Review: Captain Stupendous

This graphic novel is one of the funniest send-ups of superhero comics I’ve read in a while, and it’s nicely gay-inclusive.
Captain Stupendous is a rather has-been superpowered womanizer who’s more interested in cruising techniques than in righting any wrongs. His ex-wife, the clairvoyant Ms Mind, is about to remarry to a mere unpowered mortal; his son Kid Liberty is discovering that he enjoys a bit too much ripping clothes off the taught, muscled bodies of supervillains; his daughter is a would-be nympho, and his other son, well, he can barely remember he has another son, since that one is also unpowered.

Kid Liberty, rather clueless

All along the book, writer Zach Weiner and artist Chris Jones walk a fine line between almost offensive jokes and pointed comedy, essentially making us laugh and making us a bit ashamed of having laughed at the same time. Or at least, that was my reaction to a lot of situations and dialogs. Case in point, Kid Liberty: the blond hero’s power isn’t his IQ, obviously, as he doesn’t twig that a women-less dancing bar might not be full of straight guys, and ends up bedding one of the patrons. This starts a chain of events that will lead him to make a life-changing choice (after protesting his straightness in an increasingly absurd manner), as his no-good father is trying to forget his ex-wife’s upcoming new wedding by spending time in a bar where cheap alcohol and cheaper women can be found–and where his innocent-looking sister finally meets a man to accompany her to the prom. The fact that the man is an avowed pedophile doesn’t seem to matter much to her or anybody else.

The great thing about the authors’ humor is that they manage to tell awfully funny jokes at the characters’ expense and all the while tell a story with actual, if excessive, characters who are given some core of feelings that enables us to relate to them, positively or negatively. Another example of the fact that the book is well-written is the way some funny, but seemingly meaningless routines pay off at some point of the book, such as the recurring joke about Kid Liberty’s almost not-there mustache, which in the best tradition of Superman’s glasses prevents everybody from recognizing him, or the mention of Sparrow Boy, a possibly gay sidekick (no points to readers who understand which “real” superhero that might refer to).

Most of the cast, minus the Captain

I’ve only talked about the writing so far, but Jones’s art is a big part of the successful balance between humor and real-life concerns, such as the influence of parents on their kids or people taking control of their lives—or not. His style can be described as cartoony, but in fact, it seems to me that he draws far more realistic people than a lot of mainstream superhero artists. His characters look like people one might meet in the street (well, with the exception of the Captain’s mates, the half-crab Maine Event or the living skull Mephisto, the ultimate bad boy who gets all the ladies), and I think that helps relating to characters who sometimes are complete morons. That, and it might enable people who don’t read superhero comics to enjoy the book more than if it was drawn by one of the more fashionable artists from Marvel or DC.

If you want to decide whether Captain Stupendous¹ is a book for you, you can read the main story online (there’s a short back-up added to the book) at the official site, but I’d definitely say, support the authors and buy the book. Under the guise of sometimes gross humor, these guys can write some engaging and believable characters, and they made me laugh out loud.