By: Mark Millar (story), Frank Quitely (art), Peter Doherty (colors)
The Story: What these guys need is a father-son-uncle bonding road trip—without superpowers.
The Review: You know the main reason why I can’t stand reality shows? It’s not just the endless conflict, although as a non-confrontational sort of person, I do hate to see people at odds with each other. No, it’s how needless all that conflict really is. I can never watch a fight on one of those shows without thinking that people can get much further with their problems if they could stop taking them personally and address them with a little more diplomacy.
But that wouldn’t make very good entertainment, would it? Certainly the entire structure of Jupiter’s Legacy would fall apart if the main characters were even slightly more able to handle conflict appropriately.* This series basically runs on a fuel of family tension, the least changeable of all relationship drama. By this point, all the members of the Sampson family are so set in their hang-ups and prejudices of each other that any hope of reconciliation is nil.
Obviously, the venom between Sheldon and his son Brandon goes back a long time, sustained by deep flaws within their personalities. Brandon is unquestionably a screw-up (getting drunk then deciding to help others to stroke your own ego is impulsiveness, not altruism), but would rather deflect his mistakes by blaming his father for his lack of appreciation. Then again, Sheldon’s uncompromising rigidness leaves no room to appreciate anything that doesn’t fit within his conception of right and wrong, widening the gap between himself and his brother and children.
Again, however, no one comes out on the high road in this. Sheldon may be stubborn (“I refuse to even countenance the idea.”) and excessively authoritative (“Just get in there and do as you’re told.”), but he’s nonetheless the only person in the issue honest enough to admit to his own failings and openhearted enough to say “I love you” with sincerity. Walter and Brandon have plenty of good reasons to resent him, but their plan to circumvent him seems extreme and heartless, coming across more like a craven power grab than concern for the world.
In comparison, Chloe’s acts of rebellion are harmless deeds, though they come with even more dramatic implications. Romances between superheroes and supervillains aren’t exactly brand-new, nor are—spoiler alert—pregnancies from such attractions. But the purposefully secretive manner with which Chloe and her partner conduct their affair is an interesting, different spin on the usual hero-villain flings. What sets her and Hutch, the son of “the biggest supervillain of all time” apart from the other relationships in the series is their honesty, their ability to talk freely and candidly with each other, something even her own family lacks.
No one will ever accuse Quitely of drawing particularly beautiful figures; most of his characters tend to look a bit misshapen and sickly. It’s this very ungainly quality, however, that makes Quitely’s work seem so true to life. Brandon’s slightly malnourished appearance reflects the lack of nurturing care in his life while Chloe’s unflattering figure serves as a visual reminder of how she can never live up to the beauty and power of her mother. Doherty enhances the lifelike quality of the art even further by keeping colors muted, so that even the Utopian’s eye-catching scarlets and golds don’t seem too desperate for attention.
Conclusion: The issue derives its interest solely by sapping the maturity away from its characters, but they nonetheless speak, behave, and react appropriately to well-motivated tensions with each other.
Grade: B
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: * What if, for example, instead of berating his son and calling him a disgrace, Sheldon instead said something more to the effect of, “Look, Brandon—your intentions were good, but if you want to help people, you have to help those who want it. And you probably shouldn’t do it after drinking. C’mon—all’s well that ends well, so let’s you and I go home, have a long chat, then sleep this off.” Of course, few people would actually ever do that and even fewer would pay to see it.
Grade
Conclusion