Irredeemable, vol. 1 by Mark Waid and Peter Krause 7.75

What would happen if the world’s greatest superhero, The Plutonian, became one of the bad guys? What if everything he stood for was torn asunder and he abused his power in ways here-to-fore unimaginable?

That is the premise behind ‘Irredeemable’, an enjoyable and relatively satisfying “alternate Superman” story. Sadly, it’s not riveting, even if what takes place is fairly realistic (Waid doesn’t hold back for the faint of heart! ). But it’s a good enough read.

The art, unfortunately, is only so-so. It sustains the piece but doesn’t contribute in any tremendous ways. For such a monumental tale, you’d expect art that sets your eyes alight. Not so: everything is pencilled nicely, but something somewhere just doesn’t grab me like it should (the paneling? the colouring?)

My lack of enthusiasm over the book isn’t helped by the fact that all the other superheroes and villains are really lame, both in name and their costumes (if not their powers too). Granted, everything’s been taken already, so Waid and Krause were limited, but I’m so unimpressed by any of them that I’m not surprised that they are powerless to stop Plutonian (I mean, “Batman” might stop him, but not “Qubit” ).

Still, I’m curious to know what will happen next. The concept is so stupendous, so jaw-dropping, that you just have to find out where the writer is headed with it.