Review - Almighties Origins

"I have a proposition for you Stefanos--"

What do you do when you have superpowers? Join a superteam of course. Then again, even that team may not be enough to mitigate the dysfunction that comes with multiple individuals rife with superpowers. Almighties Origins offers up backgrounds on such characters. The issue is written by Sam Johnson and Mike Gagnon, illustrated by Pablo Zambrano, Eleonora Kortsarz, Ron Gravelle and Fran Jung, colored by Jennifer Scott, Lisa Lamb and Giuseppe Pica and lettered by Kris Johnson and Jacob Bascle.

The Almighties consist of five superheroes. There's Maxi-Tron (super-tech armor), Nite Fang (werewolf), Ms. F (flight and strength), Mason (psychopathic mercenary) and Stefanos (french fry attendee). The team is assembled to combat threats to the US, despite the fact that the team itself is comprised of an assortment of characters with threats of their own. Background to the characters is established for the reader to get a better sense as to what they're fighting for and what they're drawing up as motivation.

If you've read The Almighties #1, then you already know the type of tone to expect in Almighties Origins. The book is a very blatant parody of superhero superteams such as the Avengers and it doesn't really shy away from that fact. Johnson and Gagnon maintain a certain level of impropriety in the book that makes the characters feel very flawed, even though it's these same characters tasked with protecting the country. It's a dynamic that makes for rather amusing dialogue and storylines, even if the characters themselves don't quite define themselves.

There's a large artistic team handling that side of the house. Because there's so many artists and colorists, there are some disparate differences from segment to segment. It's not jarring enough to hurt the unity of the book, but it is noticeable in some areas and reminds the reader there is a bunch of different artists. Character anatomy manages to be fairly consistent throughout and the panel layouts don't allow much in the way of unique designs or varied layouts. The art successfully conveys the superhero nature of the book.

Almighties Origins is an entertaining look at superheroes, who have recently become all the rage again thanks to box office success. The creative team know what they're going for and offer it up in spades: flawed superheroes who are just as dysfunctional as the members of society they're tasked with protecting. The creative team offer up a tale that's not meant to be taken seriously and satires the capes and tights ruling the box office. It's definitely meant to be more of a supplement to readers of The Almighties #1 as it provides insight into the characters and it's worth checking out if you're a big fan of that issue or stories that are off to begin with.

Almighties Origins is available now as a free, digital download.