FIRST ISSUES: An admirable first issue must, above all
else, contain such matter as will compel a reader to buy the second issue. At
the same time, while provoking curiosity through mysteriousness, a good first
issue must avoid being so mysterious as to be cryptic or incomprehensible. And,
thirdly, it should introduce the title’s principals, preferably in a way that
makes us care about them. Fourth, a first issue should include a complete
“episode”—that is, something should happen, a crisis of some kind, which is
resolved by the end of the issue, without, at the same time, detracting from
the cliffhanger aspect of the effort that will compel us to buy the next issue.
Incorruptible
Mark Waid continues
his explorations of the real world implications of superheroics with Incorruptible wherein we meet Max
Damage, a guy who catches bullets in his teeth and then spits them out at his
foes. Damage is a crook who has decided to go straight in a world where other
superheroic types have either been killed or have given up do-gooding. The book
ends promising a confrontation between Damage and the Plutonian, “the world’s
most powerful man” who has “gone berserk.” Damage’s good opinion of himself
towers over the whole issue. When asked by his erstwhile paramour if he’s
“found Jesus,” he says: “Close — I saw the face of God.” Nice premise, and all
the usual criteria are satisfied, but Jean
Diaz’s storytelling is often lame. He feathers in places where it’s not
needed, and he can’t draw women’s mouths. But his most serious shortcoming is
revealed during action sequences where we can’t tell what’s happening much of
the time. Adroit action sequences show a species of continuous activity: you
know where a character has been standing just before smiting the bad guy. Diaz
gives us just poses, suspended in mid-air, not action.
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