Review – Abyss #1 (Vol. 2)


Ever wonder what it would be like to be a superhero in training? How much MORE complicated would that be if your recently jailed father was formerly the world’s biggest supervillain called Abyss? Welcome to the world of Eric Hoffman! The league of heroes in this almost reminds me of a cross between Watchmen and Teen Titans, only with a smattering of some adult heroes to give parent-like lectures to the kiddies. The mix is intriguing and provides for some comedic moments mixed with genuine superpower to the rescue scenes. I think it's a winning combination.

Red 5 Comics is the publisher with Kevin Rubio writing and a talented art team including Alfonso Ruiz, Garry Henderson, Troy Peteri on letters and cover and coloring by Andrew Crossley. It's a slightly lighter fare superhero book that has some real appeal to it. Rather than dealing with epic social and political issues, we're faced with a complex question: How would the son of a former super villain gain the trust of heroes?

Let’s delve into some of the issues and underlying tension revealed in this first issue of the new volume. One major issue is probably the fact that Eric is using his dad’s former war machines as his new superpowered helpers. He seems a “vast fortune and access to impressive technology” type of hero rather than a “born with or acquired superpowers” type. There seems to be a mix of the two in this book. Quiver, a cute 23 year old college student who Eric worked with to bring down his father acts as a quasi-love interest for the boy as well as a mentor. She is more established as a hero, but really doesn’t have SUPERpowers either.

Why would putting his father away not immediately gain him the trust of others? Part of the problem seems to be Eric’s attitude. He is sort of carefree and easily distracted, leading to a botched attempt to avert disaster in this first issue. All is not lost thanks to the intervention of some other super friends, but at least one of them – Mr. Magic, a person with what appears to be true superpowers – thinks that Eric is a brat. Unfortunately the young man reacts poorly and tries to have his robot helper handle the situation. All this results in is some underwater excavation for the young man later on.

Seeing how all these conflicting personalities manage to work out whenever the next disaster strikes will be really interesting. In some ways Eric is similar to Peter Parker in learning to handle being a hero despite hormones and maturity getting in the way. Props are also due to Rubio for putting in some sidebars to explain some of the events that took place in the first volume of this series. It made some of the interactions MUCH easier to understand and allowed me to enjoy this book much more.

This title has a lot of promise and is a nice change of pace from many of the darker superhero titles out there right now – even though I love them s well. Check it out in stores when you get the chance and I’m pretty sure you’ll agree.

Comments

  1. Thank you for taking the time to review my book, and a nice review at that.

    -Kevin Rubio

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment