Incorruptible, Volume 1

June 28, 2010
When the world's most powerful superhero goes mad, kills innocents, and wreaks destruction upon the world, it's an action-packed wake-up call for the world's most powerful supervillain. Max Damage, a man unable to be physically injured, spent most of his life of crime not caring who he hurt to get what he wanted. But when the Superman-analogue hero known as the Plutonian turns evil, Max realizes that he may be one of the few people left able to protect others from the chaos. Max teams up with Jailbait, his under-aged sidekick ex-girlfriend, and Sky City Police Lieutenant Armadale to fight the remaining supervillains exploiting the suffering left in the wake of the Plutonian's carnage. Waid keeps Max's attitude as impenetrable as his skin in this first volume, hinting at but not spelling out the events that led to Max's change of heart. Max's struggles at heroism after being a villain for so long provide some clever moments and a few laughs, but overall this is a story of redemption set against a grim, apocalyptic backdrop. Diaz's artwork evokes the feeling of a cinematic action flick and furthers the impression of Max as an unfeeling tough guy still adjusting to his new role.

November 15, 2010

In the multiple Eisner Award nominee Irredeemable, Waid tells the tragic story of the world's greatest superhero, the Plutonian, becoming its most dangerous villain. Here, he presents the flipside. After witnessing the Plutonian slaughter three million people, super villain Max Damage decides that "somebody needs to step up" and goes straight. He turns in his former henchmen, torches his ill-gotten cash, and even stops sleeping with his thrill-seeking female partner, the accurately named Jailbait (who can't help but continue hanging around him anyway). For help he enlists a former opponent, the highly skeptical police lieutenant Armadale, who gives him a street-level view of a world thrown by the Plutonian into fear and paranoia. VERDICT So far this is a smaller-scale story than the world-shattering Irredeemable, less layered and less immediately gripping, and Diaz's artwork doesn't quite reach the level of Peter Krause's in Irredeemable. But it's written with the same sharpness of tone and the same intelligent extrapolations on the effects superpowers might have on their wielders and on the world. With some sexual innuendo and gruesome violence, the suggested age range of 15-up is warranted.--S.R.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2010
Into the same narrative universe as Irredeemablemaster craftsman Waids take on what would happen if a Superman-like hero went badcomes Max Damage. Once the worlds most hard-bitten supervillain, he watches as the Plutonian turns from protector to destroyer in an orgy of misbehavior ranging from sexual coercion to a vast superpowered killing spree, and decides that people need someone to count on. Unfortunately, the road to redemption is peopled with a dubious crowd, including cops, former compatriots, and an underage partner (in both crime and sexual high jinks) named Jailbait. Leave it to consummate comics pro Waid (Kingdom Come) to find a new twist in the mediums most well-trod path, and although not quite as subversive as its counterpart, and with a solid but less-imaginative visual component, Incorruptible is a thoughtful deconstruction of superheroes and a dramatic, action-packed character study. A strong, if brief, opening chapter that works fine, even without Irredeemable to pave its way.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)