Caped #4 – Advanced Review

By Josh Lobis and Darin Moiselle (writer), Sebastian Piriz (artist), Digikore Studios (colorist)

The Story: Jimmy remains hot on the trail of the mystery of Marvin’s death and the supposed death of Flex. He goes for help to his boss, the Edge, but the Edge is retiring. He’s had enough and his mind is made up. No sooner does the Edge try to reassemble his personal life when a villain called Twitch springs on him. Without the Edge to be the hero, Jimmy has to make some decisions what he’s really there for and what his role should be.

What’s Good: The characters. Jimmy is a fun hero to follow; he’s motivated, smart, self-decrecating and irrepressible. The Edge is moody, brooding, pragmatic and lacks Jimmy’s vision. Lance Lubenstein is relatively original and interesting. Twitch was hilarious and original. And on the subject of Jimmy, this 4-issue series is about him and his arc is satisfying. He doesn’t lose sight of who he is and what will make him happy. Kudos to Lobis and Moiselle.

What’s Not So Good: Lobis and Moiselle are painting with a broad palette of characters. They’ve made up a whole pantheon and more than a couple have roles to play at the end of the story. I had a few moments of confusion as villains (former heroes) assembled and their plot rushed to reveal its final form. Betrayal is a hard thing to keep track of and a writer has to be careful to lay down enough markers so that the reader understands who everyone is, so that when they do change colors, we’re surprised and not confused. The appearance of the grim reaper at the end was a bit of a curve-ball. Also, because this was a plot-heavy issue that tied up loose ends, it didn’t have the space it needed to sustain the kind of irony that I loved so much in issues #1-3.

The art: The crudeness of the art became more pronounced in this issue. I think that Piriz does some great work with superhero poses and some energy effects, but in this issue he has some real trouble with proportions in bodies and faces. The conversation between Edge and Jimmy in the Edge’s lair exemplifies what I’m talking about. Jimmy in profile looks like half his body is missing and Edge looks stiff and artificial. And the facework, especially the noses and jaws, are rough as they never seem to hit the right note.

Conclusion: Caped #4 came down from it’s high in issue #3. The ending nicely works and ties up the irony of the story, but the art really gets in the way of full appreciation of the book.

Grade: C-

-DS Arsenault

Caped #3 – Advanced Review

By Josh Lobis and Darin Moiselle (writer), Sebastian Piriz (artist), Digikore Studios (colorist)

The Story: Jimmy continues his surreal penetration into the superhero subculture of Capitol City by going to pick up another superhero assistant for the superhero Christmas party. Unfortunately, he finds the man murdered. He tries to link it to the mole in the superhero community, but Edge isn’t convinced. Jimmy keeps investigating and leads his boss to water. I can’t tell you whether or not he drinks, though, because the Edge’s choice drives the rest of the book along.

What’s Good: Jimmy is a great character. He’s nobody, but he wants to be a somebody. Lobis and Moiselle show his visceral need to prove himself. They make me want to see more of Jimmy. Not only that, he’s a pretty good investigator and they’ve plunked him right in the middle of the mystery.

The concept of Caped is pretty original. This series is about one among many personal assistants to superheroes. The only time I’d seen something similar was in the movie Mystery Men, but here, it’s not just the top dog, but every superhero who has one and there’s a whole assistant subculture that’s pretty funny.

Lastly, the tone of the book is also original. The story takes itself seriously enough that the humor comes across as dry, almost surreal. Kafka did the same thing with Metamorphosis. He changed one absolutely absurd thing, but made every character in the novel treat it as completely unsurprising. That lack of surprise, the willingness to take that one element (assistants for superheroes) so seriously, so unselfconsciously, is what makes the humor in Caped ironic instead of just funny. There are some laughs that, on their own, are cheap, but when taken together, they build something pretty cool.

What’s Not So Good: I really was rooting for the art, hoping that it would grow onto me, but it didn’t. I just couldn’t get past the crudeness. The credits page is a good example. In Edge’s head shot, his forehead seems sunken in compared to his chin. And the diagonal lines shading Jimmy’s suit look almost comic strip (i.e.: early Superman comic strip) in style. The odd proportions actually got worse, rather than better compared with the previous issues. When Jimmy is on the phone with the doctor, his left eye has migrated towards the center of his face and in the fight scene between Edge and the villain, I didn’t always understand what body part went with whom.

Conclusion: Lots of comics have brought the surreal to superhero art (think Ditko’s Dr. Strange or Starlin’s Warlock), but here Lobis and Moiselle have brought the surreal to superhero writing. They’ve done something original. I’ll be looking for next month’s issue.

Grade: B+

-DS Arsenault