Irredeemable #3 – Advanced Review

By Mark Waid (writer), Peter Krause (pencils, inks), Andrew Dalhouse (colors)

The Story: The Plutonian falls deeper into depravity as s his troubling psychosis is revealed in this issue. The super villains of the Irredeemable Universe band together in the HQ of one of their fallen enemies to hatch a plan to win the Plutonian to their side, while the Plutonian’s former allies try to learn more about his mysterious past in order to find a way to take him down.

What’s Good: As I’ve mentioned in my previous review, the premise of this story is instantaneously engaging and interesting. Waid keeps the magic up in this issue as we see more and more of how wacked-out the Plutonian is and how much of a threat he is to the world. Waid and crew do an excellent job of making the Plutonian frightening and down-right creepy. Their are a couple of subtle scenes, like when he casually gets a cup of coffee as his enemies stand around him, that are particularly memorable and effective in imparting the sense that the Plutonian is insane.

Surprisingly, the supporting cast is interesting and strong. Rarely do mini-series consisting of brand-new characters work, but as we enter in the middle of a continuity, characters here have a lot of depth and structure. Also, Waid does a good job of juggling the many characters by thinning their ranks and keeping extras off camera.

As for the art, Peter Krause seems to be settling in as the issues progress. His character work is detailed and the “Silver Age” tone he gives to this series is well-suited to The Plutonian’s inherent symbolism.

What’s Not So Good: This issue was less enthralling than the previous installments, namely because the bulk of the story took place in only one setting and didn’t feature any flashbacks or other plot excursions. Because of this, it felt like a short read where we only learned a couple new things, which contributed to the dulling of the mystery surrounding the Plutonian. I’m sure this was an essential piece of the overall story, but at the same time, it would have been better to streamline some of the villain scenes that didn’t add anything to the bigger picture as their fate retroactively nullified their potential development.

Conclusion: Irredeemable remains on the top of my pull-list, despite this issue being a lull in the momentum of the previous couple installments. Don’t get me wrong, this issue only suffers by comparison to it self. This is a good comic and offers shocking and entertaining character work and story execution. I look forward to the final showdown and seeing what tricks Waid has up his sleeves.

Grade: B

-Rob G.