Review: 'Irredeemable' Vol.'s 1 - 3

By Don M. Ventura

What if Superman didn’t have a proper upbringing? Or if he didn’t have someone to keep his personal life balanced? Or he let the pettiness of man get under his skin?

Mark Waid explores these questions and more in his engrossing series Irredeemable, an ongoing story that recounts the inevitable unhinging of Earth’s most powerful and beloved hero: the Plutonian.

Irredeemable is one of those books that I didn’t pick up from the beginning, but everyone seemed to be crowing about. Thank God for trades. This weekend I plowed through the first three volumes (each includes four issues) and I’m eager to immediately read the rest. After a light week of comic book last week I picked up Irredeemable Vol. 1 on a whim and found myself driving straight back to my comic shop after I’d finished. “Please don’t close at six!” I thought worriedly as I raced over.

It seems simple enough as a plot device. What if Superman were a bad guy? But to describe Irredeemable this way is to do a disservice to the work.

Over the opening twelve issues a mystery unfolds. Who is the Plutonian and what has caused him to perform such horrific acts? We learn bits here and there as the supporting cast recalls in flashbacks specific interactions that indicated that this all powerful paragon of good might be unbalanced. Sometimes it might be something small, like an off-putting expression. Other times it could be a near violent outburst. In reflection the signs were there, but at this point in the story it is far too late.

And the Plutonian does some really really bad things.

It’s fascinating to watch the way Waid glimpses at this guy’s story and his personality flaws, sometimes creepy sometimes sad. In the opening issue the Plutonian tackles a giant robot on a baseball field. Everyone cheers him on and expresses nothing but gratitude and love for their protector. Except one guy in the stands who calls the Plutonian a “showoff jerk.” The Plutonian focuses on this one guy and his expression changes slightly.

Similar scenes are peppered throughout the series which serve to illustrate the inevitability of the Plutonian’s downfall. Irredeemable is a mystery and an adventure story. His former comrades are trying to uncover anything they can about him: the whereabouts of his greatest enemy Modeus, the identity of his previous love, and any weakness that they can expose him to so that they may finally defeat him.

I won’t spoil the Plutonian’s random acts of violence here, but I can assure you, Waid has created perhaps the most sadistically cruel character ever to appear in comics. The book is called Irredeemable after all. But Waid does not seem to be throwing in over the top violence clumsily for shock value. Each issue isn’t about featuring Plutonian’s horrific nature as means of topping what has previously occurred. It’s more about watching this unbalanced former hero’s fractured character breaking down piece by piece.

Comic books often become great when a writer is paired with an artist who perfectly compliments the story and Peter Krause does just that. Krause knows how to draw the Plutonian as the type of folksy character that America could easily have become enamored with during the 50’s. Seen often in flashbacks, he’s a wholesome character who would just as soon prevent a puppy from being hit by a speeding car as he would thwart a bank heist. Krause can also draw some truly chilling illustrations. Again, I won’t spoil anything here, but the artist has probably never had so much experience drawing skeletons.

One of Krause’s strongest scenes is one where the Plutonian visits the United Nations. Each country is ready to surrender to him in hopes of sparing their annihilation. Krause draws a powerful scene in which the Plutonian listens closely to the offer of a representative of Singapore; he is determining if the representative is being genuine.

Another strength of the book is that Waid has not filled the story with familiar archetypes. There’s no Wonder Woman character. No Batman nor Green Lantern. That would have been distracting and cheap. However, there is one issue where we meet the Plutonian’s girlfriend, his

Lois Lane

, but this is all done establish his failure at maintaining a normal existence.

Waid is an expert at his craft. He knows how to create believable characters, he keeps the pacing tight, and he knows how and when to inflict an impact on his readers. And he does all of this so masterfully on Irredeemable.