By Millar & Yu
Publisher: Marvel
ISBN: 9780785153177
Mark Millar's now synonymous with injecting comics with a fresh approach, spinning stories beyond the repeated cliches and offering the reader something that reflects a more mature readership. So it won't come as much of a surprise to learn that Superior is Millar's take on the Superman mythos, although rather than set it in a world dominated by heroes in capes, it all takes place in one dominated by movies about heroes in capes. It's interesting that the skew is on the movies, not the comics, and is probably typical of Millar writing with one eye on the movie rights – and why not, as the stories are none the worse for it.
So in the story Superior is a character now featuring in a fifth motion picture and enjoyed in particular by a boy, Simon, with multiple sclerosis. The MS has serious consequences on his life, not least from a bunch of idiot contemporaries at school who see him as an easy target. Then one day, he's visited by a strange talking monkey in an astronaut suit that offers to grant him a wish that sees Simon transformed into a real-life Superior and a promise that all will be explained in one week.
What follows is Simon doing what all good superheroes should do – saving the helpless, righting wrongs and catching bad guys. His sudden appearance on the world stage makes him an instant hit with the public and a worthy wielder of the powers he possesses. Little consideration is given to what will happen at the end of the week, and when the monkey reappears the resulting exchange is a shocker.
It's a little difficult for me to say any more without giving away the twist, but suffice to say it's a clever one, although it does head down a route I am utterly tired of in books, comics and movies, but that could well just be me. To be fair, I'm not sure it could have worked in any other way other than perhaps a John Constantine story. But credit where it's due; it's well paced, well executed and the exploration of a child actually granted the powers they've wished for is enjoyably done. One of the nice touches comes in the form of the befuddled actor who plays Superior on screen and whose likeness is what Simon has transformed into.
Leinil Yu's artwork has the mature, realistic quality that helps suggest this is taking place slightly outside of the everyday world of comic book superheroes, and his rendering of Superior is so good that he stands on his own as a character rather than another Superman knock-off.
Overall, I don't think this is Millar's best work, but it's an original take on a genre bloated on repetition that, no doubt, will find it's way to cinemas in the near future.
And if you liked that: Mark Millar's arguably superior (ahem) Kick Ass 2 is available in paperback now
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