By Jamie Lovett
{ Twitter.com/JamieLovett }

As a thematic exploration, the deconstruction of superheroes has dominated the modern age of American comics. The introspection has been a part of the comic industry's story landscape since the 1980s when “Watchmen” and “The Dark Knight Returns” first broached the topic. The conversation has continued for the past two decades with the best voices always bringing something new to the table, be it Grant Morrison examining the importance of superheroes as myth in works like “All Star Superman” or Warren Ellis bringing them into a new political era in “The Authority”. Some would argue the twenty year discourse has grown stale with most new entries seeming redundant or missing the point entirely.

But don’t tell that to Mark Waid.

As a defining figure in comics, Mr. Waid has contributed some of the most compelling explorations of the superheroe’s role in our world. In 1996, he teamed with artist Alex Ross to create “Kingdom Come”, a limited series that is regarded as a masterpiece of the genre, examining the generational gap between the iconic DC Comics superheroes born at the dawn of the genre, and the modern anti-heroes that flooded the market in the '90s. With his new series, “Irredeemable” from BOOM! Studios, Waid returns to the discussion, one which may be as much a deconstruction of the real world as it is of the superhero mythos.

“I think—I hope,” says Mr. Waid, “what “Irredeemable” brings to the table is a real study of how hard the job of being a hero and a symbol can be in today's celebrity-addicted, 24-hour-news-cycle, cameras-everywhere, can't-wait-for-our-heroes-to-fail-us-so-we-can-blog-our-outrage society. It's also about the price we pay for empowering people who maybe aren't everything we dream them to be. And about what happens when they fail us and how we do or don't rebound.”

“Irredeemable” is the story of a hero gone rogue. Having had enough of being able to hear every snickering criticism of the good work he does, the Plutonian, a possibly alien being with near-god like powers, turns on his teammates and the citizens he once swore to protect. Now, his former friends struggle to stay alive while trying to find some way of stopping the Plutonian.

The series acts as a response to the plague of Internet anonymity that permeates our culture. Web users swell with the false courage to make loud claims with their keyboards that they would never whisper with their lips because they know they're safe behind a pseudonym and a blank photo box and suffer no consequence of accountability or reprisal. But in “Irredeemable”, he who is being criticized can hear quite clearly. He can hear and he doesn't like it. And now he can do something about it, without the fear of consequence.

It's somewhat fitting that Grant Morrison should provide the Afterwards to the series' first issue, for “Irredeemable” serves as a perfect counterpoint to Morrison's own “All Star Superman”. In the critically acclaimed series, Morrison gave readers Superman at his absolute best, where “Irredeemable” provides a similar character at this worst. Where Morrison’s Superman will stop a troubled young girl from committing suicide, the Plutonian will use his heat vision to remove a portion of your brain in order to protect his secrets. “All Star Superman” is what happens when a superhero loves you unconditionally. “Irredeemable” is what happens when he hates you with no remorse.

Of course, while the Plutionian may seem, at first, to fit cleanly into the Superman mold, Waid would warn readers against seeing him as a simple stand-in:

“I'd be lying to say the Superman/Captain America/Almost-Jesus-level take on a main character wasn't an influence, but as we'll start to see in issues five through seven, as we finally reveal the biggest of the reasons he snapped, there are fundamental differences between Plutonian and Superman—in part because I'm not comfortable writing straight pastiche, and in part because there's something huge in his background that's not yet been revealed that makes him unique among the characters I've written in my career.”

“Irredeemable” isn't just bringing an original take on the deconstruction sub-genre; it also aims to explore it in a deeper way through its format. Where most of the notable works in this vein, including “Kingdom Come”, have been limited series that read as serialized graphic novels, “Irredeemable” is an ongoing series, giving it a certain unpredictability for readers and writer alike.

“I do have some endings in mind, but as usual, the story's taking me to different places and already I'm off the road map, which is good. It makes the series fun for me and unpredictable for the readers.”

For all of the uniqueness the story brings to the long-running conversation, “Irredeemable” does re-examines at least one established facet of the deconstruction theme: how superhumans are policed. For “Watchmen”, it was the Keene Act; for “The Dark Knight Returns”, it was the Gotham Police's attempt to deal with Batman. But for Waid, the subject is approached not as a “man vs. metahuman” conflict, but as “metahuman vs. himself.”

Superman's attempt to house renegade superhumans in a Gulag prison was a critical point in “Kingdom Come” that ended badly for all of the characters involved. Though it seems only a hypothetical situation for them now, should the Plutonian's former friends and teammates succeed in their mission, they will have to decide whether or not Plutonian really is as beyond redemption as the series' title would seem to imply.

“It becomes a central question. Everyone has a different definition of the word 'irredeemable,' and I think what keeps this series from being a cynical, bitter treatise is how alive we keep the possibility that at least some of his former friends believe there may be the possibility of redemption.”

It’s working for the series so far. A concept that, in lesser hands, could easily become a gorefest with little substance remains poignant and human because of Waid's ability to portray the Plutonian—largely through the eyes and actions of his friends—not as a villain, but as a hero who has lost his way.

“Irredeemable” is a fresh, epic examination of the superhero mold. Waid's knack for strong characterizations is in full effect and artist, Peter Krause, proves more than capable of delivering art on an equally epic and, at times, shocking scale. It is a story that is tense and ripe with mystery that leaves readers at the edge of their seats with each issue, and, though Waid keeps details close to his chest, there seem to be new and surprising facets of the superhero to explore.

“The next arc really peels back a lot of the secrets as the surviving Paradigm members go on an all-out quest for Modeus, the one villain who might know how to defeat Plutonian. And issue seven introduces us to a new player, someone who'll be very important not only to “Irredeemable” but to...well, I've said too much.”


Editor's Note: This week, the first trade collection of "Irredeemable" hits comics shops, which collects the first four-issue story arc. Issue #5 also hits shops this week.

Photo of Mr. Waid courtesy of BOOM! Studios
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