Broken Frontier

Another reality’s version of you shows up at your door. He’s a superhero and his arch enemy has followed him. That villain is the other version of your girlfriend.

In the Hero Squared Special released by Boom Studios, the reader was introduced to Milo Stone, a slacker who is attempting to finally finish a family related documentary.  Of course, that’s only one Milo Stone.  The other Milo Stone is the superhero Captain Valor.  When last we saw Captain Valor, he had just arrived in Milo’s reality from his own.  The issue with Milo is that Captain Valor can’t go back to his reality, because it was completely destroyed by Caliginous, his arch enemy.  It got even better news for Milo when he found out that Caliginous was the alternative reality version of his girlfriend Stephanie.  And when Caliginous learns all of this information she decides that she’s going to have some fun in this reality.  Which is pretty much happens in this issue.  Caliginous has fun.

And fun it always is when Giffen and DeMatteis get together to write a comic. Best known for their humorous Justice League run (no being, ahem…modernized by DC Comics), this is an opportunity to see what they can do without the boundaries of existing company characters. And they are in full form here as are all the staple character concepts they use. From a whining, complaining, underachieving, yet likable main character to the somewhat naïve hero and even the sniveling, groveling, brown nosing villain’s lackey.  The dialogue likewise rings true for them, wisecracks and witty banter are abound.  And even with all of that, they still manage to do a good job of giving the reader a continuing introduction to the characters and saga.

Normally, the running mate of Giffen and DeMatteis is Kevin McGuire.  For this, their own book, they have decided on Joe Abraham.  You can almost tell that Abraham is having fun just by looking at the book.  The hardest part of drawing this book would be keeping a superhero feel, while still making sure to inject a sense of humor into every panel. In this book alone he has to show the characters’ interactions with each other, plus add in a fairly large action scene.  Abraham never has to give too many details, and yet his panels never seem empty. Most importantly in this book, Abraham somehow keeps the sets of alternate reality characters looking enough alike that the reader can tell they are different versions of the same people.

All in all, this is a book for fans of Giffen and DeMatteis.  Thus far, nothing at all will surprise you and if you liked their stuff before, you’re almost certain to enjoy it here as well.  If you’ve never tried them but like lots of crazy (but lovable) characters bickering with each other and acting a bit like idiots, this is also a book for you to be reading.