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43rd out of 101 books
—
3 voters
Irredeemable, Vol. 1 (Irredeemable #1; issues 1-4)
A comic book industry event: a new original ongoing superhero series from Mark Waid! IRREDEEMABLE dares to ask the question: what if the world's greatest hero decided to become the world's greatest villain? A "twilight of the superheroes"- style story that examines super-villains from the writer of KINGDOM COME and EMPIRE!
Collects issues #1–4...more
Collects issues #1–4...more
Paperback, 128 pages
Published
October 6th 2009
by BOOM! Studios
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Mark Waid - writer
Peter Krause - artist
5/5 stars
What would it take for Superman to be pushed over the edge of sanity, and what would the consequences be for humanity when the most powerful "super hero" on Earth gives in to his dark side? This is the premise for Mark Waid's excellent series "Irredeemable." Volume 1 begins after The Plutonion (for all intents and purposes Superman -- super-strength, flight, super-senses, invulnerability, super-speed, etc. -- but without the canonical baggage of th...more
Peter Krause - artist
5/5 stars
What would it take for Superman to be pushed over the edge of sanity, and what would the consequences be for humanity when the most powerful "super hero" on Earth gives in to his dark side? This is the premise for Mark Waid's excellent series "Irredeemable." Volume 1 begins after The Plutonion (for all intents and purposes Superman -- super-strength, flight, super-senses, invulnerability, super-speed, etc. -- but without the canonical baggage of th...more
You tell a man he's a god enough times, and he'll start to be believe it. You strip away his humanity by worshipping him, and eventually he'll think it's his right to lord over you. Continuously mention that his powers are the only reason the planet still turns, and one day that virtue that compels him to save you will turn into the vice that causes him to decimate whole cities without remorse.
However, despite that recipe for disaster, there's still one more key ingredient. The inner struggle th...more
However, despite that recipe for disaster, there's still one more key ingredient. The inner struggle th...more
We place a lot of trust in the powerful, hoping they'll be responsible with their power and reward that trust. Superhero comics allow us to explore those dynamics at even greater levels--the ultimately powerful require our ultimate trust. So what would happen if one day, out of the blue, Superman were to snap and become a vengeful god of wrath, betraying our trust and his ideals, killing millions in the process? How would we deal with that betrayal? And how would we appease someone who was only...more
This was really good, but it had the potential to be great. I think the main flaw was that it started in media res. Without seeing just how good the Superman-esque character actually was (or without each character being a clearer direct mirror to the Justice League) there was no way of seeing how terrible his transformation into a villain actually was, or how frightening the shift would be for the members of the super team he was once part of.
That being said, Waid has created a world where a her...more
That being said, Waid has created a world where a her...more
A neat take on a stubborn question about superheroics - namely, why do we assume that just because you have a lot of power that means that you're psychologically able to deal with it? Rather than be a story about a man who is powerful and decides it's more fun to rule the world, this is a story about a thinly veiled Superman who apparently has an stupidly bad day and goes south, murdering a whole mess of people in the process and leaving his former allies to figure out what went wrong and how to...more
The sub-genre of superhero fiction where superheroes, or usually a Superman-type character, goes off the rails is unusually fertile ground for comics writers. Alan Moore’s “Watchmen”, Garth Ennis’ “The Boys” and Mark Millar’s “Superman: Red Son” have all explored an alternative to the heroic figures presented to us in comics and all are exceptional works of art. Added to this field of subversive superhero stories is Mark Waid’s “Irredeemable” which posits the idea of a Superman-type superhero ca...more
I have been thinking about reading this for a while. The Plutonian is an all powerful superhero. This means that over the past decade in addition to saving the world several times over he has heard every negative word and thought people have made about him. In addition he has been betrayed by people he thought he could trust and love. Eventually he snaps and that's where this book begins, in the middle of the fall out.
