When superhero Steve Clarke (aka Reaver) is defeated by
Octagon & his band of evil henchmen, rather than killing him on the spot,
he is given two weeks to live. We follow
Steve as he attempts to complete his modest bucket list, which primarily consists
of unfinished business from his life before he became a superhero.
Clarke’s world is clearly post Miller & Moore. The heroes are burdened by their abilities
and the consequences of their actions.
The villains are very very evil. There
are less wacky bank jobs and more burning schoolchildren alive. Clarke himself is a big dumb lug of a
hero. Thanks to the silver age origin
story, he goes from being a sexually repressed teenager to a beefy guy who hits
things.
The pacing and use of superhero tropes is excellent. Tobin’s use of flashbacks allows us to learn
about the history of the Reaver. His
encounters with other heroes and villains propel the story forward even as they
flesh out the world.
Somewhat problematic is Tobin’s treatment of women and
sexuality. Female characters are
consistently underdeveloped, and over sexualized. And while I have not done a head count, the
feeling is that more female characters are villainous than not. Some of this is attributable to the story
being told from Clarke’s POV. He is
after all, a superbro. Still, I would
have liked to see more three dimensional characterization of some female
characters (in particular Adele).
***slight spoiler***
The ending was wonderful.
After wallowing in the grimgritty world of the Reaver, Tobin shows that
the answer is to uphold classic heroic values.
Why? Because the world needs the
symbol of heroes, even if the reality does not truly match that symbol. Even if imperfect, I applaud the effort to
meld a realistic tone with the idealism of past generations.
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