It's very difficult to sustain a comic book centered around a villain.Writer Mark Waid has managed to keep interest up in Irredeemable with strong writing, and by basing the villain, The Plutonian (and many of the other characters involved) on familiar characters - most obviously Superman and his "family" of characters.
Waid has also managed to keep the reader guessing, wondering what triggered "Tony's" transformation into a mass murderer - and what he'll do next.
Even the good guys have their own mysteries to be revealed, and one about the delightfully-named Bette Noir is brought to light in this issue.
The art has also been quite good, and in this issue Peter Krause shares art duties with Diego Barreto. Both artists turn in strong work here, with some intense battle scenes alongside equally-tense emotional confrontations.
But I have to admit, despite the continued quality and craftmanship on display here, I can feel my interest starting to wane. I can only read so many stories about "Tony" being brutal and vicious before I start to lose interest - and frankly, most of the "heroes" are turning out to be not particularly admirable, either.
There are still mysteries to uncover, and characters to define - but it's hard to find a sympathetic character in here to hang with. Villains are fun because they do all the terrible things we'd never do in the real world (sort of the equivalent of playing "Grand Theft Auto") - but you can't exactly take their side, either.
As a friend once said, I prefer stories about heroes who actually act like heroes. Not much of that in evidence here.
Grade: B-
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