The book goes back and forth between actions before and after the snap. The ac...more
The book goes back and forth between actions before and after the snap. The ac...more
You want pace, inventiveness, rich characterization and sheer bravura storytelling? There's very little in either comics or prose fiction that can hold a candle to Mark Waid's Superman-goes-bad saga. I'm finding it hard to remember the last time I came across such a must-read story - I had the whole run of comics to date and was up until 2am because each plot twist was more compelling than the last.
What I particularly like: the story is completely driven by character, the same way as The Shield...more
What I particularly like: the story is completely driven by character, the same way as The Shield...more
The manager at my local comic book haunt recommended this title a year back, as he knows my particular tastes. But as the comic book/graphic novel aficionado has to quickly filter out the crap from the true worthy gems, I passed on Waid and Krause’s superhero-fallen-from-grace concept. So it wasn’t until this past month at Comic-Con down in glorious sunny San Diego when I passed the two at the Boom! Studios booth that I finally decided to pick it up the first two olumes. And I even got them sign...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I overlooked the "volume one" on the inside page of this book and was completely let down by the lack of resolution at the end. The story so far, about a Superman-gone-bad named the Plutonian, is pretty good, though, as with the ending, I was expecting a bit more. Grant Morrison's afterword has too much praise for the book, though his recasting of Mark Waid as a boundary-pushing writer is useful. Still, there isn't quite enough "new" in this book. A sequence in the second issue surrounding The P...more
Reason for Reading: The publisher's plot synopsis grabbed me right away.
Comments: One day The Plutonium, a very powerful superhero turns evil and becomes the world's greatest super villain. He belonged to a group of superheroes, yet none of them came close to Plutonium's powers. Now The Plutonium is hunting them all down and killing them and their alter ego families. He has destroyed cities and is a heartless, ruthless killer. The story focuses on his remaining teammates as they try to piece tog...more
Comments: One day The Plutonium, a very powerful superhero turns evil and becomes the world's greatest super villain. He belonged to a group of superheroes, yet none of them came close to Plutonium's powers. Now The Plutonium is hunting them all down and killing them and their alter ego families. He has destroyed cities and is a heartless, ruthless killer. The story focuses on his remaining teammates as they try to piece tog...more
"What makes a hero IRREDEEMABLE?"
What if the world's most powerful and respected superhero became a raging, maniacal supervillain?
How would the world survive when its remaining superheros scatter and cower in his presence?
"You can't stay here..."
"Why the hell would I bother to leave? You don't get it. The Plutonian has gone rogue. We're all going to die."
Irredeemable follows the Plutonian's former allies as they rush to piece together the mystery behind his drastic transformation from good to e...more
What if the world's most powerful and respected superhero became a raging, maniacal supervillain?
How would the world survive when its remaining superheros scatter and cower in his presence?
"You can't stay here..."
"Why the hell would I bother to leave? You don't get it. The Plutonian has gone rogue. We're all going to die."
Irredeemable follows the Plutonian's former allies as they rush to piece together the mystery behind his drastic transformation from good to e...more
When Zack Snyder announced that he would be adapting Watchmen, not only the fans began to salivate. More creators and writers and studios realized that it would be a perfect time to cash in on similar styled works filled with ethical conundrums, anti-heroes, and throwback artwork. However the industry has grown over the past few years (not attributing it to the release of Watchmen in any way, really, except for a certain few books), it is awash with as much brilliance as it is with degraded and...more
A good start for the series with an interesting idea: "What if a superhero turned and became a super villain ?"
The Plutonian was the best of them, the better and kindest of the superheros. And he seems he was the most powerful. But inside of him he was just as human as us, acting and feeling like a human with the effects and the consequences that came afterwords. But people thought he was a god, perfect, the image of good, the best in us but not the worst in us. They thought they knew him. Until...more
The Plutonian was the best of them, the better and kindest of the superheros. And he seems he was the most powerful. But inside of him he was just as human as us, acting and feeling like a human with the effects and the consequences that came afterwords. But people thought he was a god, perfect, the image of good, the best in us but not the worst in us. They thought they knew him. Until...more
Une excellente lecture, gâchée par une fin qui n'en est pas une ! Et oui, je pensais tenir un one-shot, mais il s'agit d'une série.
