Every once in awhile, a comic book comes along that really blows me away. Lately, it's been more independent minded books of sorts. However, was I surprised when it turned out to be a good old fashioned superhero book! And not set in the universes of the Big 2. That's Marvel and DC comics to you layman.
Back in January, I randomly picked up this book off of the shelf at my comic shop. Magnitude #1. I had heard good things were coming from it's publisher, Ape Entertainment. I figured, "Hey. It's a #1 and I can jump right in at the beginning." And am I glad I did. As I said, it's a superhero book. The Big 2 dominate the market in that category. Any other company that tries it does not often succeed. Rare examples here and there. The problem is that the Big 2 have characters with every power imagineable. So, create a flying guy. Been done. A super strong woman. Yup. Obviously, any new book outside of the Big 2 will run into that problem. Heck, the Big 2 have so many characters with the same powers anyway.
Now, let's get to the book at hand. Magnitude. Created, written, inked, colored and lettered by Greg Waller. Pencils by Axel Gimenez. Holy crap! That Waller guy does everything! I even heard that he wanted to pencil and publish as well. But was worried about getting in over his head. High ambitions to go along with all that talent and creativity! Impressive. Most impressive!
Waller did something smart. He didn't try to avoid all of the similarities in powers or looks of his characters to those established. He just took those ideas, put them in a blender with C4 and completely reinvigorated the genre! We've got the main character, Magnitude. Guess what? He's barely in isssue #1. He sets things up in a very dark opening and suddenly we're thrust into a bright and shiny metropolis. New characters. You have your Superman type. You're Wonder Woman type. Hulk type. Atom type. Etc. Same old story? NO EFFIN WAY!
He answers that question that we've all asked. What happens when Superman goes bad. I mean...REALLY bad. As in massively murderinging millions bad. Naturally, other heroes unite to fight him. In this case, the hero gone bad is called The Combatant. He has Superman like powers. Yet, belongs to an intergalactic peace keeping force like The Green Lanterns. And has been around for years and years and years. Suddenly, he goes rogue and the remaining heroes must unite to try to stop him. Magnitude is sent back from the future to stop him ala The Terminator. Quickly, he joins forces with the heroes and they go about trying to save the day.
It's great to see homages to established heroes and artists and writers. As I said, Waller and Gimenez don't avoid the history before them, they give it respect. In the recent issue #3, there is a panel similar to the famous Frank Miller The Dark Knight Returns cover. And as you can see on the cover over there, an obvious shout out to the famous "Fastball Special" that is employed by Colossus and Wolverine of The X-Men.
I don't want to spoil the whole story here as it's only a 5 issue mini-series. But, it's exciting and enthralling and just plain fun! I've been in touch with Waller and we hope to get him on the show soon. A blurb I sent him even made the letters page of the recent issue #3! Woo hoo!
It's all the way down at the bottom.
See it?
There. I cut it out for you and everything. Happy? The things I do for you all.
Bottom line. Forget what you know about superhero comic books and go get this book. If your comic shop doesn't have it. Ask them to order it. I'm quite sure there will be a trade paperback available after the series ends in a few months. But, try to get it now. Yes, it's that good! You just can't pass a book of this Magnitude up!
Crap. I just turned into Gene Shalit there, didn't I?
Magnitude by Greg Waller and Axel Gimenez brought to you by Ape Entertainment. Purchase. Read. Tell others. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Once again...You're welcome.
i keep forgetting to pick this up :(
i feel the same way about hero squared.its my fave independent book,pick up the trade,and the new series,its so great.
Posted by: KEVIN | March 22, 2007 at 09:41 AM
it's hard to find. but, find it if you can! great stuff!
Posted by: jimmy | March 23, 2007 at 01:45 AM