By Mark Waid (writer), Peter Krause (artist), Andrew Dalhouse (Colorist)
The Story: Qubit starts the story reminiscing about the first time he met the Plutonian five years before, the Superman-like figure who has gone sociopathic. Cut to the present, where Qubit is burying one friend while other heroes turn to him for leadership. They don’t know why Plutonian hasn’t killed them yet. At the United Nations, international politics are reacting to an unstoppable killing machine. As representatives squabble, Plutonian arrives and in the chaos, allows Singapore to make its pitch to ally themselves with him. Plutonian flies away to Singapore to send a message. Qubit and his allies race to Singapore.
What’s Good: Wow. I was blown away. I agree with other reviewers that Irredeemable is a high-concept story. It takes one very simple idea (Superman going sociopathic), but leaves everything else in the same, and then teases out the implications of that one change.
The writing was very solid in this issue. It’s really difficult to create a whole new pantheon of superheroes with their own mythos and history and have it look like more than just pulling stuff out of a hat. Waid has done this and shows the history through the way that the heroes interact. Waid did something realistic here. Furthermore, Waid effectively made the plot really solid here, through his use of flashbacks. In the scene where Qubit asks Plutonian a question that at the time seemed innocent enough, but five years later, plays a determining role in Singapore, was a memorable and subtle device.
As for the art, Krause brilliantly gets the good job. Krause’s style is scratchy and rough, but that grittiness fits the dark tone of the story. The faces are expressive and therefore memorable at all the intense moments, and the action scenes are well-done, giving the comic the appropriate exciting quick pace to accompany such a story.
What’s-Not-So-Good: Minor points on the art distracted me at times. Some of the shadowing was heavier than it needed to be and some of the poses were over-dynamic, but again, these were minor points in a very solid offering.
Conclusion: You NEED to be following Irredeemable every month.
Grade: A-
-DS Arsenault
Filed under: Boom! Studios | Tagged: Andrew Dalhouse, Boom! Studios, Comic Book Reviews, comic books, DS Arsenault, Irredeemable #4, Irredeemable #4 review, Mark Waid, Peter Krause, Plutonian, Qubit, Reviews, Weekly Comic Book Review | Leave a comment »
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