Peu importe, je pense que je vais la suivre, cette série. L'histoire est très prenante, et les personnages intéressants. On entre directement dans le vif du sujet, et on découvre donc un super-héros surpuissant (style Superman) qui a pété un câble. Visiblement déçu par le comportement de ceux qu'il sauve, par celui d'autres super-héros, il décide de se venger. Problè...more
Peu importe, je pense que je vais la suivre, cette série. L'histoire est très prenante, et les personnages intéressants. On entre directement dans le vif du sujet, et on découvre donc un super-héros surpuissant (style Superman) qui a pété un câble. Visiblement déçu par le comportement de ceux qu'il sauve, par celui d'autres super-héros, il décide de se venger. Problè...more
Great premise. "Superman-rip-off snaps and becomes the world's worst super-villain" has a novel ring to it, and it's good that this comes from a competent writer like Mark Waid, that way we know it'll be at least "good".
Well, this was good. My main issue with this book is that it is basically 4 issues of set-up, throws a LOT of stuff at you (sometimes through flashbacks) and it's not established as to why, exactly, the hero turns bad.
However, it did get me interested enough to read volume 2, wh...more
Well, this was good. My main issue with this book is that it is basically 4 issues of set-up, throws a LOT of stuff at you (sometimes through flashbacks) and it's not established as to why, exactly, the hero turns bad.
However, it did get me interested enough to read volume 2, wh...more
Mark Waid is Evil. I loved this Story. I had always pondered this question, what If the worlds greatest superhero became a super villain? And this book answers it. It is astounding to see how it works out. Panel by panel I can't stop reading. One minor flaw some points you can tell what will happen next. This doesn't ruin to much, maybe it was just me, the art was vibrant and deep. The script seemed well written and every character had their own personality. Being that this is Volume one and I h...more
The era of broken heroes hits its zenith here as The Plutonian shifts from superhero to supervillain. The black-hearted hero hunts his old teammates and destroys the town he once protected. The script is clever and the art is clear. It's all very professionally done, but I'm a bit weary of this take on spandex-wearing heroes.
I loved The Watchmen and The Dark Knight, but they spawned a couple of decades of pointlessly grim and gritty material. The nihilism demonstrated by The Plutonian is a chil...more
I loved The Watchmen and The Dark Knight, but they spawned a couple of decades of pointlessly grim and gritty material. The nihilism demonstrated by The Plutonian is a chil...more
I was underwhelmed with this one at first but the more I read the better it got, and by the time it ended, I was like "Damn!" heh heh.
It is a fun premise that I have often thought about, and it is a dark and cynical premise that is also realistic and largely ignored, in the comics genre.
What if an incredibly powerful being got sick of being a hero for a bunch of normal human ingrates?
It is very plausible. In fact it makes me think of Obama, (who jokes that he is not Superman) who is trying to...more
It is a fun premise that I have often thought about, and it is a dark and cynical premise that is also realistic and largely ignored, in the comics genre.
What if an incredibly powerful being got sick of being a hero for a bunch of normal human ingrates?
It is very plausible. In fact it makes me think of Obama, (who jokes that he is not Superman) who is trying to...more
People doing riffs on the Superman mythos has become something of a genre unto itself, and a lot of the time the stories that result are more interesting than what's actually being published in the Superman books themselves: books like Moore's Miracleman, McDuffie's Icon, and Mayer's Superfolks have all turned Superman on his head to explore the nature of heroism, and here Waid joins those ranks.
Waid's thesis in this series is that the people who become superheroes aren't necessarily emotionally...more
Waid's thesis in this series is that the people who become superheroes aren't necessarily emotionally...more
Mark Waid is perverse. This is essentially a What-If story. What if Superman snapped under the pressure and went rogue? What if Lex Luthor was gay and subconsciously wanted to get into Supe's pants all this while? These are the storylines Waid is apparently interested in, and wants to get away with (although he knew he couldn't; not at DC anyway.)
