Incorruptible #10 – Review

By: Mark Waid (writer/creator), Horacio Domingues (pencils), Juan Castro & Michael Babinski (inks), Nolan Woodard (colors) & Ed Dukeshire (letters)

The Story: Max Damage and sidekick confront a group of white supremacists inspired by the Plutonian.

What’s Good: For a series that is supposed to be about Max Damage, it is interesting that the most interesting characters are the young women in his life.  So it was welcome this month to see that Annie, the “new” Jailbait, gets her own nickname: Hardcase.  Of course it makes the job of the lowly comics reviewer easier to not have to refer to new/old Jailbaits but it also helps to establish Annie as her own character.  It also seems to settle whether Annie will be remaining as a character.

It is also a very positive sign that Waid has added the Plutonian’s former girlfriend, Alana Patel, to Max’s entourage.  Waid has shown a few deft hand at dealing with emotionally damaged young women in this series, so this should be fertile ground for him to work in for future issues.

Incorruptible #9 – Review

By: Mark Waid (writer), Horacio Domingues (art), Juan Castro (inks), Andrew Dalhouse (colors) & Ed Dukeshire (letters)

The Story: A well done jumping on point allows us to learn some additional background info on several of our central characters.

What’s Good: If you’re a fan of “jumping on points” this will be a good issue for you.  Mark Waid does a very nice job of balancing the summary-of-the-story-so-far aspects of a jumping on point issue with the unveiling of additional information that is necessary to keep established readers from screaming.  He does this really well by using flashbacks and it makes me wonder why jumping on point issues can’t always be this way.

I also really like what Waid is doing with the Jailbait 2.0 character.  The original Jailbait is a great character and is easy to root for: she’s just a kid who has made some poor choices and you really want to see her straighten her life out or at least catch a break.  However, having original Jailbait around makes Max Damage’s history of sleeping with this 15-16 year old girl a little too blatant.  Your tastes may vary and I do appreciate that this history of pedophilia is important if we are to appreciate Max Damage’s ultimate redemption, but I still don’t like to see the living, breathing victim on every page.  It’s just a little too skeevy so I am happy that the new Jailbait 2.0 is becoming a more central character.

In terms of overall plot, Incorruptible is starting to actually feel like it might belong in the same universe with Irredeemable by showing Max’s looming confrontation with this cult that worships the Plutonian.  These blatant connections between the series have been kinda slow to materialize, but I finally feel that the events of this issue might set us up for a some kind of interaction between Max and the Plutonian.  [Although it wouldn’t hurt if Irredeemable could return the favor and at least mention Max as a legit threat to the Plutonian…]

Incorruptible #8 – Review

By: Mark Waid (writer), Horacio Domingues (pencils), Juan Castro (inks), Andrew Dalhouse (colors) & Ed Dukeshire (letters)

The Story: After getting shot in the last issue, will Max Damage survive?  And what is the next chapter in the story of Jailbait?

What’s Good: I’ve been pretty unabashed in my love of the character Jailbait.  Waid really mixes things up nicely in this issue, giving us Jailbait 2.0 by bringing back the girl who Max had forced to play Jailbait a few issues ago.  It turns out that her family was murdered by a group of skinhead-like thugs who idolize the Plutonian and she is willing to play Jailbait if Max promises to keep her safe.

This whole Jailbait tale is really shaping up to be a fun and dramatic story.  Surely the original Jailbait isn’t going to be thrilled with this new development, so it looks like Max Damage is starting a collection of emotionally damaged young ladies.  In a way, I like the new Jailbait better because it is hard to think of Max as truly heroic when the original Jailbait was basically a walking, talking reminder of his past pedophilia.  Nothing heroic about pedophilia!

Incorruptible #7 – Review

By: Mark Waid (writer), Horacio Domingues (pencils), Juan Castro (inks), Andrew Dalhouse (colors), Ed Dukeshire (letters)

The Story: More Jailbait fun and Max Damage begins to come into conflict with the Diamond Gang.

