Irredeemable #2 (Boom! – Waid / Krause / Dalhouse)
A comic book industry event: a new original ongoing superhero series from Mark Waid! IRREDEEMABLE dares to ask the question: what if the world’s greatest hero decided to become the world’s greatest villain? Heroes are being picked off one-by-one in a brutal and viscous assault. They never stood a chance – never saw it coming. A small cadre of heroes race against time and space to stay alive and turn the tables. A “twilight of the superheroes”-style story that examines super-villains from the writer of KINGDOM COME and EMPIRE!
Issue #2 comes strong, not like the shocking slap in the face that the first issue was, but still very strong. We get a more detailed look at the infrastructure of the Plutonian’s downfall, where issue #1 had a horrific “being hunted” edge to it, issue#2 has more of a psychological slow-burning thrill feel to it.
The issue is mostly told from Kaidan’s point of view. Kaidan was a younger member of Irredeemable’s version of the Justice League and through her story, Waid is able to show the scary dichotomy of the Plutonian before and after his emotional meltdown. This mirror universe-ish tale of Superman cracking up is a better read than most of the else-worlds out there. Mark Waid’s counterpart of Lois Lane? Lex Luthor? the aforementioned Justice League? They are all here! And Waid does an outstanding job of taking the ultimate super-hero myth and throwing it on it’s ear. How would the story differ if Lois had rejected Clark? What would the true feelings of an alien being, who is superior in all ways, be towards humans? What new alliances would form because of the killing spree of the world’s most powerful being? This is one of those big name project that is living up to the hype!
With all of my gooshing love for Mark Waid, I don’t want to forget the work of Peter Krause and the art team who very proficiently and competently put this story together visually.
Issue Grade: Big Juicy A