I finished Volumes 1-7 in a single sitting. So far, my opinion on it is: it's not as deep as it pretends to be. And it gets weirder and weirder, and n...more
I finished Volumes 1-7 in a single sitting. So far, my opinion on it is: it's not as deep as it pretends to be. And it gets weirder and weirder, and n...more
This series starts with a great premise -- what if a superman-level hero snaps and becomes the world's greatest super-villain, a mass-murderer and an unstoppable force. (Yes, Alan Moore did it first in Miracleman -- Alan Moore did everything first.) The first few issues (collected in the first volumes) are quite good as the other super-powered heroes band together, try to avoid the Plutonian, and bicker amongst themselves as a terrified world sinks into a stupor. We also get the backstory of the...more
Mark Waid subverts the common superhero trope that the superest super guy has to be always good. No matter if you were born on an alien planet, you're still all too human with human urges and concerns. The pressures gets you.
Now you've got a superman with no known weaknesses holding the world hostage, and his former compatriots are racing against time to dig this guy, dig him deep and figure out what makes him tick, and how to throw a wrench in these works.
Writers should be psychologists. Well,...more
Now you've got a superman with no known weaknesses holding the world hostage, and his former compatriots are racing against time to dig this guy, dig him deep and figure out what makes him tick, and how to throw a wrench in these works.
Writers should be psychologists. Well,...more
One of the more interesting comics I've read recently is Mark Millar's Nemesis, which is a short series about a murderous, brutal supervillian. Irredeemable is a lot like Nemesis, but with less bloodshed and more focus on how our bad guy changed over from good.
It's very hard to make a clear statement about it so far, since the first trade only has a few chapters in it, but the story is told in partial flashback, allowing us to piece together what happened. It's still too soon to say what or when...more
It's very hard to make a clear statement about it so far, since the first trade only has a few chapters in it, but the story is told in partial flashback, allowing us to piece together what happened. It's still too soon to say what or when...more
This is a strong story, one that feels like it should have been told a long time ago. That being said, it reeks so much of modernism that it almost doesn't feel fresh anymore, as if even though the idea is fresh the themes have been driven into the ground. The story is caked in mystery, and, this being only the first volume, there isn't much that gets answered right away. This doesn't really feel like a closed story arc as much as it felt like just another issue. The characterization is interest...more
It's like Waid realized that his career after Kingdom Come wasn't going to cut it anymore if he kept his sappy boy-howdy love for the silver age routine. So now he yet again focuses on the deconstruction of the form. This plays more like if The Watchmen had the control rods pulled out of it. It plays straight and punchy. So, we see Superman snap. Because he isn't tied to any particular continuity, Waid has free reign to do anything that he wants in this world. This makes the book rather exciting...more
I have always disliked Waid's characterization and dialog, well at least since his initial issues of Fantastic Four so many years ago, and this is just a bit better. But the big difference is that the plot at least has me wanting to read on to find out what happens. Partly because of its compelling concept but more for its rigid serialization.
There's only four issues per trade paperback and seven trades already. The recent release of the $75 hardcover only includes 12 issues. That's a bit too e...more
There's only four issues per trade paperback and seven trades already. The recent release of the $75 hardcover only includes 12 issues. That's a bit too e...more
This is for the first three trades. I love the concept but the execution was somewhat lacking. The reasons given for Superman's transition into evil was not believable. One character also became unbelievably strong and went toe to toe with superman. In short, I found it harder to suspend my disbelief. Art was uneven and deteriorated as it went on. On the plus side it featured one of the best characters I have seen - a superhero who recites her people's legends in battle. The characters come true...more
Irredeemable: Volume 1 lays the foundation for the series. Imagine if Superman turned villain and began to systemically kill his former super hero comrades. Why being the big question. The Irredeemable version of Superman is the Plutonian and while we don’t obtain the answer to “why” in this volume, this reader was hungry for more. Characters are introduced (some killed in brutal fashion) and we are offered glimpses of what’s to come – who is The Plutonian, what are his weaknesses (if any) and c...more
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Mark Waid (born March 21, 1962 in Hueytown, Alabama) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America.
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