Broken Frontier

Max Damage desperately tries to convince the good-hearted Whelan, father to a boy he once killed, to help him save Coalville as civilians and villains alike run amok wreaking havoc in the streets. Waid continues to give his already outstanding universe more unique flavor as he fleshes out minor villains, as well as getting to the heart of his main antagonist turned protagonist.

Max is incorruptible, but here, more than any other time, that proves to mean squat. What use is being good if a hero fails to inspire people? Waid plays around with that notion and uses it to practically torture Damage with his own inadequacies. A good man would barely consider helping a former villain, let alone one responsible for the death of his son, and so the conversations with Whelan prove to be the highlight of the issue.

A close second is the aptly named and tantalizingly dressed Safeword, who proves to be the only villain with moral reservations by trying to protect poor Alana, found gagged and stuffed in a port-a-potty. She quickly rises to the top as one of the more interesting baddies due to the passive nature of her ability, which allows her to stop people in their tracks with a word. Stopping to analyze her character proves fascinating: she’s a woman dressed in leather and has a name that embodies an S & M flavor, but ideally she is simply a woman for whom no means no. The implications behind who she is and how she became that way could fill up several issues, so more of her presence would be gladly welcome.

Takara’s art flows well and looks great, although there is one scene towards the end where the reader might be unsure why Max is hugging a wall while screaming at Whelan. Other than that, the pacing of Waid’s writing builds to a heart-stopping moment delivered by Takara in gloriously gruesome detail. Extreme violence, superhero deconstructionism, and a sexy woman in a leather corset – it’s Waid through and through, and it’s good.