Broken Frontier

Eric Hoffman has discovered his father is the world’s most feared super-villain, and nobody believes him! After uncovering a corrupted file from a flash drive given to him by his uncle, Eric decides to take it to the only man he believes can help him: the superhero at large known as Arrow. But not all is smooth sailing, for as Eric and Arrow go out to investigate, they are confronted by Arrow’s former sidekick: Schaafte!

Yeah. I know.

Granted, I’ve just jumped into the Abyss series, but it seems that the entire series centers around superhero culture and "in jokes". More than anything, the series is a parody of modern superheroes, which is fine in small doses. However, when this universe’s main source of news is "Superhero Hype" (also the name of Red 5 Comics creator Paul Ens’ comic news website), the jokes must stop. There is a lot of good in Abyss #3, but it is buried in entirely too much comedy.

Kevin Rubio, the series writer and creator of the Star Wars short film parody "Troops", missed the mark with the issue. I’m a fan of his work on Star Wars: Tag & Bink, but his goofy style of storytelling just doesn’t seem to fit with this story. The humor in this issue comes off as mediocre, and each punch-line seems hollow. Yes, we understand that some superheroes go through sidekicks like toilet paper, but you don’t have to drill that fact into our heads over and over again!

Lucas Marangon’s art style suits the mood of the book. Each face, costume, and body type parodies that of typical American superheroes. Arrow out of his costume looks like the generic hero: tall, dark hair, square jaw, and buff. That more than accurately describes at least a quarter of the hero population. I would really love to see him tackle some more action sequences, so I could get a better feel of his range, but the man seemed limited by the story.

Besides being another attempt at a humorous look at the superhero/super-villain lifestyle, Abyss has very little to offer readers. Fans of the spandex-clad set will appreciate the humor, but many will get sick of it by page five. However, if you are a proponent of "beat-you-with-the-joke" style humor, Abyss is most certainly a good read.