Kam
So this was the first pick of the year for the little book club I have going with my friends, and it’s a REALLY interesting take on the superhero comic genre. Gillen mentioned in an essay at the end of Issue 2 or 3 that he was coming off doing a comic series for Marvel, and wanted to explore the idea of a world where supers exist, but their powers have some very real, very troubling consequences. Unlike in most superhero stories where the world seems to survive devastating clashes between supers and other similar entities (see: New York in Marvel comics), Gillen proposes a world much more closely aligned to our actual reality, where the consequences of such fights would, in fact, be utterly devastating. In such a case, supers would be more akin to nuclear bombs - except these nuclear bombs have a will of their own, and their own ideas about how and when to use their abilities.
The last time I read anything written by Gillen, it was Wicked + Divine, and what I remember most (apart from the fantastic art, courtesy of Jamie McKelvie) is the characterization. And that characterization shines through again here, in the way Gillen handles the supers of this story, since he extends his original premise of “What if there were supers with extraordinary powers in the real world?” to include the supers themselves: “What if supers had the same problems we did?” And while I know this concept has been explored in other superhero stories before, the smaller main cast of this particular series allows Gillen to get into the minds of the individual characters and develop them in a way that makes sense to the reader - and may even seem familiar.
Consider the character Masumi, who is prominently featured in Issue 3. She is an artist, but also has some rather bad mental health issues, including depression and a deep need for validation. Now, while that combination of traits is very familiar - I’m sure most people know at least one person who is like that, or might have those issues themselves - the difference is that Masumi has a potentially world-ending power, one that comes out if she “gets sad”. It can be hard enough, being a person like Masumi, or knowing someone like Masumi; imagine being like that and having a world-ending power that comes out when “gets sad”. How does one manage someone like that? How does one manage oneself? This comic tries to explore that in a way that feels grounded in our own current reality, and it is VERY interesting.
What Gillen is trying to do here, in grounding the supers and their world in a reality that is as close to ours as possible, is to try to explore a reality where the big, tense moments do not lead to people fighting. In lots of superhero comics, the supers are always fighting, whether that is other superpowered individuals or each other. In this series, though, where the most powerful supers are basically nuclear bombs, and where there is only ONE timeline, ONE reality (and therefore no possibility for multiverse shenaniganry), this means that there is much less fighting and a LOT more de-escalation. THAT is where most of the tension comes into play: the supers balancing each other out, in such a way that they neither destroy each other, nor the world around them. Of course, governments attempt to control them, and in such cases the supers do what they can to protect themselves and the world, according to their own ideas of morality and, in the case of one specific character, good ethics. This creates another interesting layer of tension regarding control of the supers, because they are world-ending levels of dangerous (which governments are VERY concerned about), but they are also PEOPLE. I really liked this particular angle because of the potential tensions and consequences that can spin out of that conflict - some of which has been partially explored in this first volume, but has not been revealed in its entirely just yet.
Overall, this was a lovely way to get back into reading serialized comics. I’m not very much into reading superhero comics, but the concept for this is deeply interesting, with the whole point being to AVOID fights as much as possible. Thus far the story’s been interesting, the characters engaging, and the artwork is remarkable. Will definitely have to get my mitts on the second volume as soon as possible so I can keep reading.
Originally posted at kamreadsandrecs.tumblr.com.
So this was the first pick of the year for the little book club I have going with my friends, and it’s a REALLY interesting take on the superhero comic genre. Gillen mentioned in an essay at the end of Issue 2 or 3 that he was coming off doing a comic series for Marvel, and wanted to explore the idea of a world where supers exist, but their powers have some very real, very troubling consequences. Unlike in most superhero stories where the world seems to survive devastating clashes between supers and other similar entities (see: New York in Marvel comics), Gillen proposes a world much more closely aligned to our actual reality, where the consequences of such fights would, in fact, be utterly devastating. In such a case, supers would be more akin to nuclear bombs - except these nuclear bombs have a will of their own, and their own ideas about how and when to use their abilities.
The last time I read anything written by Gillen, it was Wicked + Divine, and what I remember most (apart from the fantastic art, courtesy of Jamie McKelvie) is the characterization. And that characterization shines through again here, in the way Gillen handles the supers of this story, since he extends his original premise of “What if there were supers with extraordinary powers in the real world?” to include the supers themselves: “What if supers had the same problems we did?” And while I know this concept has been explored in other superhero stories before, the smaller main cast of this particular series allows Gillen to get into the minds of the individual characters and develop them in a way that makes sense to the reader - and may even seem familiar.
Consider the character Masumi, who is prominently featured in Issue 3. She is an artist, but also has some rather bad mental health issues, including depression and a deep need for validation. Now, while that combination of traits is very familiar - I’m sure most people know at least one person who is like that, or might have those issues themselves - the difference is that Masumi has a potentially world-ending power, one that comes out if she “gets sad”. It can be hard enough, being a person like Masumi, or knowing someone like Masumi; imagine being like that and having a world-ending power that comes out when “gets sad”. How does one manage someone like that? How does one manage oneself? This comic tries to explore that in a way that feels grounded in our own current reality, and it is VERY interesting.
What Gillen is trying to do here, in grounding the supers and their world in a reality that is as close to ours as possible, is to try to explore a reality where the big, tense moments do not lead to people fighting. In lots of superhero comics, the supers are always fighting, whether that is other superpowered individuals or each other. In this series, though, where the most powerful supers are basically nuclear bombs, and where there is only ONE timeline, ONE reality (and therefore no possibility for multiverse shenaniganry), this means that there is much less fighting and a LOT more de-escalation. THAT is where most of the tension comes into play: the supers balancing each other out, in such a way that they neither destroy each other, nor the world around them. Of course, governments attempt to control them, and in such cases the supers do what they can to protect themselves and the world, according to their own ideas of morality and, in the case of one specific character, good ethics. This creates another interesting layer of tension regarding control of the supers, because they are world-ending levels of dangerous (which governments are VERY concerned about), but they are also PEOPLE. I really liked this particular angle because of the potential tensions and consequences that can spin out of that conflict - some of which has been partially explored in this first volume, but has not been revealed in its entirely just yet.
Overall, this was a lovely way to get back into reading serialized comics. I’m not very much into reading superhero comics, but the concept for this is deeply interesting, with the whole point being to AVOID fights as much as possible. Thus far the story’s been interesting, the characters engaging, and the artwork is remarkable. Will definitely have to get my mitts on the second volume as soon as possible so I can keep reading.
Originally posted at kamreadsandrecs.tumblr.com.