Marvel Comics
Superior #6
By Zak Edwards
October 20, 2011 - 15:14

Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Mark Millar
Penciller(s): Leinil Yu
Inker(s): Gerry Alanguilan
Colourist(s): Javier Tartaglia
Letterer(s): Clayton Cowles
$2.99 US



There are plenty of elements of Mark Millar’s Superman-style tale that any reviewer with half a brain could point to (which half of my brain will talk about momentarily), but the major problems with this latest issue of Superior can be boiled down fairly simply.  The story is suffering from a lack of knowing where it has been going and where it is going to end up, Millar focuses on the last pages of each issue than the series as a whole, and so this latest issue attempts to sort out the varying plots and ridiculous elements before the finale.  What was once an almost fairy-tale story with parts stolen from the movie Big, Superior has become a series of thoughts that simply aren’t very coherent and certainly not worth the wait.

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Millar has always been a writer unable to resist the ludicrous ideas he sometimes has and many of his works have either been built up around these ideas or simply been derailed because of this impulse.  Superior is the latter, and in such a way that shows a definite lack of planning by Millar.  As the story goes, Superior is actually a boy suffering from multiple sclerosis named Simon who was granted his powers by the devil, or a demon who claimed he was the devil but now admits he is just a low-class demon with a bad employment record.  Stripping Simon of his powers, the demon threatens to take them away permanently unless Simon agrees to sell his soul.  And while Millar does let Simon reason through selling his soul in a way that isn’t overly romantic or pandering, he certainly isn’t able to keep the story together.  The issue becomes a series of excuses.  As I mentioned, the devil has now become a demon who needs a soul and, even though he already has another kid willing and able to do so, the little monkey astronaut wants Simon’s soul.  Other narrative lapses include the reporter’s journey of deciding against exposing Simon’s story because she had leukemia and a series major surgeries, both of which have not come up before in either story or art and are a sudden change in character, who seems to have just remembered her childhood.  Millar’s obsession with his cliffhangers have come to a head in this issue, which attempts to sort out the mess under the guise of a short story about self-discovery.  Unfortunately, the story is much more obviously about it’s own self-discovery, and readers are left with a fairly flimsy structure under which the final issue will bring a bunch of punches and little exposition.  This story, which started out with an unoriginal premise but possibly promising execution, has become an obviously poorly planned out story of one narrative’s attempt to gain some self awareness and be better off for it.  Unfortunately, it fails.

Leinil Yu’s art continues as it always has and, with no action sequences to highlight where much of his talent is, the comic becomes as wooden as its characters.  His expressions have improved from his earlier works, leaving the heavy shading out of many shots conveying emotions.  I wouldn’t call Yu’s handle on human expression amazing, but it is certainly functional and his confidence is more obvious here.  Unfortunately, his characters still have a strange gloss to them which contrasts his generally rougher style, making people look like their made of plastic.  Mind you, given his penchant for exaggerated anatomy and displaying female characters as constantly leaning towards the camera, maybe Yu is self-consciously reflecting on his own work.  A Yu equivalent of Frank Miller’s “goddam Batman.”  Oh wait, never mind.

Grade: D    Does anyone know a good narrative psychologist?  This story has some serious self-discovery issues.

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