Irredeemable #17

By Colin Andersen
September 18, 2010 - 18:47

I love Irredeemable. When I first started reading this series, I knew right away that I was going to follow this book for a long time to come and it has yet to disappoint me. I have read a lot of comments on the internet that Irredeemable moves to slow and that it takes forever to get anywhere, bit that is not the case. Instead, Irredeemable is simply Mark Waid taking his time actually flesh out his characters and really make them as human as possible (a nice twist for a series that focuses on an alien hero who has lost his humanity). Like last issue, this month’s issue does not have any fight scenes, but it dives yet another layer into the main cast and manages to deliver some truly unexpected twists.

One of my favorite parts of reading Irredeemable is the way the Mark Waid has a tendency to casually show an event happening that seems to have little to do with the plot, only to eventually bring it back as an important part of the story. This month Waid brings back the death of the superhero “The Hornet,” last seen in issue #1 as an important plot point that I’m sure will play out next month. Similarly, the giant gem that The Plutonian gave his sidekick Samsara in a flashback months ago is also revealed to have an interesting purpose that could shed a lot of light (no pun intended given its use in the story intended) of what The Plutonian’s motivations might be. I love when writers actually introduce things for a purpose and show that they really have planned the story out in advance and Mark Waid seems to excel at this. Also, there is a nice little acknowledgement to some of the events currently happening in Irredeemable’s sister book Incorruptible for those that are reading that as well (which you should if you aren’t).

   Waid also continues to use one of his original ideas for the series, to see how super powered characters might function or change based on their ridiculous experiences, to excellent effect in this issue. The most obvious example of Waid following this idea was that the ultra-powerful hero every worships (read: The Plutonian) could eventually crack under all the pressure he is under and the tragedies he has had to go through. This issue adds new wrinkles to this, such as Qubit definitive resolve not to give up on his former friend yet, even after he has murdered nine million people. Some may cry foul on this and think Qubit should just “man up” and kill the Plutonian when he has the chance, but I sympathize with Qubit here; no one wants to turn their back on a friend and most people would go to any lengths to help their close friends if something were wrong. This humanized Qubit for me in a personal way and it was an excellent way to develop his almost robotic personality he can have at times. There’s a similar revelation about the villain-hiding-in-The-Plutionian’s-sidekick’s-body Modeus in this issue as well. I admit that this reveal might have jumped the shark into some pretty strange territory and many people probably won’t like this particular twist, but it is well within the realms of things that can happen in real life. It may seem strange to me, but it is actually a fairly logical explanation that could add some more wrinkles to the story to come. It might not work for everyone as well as it does me, though.

   As I said in my review of last issue, I am so glad to Peter Krause back on art duty for Irredeemable. This particular issue isn’t his best work on the series to date and his characters due look a little stiff at time, but Krause is capable of some incredibly striking visuals. There is one panel in particular I am thinking of that, for the first time, actually made The Plutonian look as frightening and disturbed as so many of the characters have been telling the reader is. It’s a panel that made me a little uncomfortable to look at and I think you’ll know it when you see it. Krause isn’t the only one that deserves praise though. Colorist Andrew Dalhouse adds some really nice visual aids to this issue. I loved his use of color for the general atmosphere with a general murkiness that seems to sap the color out of any events that take place in the present while those in the past a giver a brighter palette to demonstrate that the were better times for Earth.

   Irredeemable continues to be one of the first books that I read on every week it comes out, regularly beating out many Marvel and DC Comics books. If you haven’t read it, I strongly suggest you go digging for some back issues and catch up. Few books out there offer such excellent characterization and genuine shocks on a regular basis. Each issue serves only to make me more excited for the next, something that seems to happen far too rarely.

Rating: 8.5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12

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