Man, Mark Waid really is evil. More than the clever marketing slogan that launched this series, it’s becoming increasingly real as I read each new issue of this superhero-turned-bad series from BOOM! Studios. When I saw Waid at Comic-Con he was all smiles and thankful nods. If I see him again, I think I’ll avoid eye contact and walk slowly away.
With lines like, “On the upside, however, this is a boom time for map makers,”and, “Let’s call it even,” once noble superhero The Plutonian stamps his evil intent upon the world. His former team-mates of The Paradigm are inching their way to something that may one day resemble success and doubts over The Plutonian’s ex-girlfriend, Bette surface. The Paradigm are the sort of superhero archetypes we’ve seen before, and Waid humorously acknowledges that fact through the character of Volt, a black electricity wielding hero.
Waid does a great job once more of unleashing superpowered bitterness and child-like rage through his main character’s behaviour, and Peter Krause’s art is not overly rendered, but done with a darkness that fits into Waid’s plots. One glare or wry smile from The Plutonian is more than enough here, and that Hitchcock level of restraint from showing violence makes these pages work a treat.
As “slipped” at BOOM!’s Comic-Con panel, a new series called Incorruptible could be on the way, and with a title like that I can only assume it offers a look at The Plutonian’s past before the mysterious turning point flipped his switch. Waid wisely gives us glimpses at the character’s happier past in Irredeemable, but if BOOM! provides a look at The Plutonian’s two states of mind in separate, though perhaps concurrently running, series it opens up this tale to an even deeper reading experience.
The $10 TPB of the first four issues of this great series is out now, and seeing as #5 is only 99c you can get the whole mad tale thus far for less than $11. I bought mine yesterday because it’s one of those books you have to own to pass to your non-fanboy friends, despite any possible doubts they may have. This isn’t “just another superhero series,” and that’s what makes it so brilliant.
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comicbookjesus 
I checked out Irredeemable, great stuff indeed. I shall be frequenting your site.
Thanks Judge! Much appreciated. I liked your article on 2D/3D gaming too. Great stuff.
Kris