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| Amazing and pitch perfect cover art by John Cassaday |
Long time members of Graphic Content (if you can call a little over a year "long time") will no doubt remember Mark Waid's writing from Kingdom Come, one of last year's most popular discussion books. In yet another examination of the true challenges of super-heroism, Irredeemable takes a look at what happens when the pressures of the career irrevocably destroys a hero, leaving behind...something else.
The tale of Irredeemable begins in the heart of a superhero team much like the Justice League or The Avengers. They call themselves The Paradigm. Super-powered beings dedicated to spending their lives championing truth, justice, and so on and so forth. And of them all, none is more dedicated than The Plutonian. Tony, to his friends. He is their leader, their Superman if you will. God-like power, invulnerability, a willingness to never stop giving, and an attitude that inspired adoration from the masses. He may of been the world's most beloved figure. And then he broke.
In what seemed like a flash, the old Plutonian had vanished, leaving behind a force of incalculable rage. Entire cities leveled, his sidekick and closest friend murdered, the whole world under the surveillance of ears that hear all and eyes that can see through steel, team mates hunted down and executed. They had trusted him with their lives. Now, all that is left is a rag-tag group of heroes who are just now coming to this chilling realization: he knows all of their deepest, darkest secrets, while they barely know him at all.
Throughout the pages of The Definitive Irredeemable (issues 1-12, just shy of 1/3 of the entire series), that which is left of the Paradigm slowly piece together the shattered pieces of the person once heralded as the greatest of them all. The strain and pressure of constant global awareness, the inability to lead a normal life or sustain basic human relationships, the guilt of every life he was unable to rescue...all of these things factored into the eventual break down of the Plutonian. But no one noticed until it was too late. Now, while they desperately search for any weakness they might be able to exploit, dark secrets long buried rise to haunt them and further tear the team apart. Constantly on the run from certain death at the hands of their former leader, w ill the Paradigm be able to save what's left of the world? Or will they destroy themselves?
I cannot rave enough about the depth of Waid's characterization, his insight into what it must be like to be a superhero, and the overall quality of the writing in general. Honestly, I got chills at certain points. And though the team is clearly meant to resemble established characters in certain aspects (Plutonian is a dark Superman, duh), I was really delighted at the originality of the character designs and origins. Also, while many books attempt to reach an adult audience by adding "grit" or "gore", I think that Irredeemable does a fine job of being a dark book without going over the top. It establishes itself as an adult oriented book without screaming: "This comic is serious! Seriously, this is for adults and is serious! Really, guys I'm artistically viable, there's even a rape, see?!"
On top of that, it's catchy as hell. I just got done reading a book so big you could probably knock out a moose with it, and I am yearning to get to the next collected volume. Luckily for me, there's Incorruptible. You see, a few months after Waid began releasing Irredeemable he began releasing a companion book as well. Incorruptible is the story of Max Damage, former nemesis of the Plutonian, and it mirrors Plutonian's dark transformation with a tale of redemption. When Max sees all the destruction Plutonian has wrought, his path seems clear to him: he must become a hero, and put an end to the Plutonian's reign of terror. Although it's probably been over a year since I read the first trade, I can tell you that the writing is of the same fantastic quality.
As for the art, what can I say? It's high quality stuff. The covers (by various) are especially admirable in capturing the emotional turbulence of the series. It's pretty standard comic art, nothing flashy, but that works for this book. The writing is the star here, and the art compliments that, not distracts from it. Obviously, I'm a pretty big fan of alternative art in comics, but this book is not the place for it. As it is, the quality of the coloring, layouts, and anatomy are so good that it still caught me off guard about half the time. So, thumbs up to Peter Krause. Plus, the Definitive Irredeemable came with all sorts of goodies like conceptual sketches, thumb layouts, and the run down on the cover art.
I give this series an A+
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