
Image Comics 2015
Written by Mark Millar
Illustrated by Wilfredo Torres
Coloured by Ive Svorcina
Lettered by Peter Doherty
We open up volume 2 with a look at the personal lives of Sheldon, Jane and Grace. I dunno the opening is romantic, makes me question Sheldon’s abilities a bit and opens up a potential invasion story which is kind of exciting. That Mark manages to weave that all together so quickly is great. Jane’s observations about her husband make him almost too good to be true ya know. It’s almost like if it’s too good to be true it usually is, that’s the feeling i’m getting from this and I hope not but I can’t shake that feeling.
Grace, a lawyer as well as a superheroine, is lonely. She has no man in her life and seems to work a lot and when not working off on a beach reading. Not really giving herself a lot of time for dating. I guess being a powerful woman in every sense of the word is intimidating to men. Still she’s become more than what I expected and what I’ve seen of her to date and that’s great.
That Grace rushes off as Lady Liberty to deal with Professor Prism and his Rainbow-Sceptre was kind of fun. It is really noticeable how different she is in her super-hero persona than in her real life mask. As Grace she looks like she’s got resting bitch face all the time and as Lady Liberty she’s all smiles so we can see just some of the problems she’s facing. I do like that she’s good girlfriends with Jane and they can talk not only about her being a hero but straight up girl talk too.
I’ll be honest from reading volume one I really thought that Grace and Sheldon were a couple so seeing this story start off this way was kind of eye opening.
Meanwhile I like seeing Sheldon and Jane on Europa for a number of reasons. There’s the question of his powers and how hard it seems for him to get them there. Then what he finds when he’s there that cuts his romantic getaway short well that I look forward to exploring.
I’m so happy that Mark and Wilfredo are back for another volume with these characters. While their kids were fun this era and these heroes are what I find truly fascinating. These costumes are so classic and wonderful to see. It’s just nice to see the homage to such a classic era of super-heroes. Actually his work throughout the entire book are exceptionally well done and I love the way the pages shine with character and emotion.
Mark’s characterization here continues to impress as well. This is actually one of the few instances where going back to an original stories beginning isn’t predestined and can be told with new and surprising events. There’s a freshness and excitement about this series and exploring an era that we don’t get a lot views at outside of the movies.