdom Come and Irredeemable - but this whole book feels massively rushed and thrown together: (so much so at one point I had to double-check to see if I had accidently skipped a couple of pages): the whole book feels like there's bits missing or it's a tie-in to some other book that doesn't exist.

I remember when I first saw this book. It was sitting on the shelves in an HMV back when the Chris Evans Captain America film had first come out. I looked up at the cover and thought: "Wow. That looks kinda cool." (Although the cover was just a tiny bit confusing: was it trying to suggest that this was a story where Captain America had a fight with all the American Presidents?" [1] )

But: basically - summing up I'd just say that: Radiohead don't look like that.

Or: (even better): Trash. And not in a good way.

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[1] Note to whoever is reading this: can we make that book happen? It could start with the same sort of conversation that they have in Fight Club (Captain America and Iron Man sitting around having a beer: "OK: any historic figure." "I'd fight Gandhi." "Good answer." "How about you?" "Lincoln." "Lincoln?" "Big guy, big reach. Skinny guys fight 'til they're burger." "Well - I have a time machine just over here: let's do this!")

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Further reading: Ultimate Captain America, Kingdom Come, Irredeemable, Superman: Birthright.

All comments welcome.

Books: Kingdom Come

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Kingdom Come
Written by Mark Waid and Alex Ross
Art by Alex Ross
1998




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


Everyone loves a good Ragnarök. And in the mid-nineties Kingdom Come was the place to go for anyone wanting to get their apocalyptic superhero kicks. Taking place in a universe where all the first generation superheroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman et al have grown old and increasingly irrelevant - superseded by a younger violent generation of heroes who have none of those old moral qualms and a much more brash and over-the-top attitude to dispensing with bad guys (spot the subtext) Kingdom Come is equal-parts lamination for the gods of times past and triumphant hallelujah for the power they still hold. Owing quite a debt of gratitude to Alan Moore's Twilight of the Superheroes pitch (which you can read here) and fortified with the same prevalent gloom as The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen (which gets a few sly nods and winks): it nonetheless manages to dropkick the reader with a succession of thrilling moments all building to an epic end-of-the-world climax. With expertly written dialogue that's always to the point (""Man of tomorrow", my ass. Try "Man of the nineteen-fifties!"") and - this should go without saying by now - magnificent painted artwork from Alex Ross: this is a comic that cackles with all sorts of intense brilliance. It's pompous - yeah - but it works: and it's the right tone for this kind of downcast and moody colossal undertaking and (thankfully) it never gets "grim+gritty": so it's still something that the kids can enjoy.

One of the only possible down-sides are the many, many references to seemingly every other DC character in existence (as with all these types of books - you may need to check out wikipedia at several points): this may make it seem that you need to be a DC aficionado to be able to make sense of the story - but don't worry: as long as you're good with your superhero basics (ie you know the difference between your Dark Knights and Man of Steels): then you'll be ok.

Also - have to say: that this may be one of the best Superman stories (along with Red Son and All Star Superman) ever written (he's always at his best when he's facing nebulous worldwide problems rather than just beating up bad guys). So there's that to recommend it too.

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Links: The Hurting Article: I've Run Out of Cute Titles / Pocket Change / Iconography / What We Talk About When We Talk About Kingdom Come, World's of Westfield Interview with Alex Ross, Comic Book Resources Interview with Alex Ross, Comic Book Resources Review, Wired Review, Ninth Art Review, The M0vie Blog Review, Hooded Utilitarian Article: A Piercing Glimpse of Pants.

Further reading: Marvels, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Superman: Red Son, Final Crisis, DC: The New Frontier, Irredeemable, Superman: Birthright, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, The World's Greatest Super-Heroes, Civil War, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Back, Superman: All Star Superman, Watchmen, Justice.

All comments welcome.

Books: Irredeemable

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Irredeemable
Vol 1
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Peter Krause
2009



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Irredeemable
Vol 2
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Peter Krause
2010



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Irredeemable
Vol 3
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Peter Krause
2010



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Irredeemable
Vol 4
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Peter Krause
2010



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Irredeemable
Vol 5
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Peter Krause
2011



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Irredeemable
Vol 6
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Peter Krause
2011



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Irredeemable
Vol 7
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Peter Krause
2011



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Irredeemable
Vol 8
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Peter Krause
2012



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


There's an old saying that the English like to claim for their own but seems to be worldwide - there's a few different ways to put it but the basic gist of it is: "We like to build them up and then we like to knock them down." Because - I guess - for whatever ingrained reasons - that's the story we like best (and the one that's easiest to understand): Icarus. The Roman Empire. Jesus Christ. Michael Jackson. It's all about the rise - and then when they've got as high as they possibly can - hell - bring on the backlash - and let's see how far we can make them fall. Here's another way to say it: "What goes up must come down." 

The one person/character/icon that's always been exempt from that is Superman. Grant Morrison when he was talking up his All Star Superman liked to say that Superman represented the best in all of us: the purest expression of our highest and most noble nature and all that stuff [1]. But what happens if you apply some pressure to the idea of the sci-fi Jesus [2]? What happens if - one day -   Superman snapped? What if decided one day that instead of saving people he wanted to kill them? And what if there was no one who could stop him? And even if you whisper on the other side of the world - he can still hear you. That's the scary premise behind Mark Waid's Irredeemable - which for all intents and purposes does to the idea of the Man of Steel what Breaking Bad does for mild-mannered chemistry teachers. Starring The Plutonian - an almost god-like superhero who one day for reasons unknown becomes psychotic. Dealing with the events leading up to his mental breakdown and the ramifications that follow this is an end of the world story full of shocking twists. The artwork isn't stunning but functional enough to tell the story and the writing in top notch as we slowly explore and come to understand what happened and why. With lots of cool spins on the usual superhero clichés (and even tho I don't write superhero comics I've gotta say there's lots and lots of "Man! I wish I thought of that! moments) and a gripping mood of pervasive dread that hangs on throughout this is a smart superhero comic with lots on it's mind about what it means to be a hero.

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[1] "Superman is just this perfect human pop-culture distillation of a really basic idea. He's a good guy. He loves us. He will not stop in defending us. How beautiful is that? He's like a sci-fi Jesus. He'll never let you down. And only in fiction can that guy actually exist, because real guys will always let you down one way or another. We actually made up an idea that beautiful. That's just cool to me. We made a little paper universe where all of the above is true.”

[2] Or as Mark Waid put it in his introduction: ""In superhero comics, pretty much everyone who's called upon to put on a cape is, at heart, emotionally equipped for the job. I reject that premise." (Ha - I love it!)

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Links: Graphic Novel Reporter Interview with Mark Waid.

Further reading: Supergod, Supreme, Astro City, Powers, Kingdom Come, Crossed, Superman: Birthright, Invincible, The One, The Boys, Marvel Boy, Superman: All Star Superman, Superman: Secret Identity.

All comments welcome.