Image Comics 2015
Written by Mark Millar
Illustrated by Wilfredo Torres
Coloured by Ive Svorcina
I love a dysfunctional family they really are so much more interesting to learn about. When it takes place in the past where it was considered a much more genteel time well that’s even better. I mean everyone smokes, drinks and carries on in the privacy of their own lives and it’s just accepted and no big deal. Mark doesn’t try to make the people super just what they do and by keeping this human is why we love coming back to them.
Walter and Sunny are seeing each other now and this is going to be a volatile situation soon enough. I like however that they are seeing each other in a virtual reality kind of way while their bodies are in the real world working so that this really is a clandestine romance. Really there are unspoken rules when it comes to dating a friends ex and when you are part of family unit like the one Walter and George are this is crossing a line.
Well we knew it was going to hit the fan when George found about that they were now together. Of course he overreacts and makes wild claims about what Walter has done to Sunny’s mind and all that jazz. It’s fascinating to see George unable to realize that his demeanor and actions are what drove her away from him and that it’s always someone else’s fault never his for what’s wrong in his life. We all know people like that and seeing it here it’s just that slice of reality among these super powered folks that makes them more believable.
George really was that much in love with Sunny and after losing her he’s disappeared from his former life and has struck out anew. We see him in Kentucky after leaving his fortune and life behind so what’s next for him will be revealed in the next chapter of this story. While George left Walter and Sunny got married and we see a portent of things to come in Walter and George’s design for super-villain prison.
This series is just one of those fascinating character studies at people who just happen to have those powers that set them apart from the rest of humanity but at the same time keep them firmly rooted in the same private behavior everyone else has. It’s really one of those that sucks the reader into the story and keeps you coming back because you just can’t help but love to see their struggles that are so much like our own.
Wilfredo and Ive’s work on the interiors keep the style and feel of this world rooted in the past but completely relevant to people today. As a side effect it does make me wish people still dressed to leave the house without pajamas or sweats or those god awful flip flops.
Now that we’ve spent time getting to know these characters individually for an issue i’m looking forward to learning more and more about them so that we can see more of that transition to the series starring their children and that generation of heroes and villains.