Tai Freligh reviews Superzero Volume 1: The Beginning…
Collecting the first six issues of the hit series SUPERZERO, from Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Rafael De Latorre. Meet Dru Dragowski, a nineteen-year-old comic book fan who yearns to escape the normalcy of teenage life. Dreaming to become a real-life superhero for as long as she can remember, Dru recreates the origins of her favorite superheroes in the hope that she too, can become a hero herself.
Superzero is one of four startup titles from publishing startup AfterShock Comics, a company founded by Mike Marts (former executive editor at Marvel) and Joe Pruett (Caliber Comics), which launched last December with a mish-mash of titles, including one about vampires and another about the Tuskegee Airmen. Aftershock has brought on board a deep bench of writers, including Neil Gaiman (Coraline,Sandman, Stardust), Amy Chu (Poison Ivy, Deadpool, X-Files), Garth Ennis (Preacher, Punisher, Spider-Man) and Paul Jenkins (Inhumans, Hellblazer, Sentry).
Jimmy Palmiotti (Painkiller Jane, Starfire, Power Girl) and wife Amanda Conner (Vampirella, Lois Lane, Harley Quinn) had been tossing around the idea of the character of Superzero for ten or fifteen years with no real bites until he was contacted by Joe Pruett, who told them about the new company he was forming and asked if he had any good ideas and they got started talking about Superzero and before they knew it they had put a deal together for the comic series to live at AfterShock Comics, Joe and Mike Marts’ company. Marts had been the person who gave Jimmy his first job at Marvel, so he had a connection and they were off.
The premise behind this comic series is an exciting one. Teenage girl believes that superheros exist and she wants to become one by recreating various comic book origin stories (bitten by a radioactive spider, exposed to gamma rays, etc.) until she becomes a hero. Meanwhile, she goes through high school life, dealing with bullies, boys and getting in trouble because of her daydreaming in which she becomes “Palladina”, a superhero who always ends up in trouble while trying to save the world.
I had high hopes for this unique and creative concept, but ultimately it was a let down. The writing is far too meta and clever by half. I found myself constantly pulled out of the story by the dialogue that would never actually be spoken by a teenage girl, let alone any of the other characters. There are also moral stories to be told here, but they are shoved in your face a bit too bluntly. An early scene involves Dru befriending a homeless person and offering him a job. She says to him “I would hate to make any assumption as to your mental condition based on only your outward appearance.” A few sentences later, the homeless man replies, “Or I could be an army vet that has a history of mental problems, who alienated his family with his emotional outbursts and aggressive behavior, and eventually drank his way to homelessness, hoping to never run into the people he caused harm to because of his disposition.” Really? Nobody talks like this.
Outside of the jarring dialogue, I liked the story line. Watching Dru make attempt after attempt to become a superhero while dealing with real life problems, each plot turn crazier than the last one was fun. Eventually ending up on board a space shuttle leads to a fun twist at the end, which leaves many questions hanging, ultimately leading to what will happen in volume 2.
The illustrations by Rafael De Latorre and coloring by Marcelo Maiolo are fantastic. I really enjoyed the visual look to the comic series, I just wish that the writing was better on this and that’s why I’m giving this a low rating.
The graphic novel includes a few variant covers done by Darwyn Cooke and Phil Hester and a tease for another few AfterShock series, Alters, Captain Kid and Animosity. The issue concludes with a one-page ad for the four launchpad series, Superzero, Replica, Insexts and Dreaming Eagles and bios for the writers and artists on the compilation.
Rating: 6/10
Tai Freligh is a Los Angeles-based writer and can be found on Twitter.
