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Irredeemable (the comic) #1 & #2 = GOOD!

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter “E”, as in “Erika”.  Because Erika (from I Don’t Read My Blog Either) chastised me for not blogging about this sooner.

You should be reading Irredeemable the comic book from BOOM! Studios!  What a fun ride!  Writer Mark Waid is really banging out an interesting story, while Peter Krause delivers solid visuals.  Issue #1 came out in April, and issue #2 came out last week.  If you can’t find them at your local comic shop, ask the owner to order you copies from the distributor.

Irredeemable is the story of the Plutonian, a man who was the greatest and most beloved superhero of all time… and how he became the world’s greatest supervillain.  No one simply turns “evil” one day.  Villainy isn’t a light switch.  The road to darkness is filled with moments of betrayal, of loss, of disappointment, and of superhuman weakness.  In the case of the Plutonian, there were sidekicks who sold his secrets.  There were friends who preyed too often on his selflessness and enemies who showed him unsettling truths about himself.  The comic is narrated by the Plutonian’s former allies – a team of heroes on the run from the world’s most powerful and angry being, racing desperately through time and space to learn the Plutonian’s secrets just as he knows all of theirs.  [paraphrased from Mark Waid]

While the idea of a hero gone bad isn’t anything new, this take from Mark Waid feels fresh and inventive.  Waid wrote some of the greatest comics from the last couple decades – Kingdom Come (1996), Flash (1992-2000), Captain America (1995-96 & 1998-99), JLA (2000-02), Fantastic Four (2003-05), and Waid was one of the quartet of writers for 52 (2006-07). With Waid at the helm, I have no doubt the quality will remain high on Irredeemable.  One of the creative angles of this series is that we’re seeing through the eyes of Plutonian’s former teammates, rather than through Plutonian’s eyes himself.  They are reviewing what they know about him, and thereby showing us his path to evil.

Good comic.  Here is a trailer that was used to promote issue #1.  Again, if you can’t find the issues at your local comic shop, ask them to back-order you issues #1 & #2.  You won’t regret it.

If you can’t view the embedded video, please click here.

4 thoughts on “Irredeemable (the comic) #1 & #2 = GOOD!

  1. Well-written and thoughtful review, my friend. Now that you have done my bid-, uh, followed my suggestion, I’ll pick this up!

  2. Irredeemable is a very good comic.

    Just curious, how does it compare to your personal, depraved journey into villainy, Shag? I mean, you had to do something to earn the Irredeemable moniker too, right? 😉

  3. Choco Taco – The jury is still out about my “Irredeemable-ness”. I seem to recall someone starting a poll that identified me as the “Diet Coke of Evil”. 🙂

    Ron – Haven’t read Destroyer. Who publishes it? What’s the premise?

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