What’s Good: One thing that I love about Incorruptible (and its sister title, Irredeemable) is that they are not written in story arcs.  Each issue is “what happened next” and it reminds me of how comics were as a kid in the 1980’s before comics were written in arcs with each arc beginning some indeterminate time after the preceding arc (days? weeks? months?, who knows?).  This issue continues following the very compelling little tale of Jailbait, Max Damage’s 16-year old sidekick (nee, accomplice).  She’s a very compelling character who is really the moral center for the entire comic.  I guess that Max is technically the main character, but I find that I really don’t care about him very much.  Witness, he gets hurt pretty badly at the end of this issue and I don’t think I cared……but I was very curious about what happened to Jailbait after she snuck off.  I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of her because she is too good of a character to lose.  And, we even have a little bit of “Who will wear the leather tramp costume” action going on here as we see some cute young thing swipe Jailbait’s costume from her room.  I definitely want to know what is going on with that!

This comic is also neat in that it doesn’t spoon-feed everything to you.  After reading several pages of Max talking like he’s having a stroke, you realize that it’s simply because he hasn’t slept and his body is becoming hard as a brick (that’s his power).  But, Waid just allows this to happen organically during the issue and spares us any yawning or inner monologue that explains what is going on.

The art on this title is much improved.  I wouldn’t say it’s a book to buy for the art, but the art is no longer holding this title back.

Incorruptible #6 – Review

By: Mark Waid (writer), Horacio Domingues (art), Juan Castro (inks), Andrew Dalhouse (colors) & Ed Dukeshire (letters)

The Story: Will Max Damage compromise his new (very new) superhero ideals to save Jailbait?

What’s Good: For those who have followed Incorruptible since issue #1, it hasn’t been 100% clear what kind of hero Max Damage would turn into.  Is he going to be a Captain American-type boy scout?  Or is he going to be some kind of murkier hero like someone from the Thunderbolts or Suicide Squad?

When we last left this story in issue #5, Jailbait (Max’s underage sex-toy from his criminal days) had been kidnapped and the bad guys were starting to mail her to him piece-by-piece (a finger first).  What lengths would Max go to in order to save Jailbait?

I like the turn that Waid gives Max.  He’s going to be a no compromises hero; there will be no negotiating with criminals or terrorists.  This works really well considering that Incorruptible is a mirror to Irredeemable.  Just as the Plutonian has gone from being Superman to a twisted, perverted mass-murderer, it makes sense that Max (who kept a 16 year old as a sex-toy) would become a boy scout.  I also like this direction because it will set up a constant struggle for Max to toe the line.  Honestly, if Max had just morphed into some kind of anti-hero, you could have made the case that he hadn’t really changed at all…

Waid is also doing a lovely job of making Jailbait the emotional core of this series.  As we learn more about her character, we’re seeing that she is just a really screwed up kid.  Max was kinda all she had in the world and she is going through a bit of an identity crisis now that Max isn’t consorting with 16 year olds.  Didn’t we all know some girl in high school who had a heart of gold, but was a bit too easy because she had really low self-esteem and a lousy father?  Didn’t you just want to shake her and say, “Honey, this is not the way to make yourself happy!”  Jailbait is that girl.

From a story-development standpoint, Waid finally gets the car in gear and it is time.  The whole series, I’d wondered when we would be done (at least mostly done) with the character development and start seeing Max do some superhero stuff.  It looks like that is about to get started.

Incorruptible #5 – Review

By: Mark Waid (writer), Horacio Domingues (art), Andrew Dalhouse (colors) & Ed Dukeshire (letters)

The Story: What exactly is the nature of Max Damage’s relationship with Jailbait?

What’s Good: The first thing you notice when you open this comic is that we’ve got a new artist.  The art for this series has really held it back and this art by Horacio Domingues is an immediate improvement.  It’s not perfect (as I’ll discuss below), but these characters look like living organisms and not cardboard cutouts that have been posed (which we had in the first 4 issues).

Not surprisingly, art that makes you feel like these are real characters leads to the best issue of this series so far.  Anyone who has read this series from the beginning has wondered what is the deal with Jailbait.  When Max Damage was a bad guy, you “knew” what she was for.  But now that he’s reforming himself, what is she going to do?  She has no powers and you kind of wonder why he doesn’t send her home since going on missions is kinda dangerous.

Waid shows us in this issue why Damage is keeping her around.  What I like about this series and it’s sister series, Irredeemable, is that they really explore the darker side of heroes/villains.  Turns out that the reason …[SPOILER]… Damage keeps Jailbait around is that he’s protecting her.  The man has a lot of enemies…and they’re not all superheroes.  Some of them are nasty and depraved villains.  So, when Jailbait gets angry at Damage in the last issue and stomps off, she is suddenly very vulnerable.

