IDW Publishing 2015
Written by Mark Waid
Illustrated by Peter Krause
Coloured by Nolan Woodard
Galahad’s been having a rough week. Someone’s set up a string of crimes connected to his past, and to top it all off, he’s convinced that his father, Nocturnus, is the person who killed his mother! Meanwhile, Nocturnus has been following the same trail of clues, only to return home to find his estranged son–and his son’s publicist–trapped in a net dangling from the ceiling.
Mark really has found his new niche in comics. After Incorruptible and Irredeemable now it’s Insufferable and this new type of honest, frank and dysfunctional look at heroes and villains is something he positively shines at. Father and son have never been at odds like this and it truly feels like what could happen when a family fights crime together. I do like that we’ve seen the father push the son so much trying to make him better than he is and the son rebelling against that wanting to be his own person regardless of the cost. It’s made these two seem like such immovable objects and fleshed out their characters like there’s no tomorrow.
With the opening of this issue we see that neither of them is ready or willing to trust or work with the other. It’s a shame really as this father and son are still grieving and the incidents with their respective urns should have brought them together.
I do like that the conversation between Jarrod’s father and his publicist. Both of them have strong feelings about how the other does their job and both of them are right and wrong. It’s good stuff and the dialogue continues to showcase why Mark is among the very best there is. The fact that she is a better detective than her client, Galahad, is well that shouldn’t be a surprise Jarrod has been living off more reputation than skills for years now.
I have to say that until this issue we’ve seen a master plan at work but thanks to the writing haven’t seen it at all. Five issues in and suddenly the real story is revealed and then the obvious one starts to happen as well. There hasn’t been a slow dull moment yet but it’s all been sleight of hand, misdirection meant to keep us looking in the wrong direction while the real story was going on elsewhere. I love this tactic because Mark did it so well here that you never realized it. Sure I love the father/son conflict and it’s been great to see but now things have hit a new level.
This issue’s villain is Malovolia and he’s dastardly. While yes it seems that he’s found a perfect foil for getting away with his latest scheme, though what that is who the heck knows other than it also focuses upon their family. I thought this was pretty funny actually as Galahad uses what he has at his disposal to delay anything happening till Nocturnus can into position. It does however seem that even working together finally the boys are still a step behind. I mean what was Malvolia’s endgame here just kill them while wearing his new suit? Not likely.
Peter and Nolan working together on this series is pure gold. They have this whole classic superhero style nailed down and it’s freakin awesome. The facial expressions are flawless, the backgrounds are nicely detailed and the use of pages and panels show a true understanding of storytelling.
This is pure unadulterated fun.