Irredeemable #21 (Boom! – Waid / Krause / Barreto)

The merciless alien race know only as the Vespa have invaded Earth and proven that even the Plutonian can’t stand in their way. With Modeus’ true nature revealed and the Paradigm outnumbered — global hysteria reaches a fever pitch and the stakes have never been higher. After last issues shocking ending, nothing will ever be the same for Plutonian again. A game-changing issue of the Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated sensation IRREDEEMABLE only from Mark Waid and Peter Krause!

Irredeemable has turned into the ultimate superhero melodrama cake – an insane superman, a frightened world population, a supporting cast of justice league types who each have a whole trunk full of baggage, an infatuated arch enemy, and a tyrannical warrior alien race that is the Earth’s only hope and the whole thing drizzled with dark and awkward sexual overtones.  It is a series that I would categorize as inconsistent genius – I look forward to reading it, but parts of it frustrate me beyond measure.  Irredeemable is truly my comic frenemy!

Warning: Spoilers below – this issue hits tomorrow!

Issue #21 doesn’t help my sitting relationship with the series at all.  This was slightly more than a filler issue.  We get a more piqued confrontation between Survivor (Charybdis) and Qubit and while it’s written well – it doesn’t go anywhere.  The Vespa have the Plutonian’s mind locked down while they manipulate his body to do some extreme core mining for them, or so they think.  Apparently, his body can withstand the effects of the gravity of a black hole – and if he snaps out of it, they realize they have no way to control him.  Like I sad, as a whole this issue doesn’t really go anywhere  – it introduces a few new minor characters who might show their faces later but overall keeps my opinion at a standstill.

There’s no doubt about the art team is great, but there is nothing in this issue that really gets to show them off.

The Bottom Line: My love / hate relationship with Waid’s Irredeemable keeps going strong!

Issue Grade: B-

Series Grade: B+