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.
There’s a real weight behind this title thanks to the power of the name behind it. I grew up on many Mark Waid written comics. He was one of the creators that cemented my love for sequential art, and primarily superheroes. I can picture Waid typing away at the keyboard with an evil cackle, twirling his moustache and then perhaps tying a damsel to the closest railway tracks while he creates this series. Irredeemable is the product of Bizarro Waid.
Basically all you need to know about this series is that it is centered on The Plutonian. He used to be a great goodie and he’s turned into an evil baddie. It’s a great and simple premise, but writer Mark Waid has fashioned it into quite the complex tale. As any scribe knows, or is at least told, no-one wakes up in the morning and decides, “I think I’m going to be evil today!” Every well crafted villain, especially in comics is motivated by what they see as a genuine cause. Lex Luthor is motivated by his ego, Magneto is motivated by belief in mutant superiority, and so on.
Sure, the first two issues of this excellent series from BOOM! Studios have sold out, but second printings will be available very soon. I heaped my praise on the first issue (as did many others) and will do so again now.
Wow. Just – wow. I’ve never doubted Mark Waid’s mad skills behind the keyboard. The guy knows how to write good superhero comics, and has done so for years. Anyone who’s read Kingdom Come will agree. Now that he’s the EIC of BOOM! Studios, he appears to be ramping things up, free from the tight editorial reigns that The Big Two can sometimes choke a writer’s potential with.
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