Fantastic Four: True Story #2 – Review

By Paul Cornell (Writer), Horacio Domingues (Artist), and Nesrir Pereyra (Colorist)

Are you in the mood for a traditional superhero story? Do you crave a tale where the usual supervillain wishes to take over the world? Would you enjoy an issue in a real world setting? Then you better go somewhere else, ‘cause you’ll find none of that in Paul Cornell’s eccentric second part of True Story. The Fantastic Four are still in the world of fiction and are fighting off an evil army that is anything but fictitious, but seeks to destroy much of what is. While here, they discover that despite not being real, the characters within these novels can have a very real effect on our characters! (Anyone up for seeing The Thing dressed like a nutcracker?)

As the FF unite with other various fictitious heroes to put an end to this threat (where else are you going to see Natty Bumppo and Frankenstein’s monster in the same room?), the true cause of this mayhem is revealed. In this stunning final page, Paul Cornell delivers on his promise that the culprit is indeed an old Marvel villain, though not one associated with the Fantastic Four. (In fact, some of you may need to familiarize yourself with this character via Wikipedia.)

Ah yes, what about the art? Horacio Domingues delivers yet more pages filled with bizarre creatures, beautiful scenery, and some great renditions of literature’s best characters. Like any great writer/artist pair, his slightly goofy, slightly bizarre look is a great fit for Cornell’s tone. Oh, and while Nesrir Pereyra’s colors are neither awesome nor horrible, I just had to mention that “Nesrir” is probably one of the coolest names I’ve ever seen.

Yes, Fantastic Four: True Story is bizarre, crazy, goofy, unusual, and downright peculiar. But is it fun? Most definitely. If you’re in the mood for something that is about as far away from normal as you can get, this is probably a great place to look. (Grade: B+)

-M. Staples

Fantastic Four: True Story #1 – Review

By Paul Cornell (Writer), and Horacio Domingues (Artist)

Like this week’s other Fantastic Four tale, this is certainly not an instance where you should judge a comic book by its cover. Ignore the rather goofy looks of the team on the outside, because we luckily have a better artist on the inside. But before I actually get to the art, I think I need to touch on the story.

I’ll be the first to admit that this reads like a book I may have read in elementary school, there is no denying it. But where in most instances this would hinder a story, it caused me to have a lot of fun. (And that’s what comics are all about, right?) The plot concerns a rather interesting idea (though I’m sure that it has been done before) that something sinister is attacking the world of fiction. People everywhere get depressed by simply thinking about reading their favorite book or watching a movie. Reed, being the super-genius that he is, invents a machine which allows the FF to travel into the realm of fiction itself to discover the source of this problem.

At this point, the comic book actually becomes a comic book within its world. The FF can read each others’ thought bubbles, and what happens next is dependent on when we turn the page. (Like I said, definitely been done before, but a fun nonetheless.) We also get two guest stars this issue. First, to please long-time FF fans, we get the “return” of Willie Lumpkin! (C’mon, you know you missed him.) Second, a famous literary figure serves as their guide as they delve into this new world. As the issue concludes, the FF must save the cast of a famous “feminine” novel from an invading evil legion.

The art takes a little getting used to. Normally, I dislike it when comic book art looks cartoony – for me, the more lifelike the better. But once I realized the almost “child-like adventure” tone this book was taking, I realized that Horacio Domingues’ work is a perfect fit – especially when you realize that he is trying to maintain the feel that this is “fiction.”

As for whether or not this is actually “canon,” I’m not entirely sure. The FF’s uniforms match Hitch’s current design, and Valeria appears to be the same age as she is on Earth 616, which leads me to believe that it probably is canon. At the same time, this entire mini will probably be overlooked due to its slight absurdness which is shame, because after only one issue in I’m already thoroughly enjoying it. If you like the Fantastic Four and want to see them traveling through famous pieces of fiction, or if you’re a fan of Paul Cornell’s writing (you know, just one of the writers of Doctor Who and the guy who brought you the already critically acclaimed Captain Britain and the MI:13), you know where to turn. (Grade: B+)

-M. Staples