Phil Briones

Yet another superhero universe gets launched, this one by Humanoids Publishing, which I think means all the artists will be European?

This teen superhero group, the Ignited, have their powers "ignited" by the stress of a mass shooting at their high school in Phoenix, Arizona. As false-flag conspiracy theories, plans to arm teachers, and an impending second amendment rally riddled with Neo-Nazis swirl around them, the student survivors realize their powers may enable them to fight back, control the narrative, and change the world. Grown-ups just consider them antifa terrorists.

Messages from survivors of real school shootings are included in the back of the book as a sort of endorsement, but I wonder about whether tackling school shootings in this manner is bold or crosses the line of good taste. But there is a long history of comic book heroes coming out of real conflicts, wars, and tragedies, so this isn't without precedent. Unfortunately, the script and art are much too bland to really do much justice to the timely subject matter.

And, ridiculously, to show how cool they are, all the superhero codenames begin with "@": @viral, @wave, @mashup, @paperdoll, @terror. That's pretty @dumb.

Anyhow, I might give a second volume a look, but I won't be actively seeking it out.

For those that care: there is much swearing, with an f-word here and an s-word there, here an ass there a hole, everywhere a motherf-uh-oh. Old Mark Waid has gone to town, oh my, oh my soul.… (mehr)