Kinetic

by Warren Pleece

Tom Morrell is a sickly and disabled ultra-loser facing the daily hell of high school. Worse yet, his sole means of emotional support is his loving but smothering mother who fears hell drop dead at any moment. And the worst part isshes right. Toms only escape is the super-heroic exploits of Kinetic, his favorite comic-book hero. But unbeknownst to Tom, hes got some powers of his own, and theyre going to change his lifeassuming they manifest themselves before Tom reaches the end of his rope and decides that life isnt worth living!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Wealhtheow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom is a teen with a number of health problems that force him to lead a physically straitened, often painful life. Then one day he gets super-strength.

This could easily have been the usual origin story we see for superheroes. But instead, Puckett gives us something far more nuanced. Tom's disabilities are part of him and his identity, not just a problem to be overcome. He's not sure what to do with his new power, and is frightened that it makes his darker impulses so easy to fulfill. He struggles with his crush on a new girl, torn between thinking about her in a sexual way and feeling guilty for looking at her that way without her knowledge. His relationship with his mother is fantastic--I could immediately tell that they love each other, but there's tension there because he's trying to grow up and she's spent so much of her life devoted to protecting him. She's a character in her own right, with issues aside from his new superpowers, which I appreciated. Their conversations felt totally real to me.

The art could be better, but the characters are fairly recognizable from one page to the next, and it never pulls back from showing the less pretty aspects of Tom's disabilities. It's realistic--everyone looks like actual humans, instead of the wasp-waists and skin-tight clothes most artists rely on.

I was surprised at how good this was. Puckett is one of the few writers working today in comics giving us something beside the usual able-bodied straight white male protagonists (I'm thinking of Cassandra Cain as Bat-girl here) and telling stories that aren't the same ones we've seen in comics for the last 50 years. And he does it well. I look forward to reading more by him!

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can see what they were attempting with this - a marriage of indie comic sensibilities with traditional superhero type stuff. Theoretically, the type of thing that's right up my alley, but in practice I found it kind of joyless - the problem with giving a character who's a bit of an ass superpowers is that, well, he's still a bit of an ass.

One thing I absolutely loved about this, though, was the colour palette they used throughout the series.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Allen Heinberg, best known for writing for The O.C. and Sex and the City, has a "co-creator" credit for Kinetic, and it reads like Seth Cohen's story on steroids. Not only is our hero Tom a loser, he's sickly and diseased (he can't even raise his right hand). Not only does he read comic books, he gets mysterious superpowers. Not only does he pine after an unattainable girl, he mildly stalks her.
Unfortunately, Kinetic lacks the "Ryan Atwood" grounding element. Tom only interacts with two people throughout the story: his blonde love interest and his overly-concerned mom. His lonely, terse running monologue gets a little tiring.
While the story feels a bit played, Warren Pleece's art, aided by colors that blend grays with pastel-like watercolors, is amazing. The storytelling is decompressed enough to let Pleece nail all the emotional moments.

[AN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far too short lived for the story to go anywhere, but a concept that had potential. The ending is abrupt and very little character development occurs.

[Varun Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing superhero story that illustrates mental health struggles

[Eric Klee · Rating 4 out of 5]

KINETIC was originally released by DC Comics as an eight-issue series in 2004. The story still holds up, though, years later. The story focused on Tom Morell, a high school boy suffering from a combination of medical conditions such as hemophilia, diabetes, muscular dystrophy and others. His life at school was characterized by constant mockery and abuse, and his home life consisted of his overly protective mother who feared that he could die at any moment. As an escape from his normal life, Tom immersed himself in the adventures of his favorite comic book superhero, Kinetic. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like this was touched on as well as it should have been in the series. I didn't feel Tom's connection to this comic book character or his longing for his superpowers of his very own. Instead, out of nowhere, Tom suddenly manifests his own superpowers, and the majority of what follows focused on his reactions to this sudden change and the testing of his limits.

Because the story was told mostly through dialogue-less panels, the entire series/story was an extremely quick read. I enjoyed it for the most part, especially Tom's interactions with his irritating mother, as he slowly comes to realize how much she truly loves him. He remembers past instances as a younger child when they were very happy together. I felt him grower fonder of his mother, but sadly the series ended too quickly for this to reach full fruition.

I don't think we can fully blame DC Comics' cancellation of the series on the incomplete ending, though. The writer started out the series with a bang and then toward the last few issues kind of wandered a bit aimlessly, losing sight of the goal. I didn't feel as invested in Tom or his relationships toward the end. As for the art, it was very good and worked well with this story.

I think these types of stories and characters are what's missing from a lot of today's superhero comics. They've lost their character development and personal interactions for the sake of (another, sigh...) battle sequence.

[Gloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

From Booklist Online (recommendation).

Well, reading it and not knowing that it was a short-lived comic book series (eight issues) made it read as a two-star graphic novel. When I got to the end and saw eight different covers (for the different issues), I started to piece it together.

I am guessing that DC Comics decide to kill the series before it really got a chance to go somewhere--the ending was just too bizarre and abrupt. But I did appreciate the main character's development, and the hints of development of his mom's.

But overall, just okay.

Oh well.

[One Flew · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a comic that showed a lot of potential Kinetic was a bit of a swing and a miss. Some of the elements are phenomenal, the concepts work and the art is often complimentary. The main problem is that all said it was rather uninteresting, this was mainly due to the pacing of the series. A better writer could have condensed the entire volume into one or two comics, most of the book felt like empty space. My rating might be on the low side but I don't intend to keep this volume in my bookshelf because I know that it would never be re-read, which is a poor judgement of any book.

[Matt Mazenauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not like the art style, though I get it was trying to be plain and ugly. I guess. The story is pretty interesting until the last issue which drops the ball entirely.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disability loser-to-superhero graphic novel. It was alright.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weird. I'm sure kids somewhere think this is amazing - or maybe everyone doesn't get it. At least it was a fast read, and it sure is original.

[Rory · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fairly okay concept, but delivered in a way that's a bit too emo to be really enjoyable.