Hero Squared
Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis & Joe Abraham
Boom! Studios, 2006
134 pp

The superhero has been around a long time now and has come a long way since the early days. Especially in the eighties and nineties, comic writers began making their heroes more human and fallible. But they still stand as symbols of power, virtue and hope, qualities that make them ripe for a spoofing at the hands of Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis, creators of 'Hero Squared'.

Our story begins with Captain Valor grieving over the destruction of the world at the hands of his arch-nemesis Caliginous, an armoured fiend who then tries to disintegrate the normally indestructible Valor. Instead, the hero is hurtled to our universe where he meets wannabe filmmaker Milo Stone. Milo, as it happens, is Captain Valor; or rather, who Captain Valor would have been if he had become a daydreaming slacker instead. This is unfortunate, as the Captain believes Milo is the only one who can stop Caliginous, who has followed him to this world to finish him off. In an interesting twist, the villain turns out to be an alternate version of Milo's girlfriend Stephie and seemingly had a relationship with Valor before something went horribly wrong.

The comedic concept of the book is that both Captain Valor and Milo are the same person but at opposite ends of the spectrum: the former is brave, pure and quite na•ve in his views on right and wrong, while the latter is cowardly, selfish and cynical. They bicker incessantly, and are only kept together by levelheaded Stephie, who can see the qualities of the superhero in her mundane boyfriend. Periodically, these "odd couple" scenes are interrupted by attacks from Caliginous and her alien hordes, wherein much violence ensues. And this is the problem: 'Hero Squared' is incredibly repetitive. You get "humourous banter" - i.e. snarky shots between the two Milos - on the theme of how Captain Valor is such a clichˇ and his counterpart is a waste of space. Then you get evil Stephie and Valor battling it out, physically and emotionally. The same points are always made: Caliginous is making other people suffer because she hates Valor, and the Captain causes much of the violence he claims to abhor. Some of the jokes are pretty funny - Caliginous' henchman Sloat improving himself by reading the dictionary - but even this is repeated endlessly.

Abraham's art is a frustrating part of the package due to its inconsistency. On some pages it's as striking as the best superhero stuff, while other drawings look flat and amateurish. Quite a lot looks sketchy and unfinished, like Stephie's glasses appearing to be crayoned to her face. There are production issues that don't help, like panels too close to the edge of the page to read and part of the introduction being printed twice over two pages.

I think there's a good comic nestled somewhere in 'Hero Squared', one that can be seen in some of the deeper conversations between Milo and Valor. But there are niggling plot problems - Milo not immediately noticing Valor looks just like him, the fact that there's a Captain Valor comic in Milo's world - that keep you from being convinced. And that's just as important for comedy as it is for superheroes.

Henry Nicholls