Hero Squared: Love & Death #1

Hero squared #1

by J.M. DeMatteis

Written by Joe Abraham, J.M. DeMatteis. It's the return of Captain Valor, his parallel-world alter-ego, Milo, and at least one homicidal ex-girlfriend! DeMatteis' and Abraham's geeeenius super-hero series Hero Squared is back for a three-issue finale that will leave you gobsmacked!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction

Comic

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Also Credited As:
DeMatteis, John Marc
Ellis, Michael
Lombego, Wally

Bio:
J.M. DeMatteis was a professional musician/singer and rock music journalist before entering comics in the late 70's.

Credits include Spider-Man, Moonshadow, Brooklyn Dreams, Justice League, Abadazad, Hero Squared, the Life and Times of Savior 28.

Created I, Vampire , Creature Commandos, Moonshadow, Hero Squared (co-creator), Abadazad, Stardust Kid, Savior 28 and more.

Reviews

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una rescatable parodia del comic de superhérores que no se aleja mucho del género parodiado en sí. Hay partes donde no se distingue bien si es una historieta netamente paródica o un comic de superhéroes de verdad con partes graciosas. Los personajes son predecibles pero no por eso están mal logrados. La historia se va armando en torno a una lucha épica que todavía no llega, pero resulta interesante igual, y dan ganas de leerse el siguiente tomo para ver cómo sigue la cosa. En cuanto al dibujo, en su gran mayoría está a cargo del prolijo y vistoso Joe Abraham, que despliega una puesta de página funcional y dota a sus personajes de una gama de expresiones que suman puntos a la jocosidad general. En resumen, un comic recomendable (más si se consigue a 15$) que espero que repunte en los dos tomos que quedan.

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elokuvista kiinnostunut tyhjäntoimittaja Milo elää melko tavanomaista elämää tyttöystävänsä Stephien kanssa, kunnes eräänä päivänä heidän elämäänsä saapuvat rinnakkaisuniversumissa elävät kaksoisolentovastineensa, supersankari Kapteeni Valor ja tämän arkkivihollinen Lordi Caliginous. Ja siitäpä seuraakin tuhoa ja hävitystä, mutta myös jonkinmoinen neliödraama.

Keith Giffenin ja J.M. di Matteisin "Hero Squared - vol. 1" (Boom! Studios, 2007) sekoittaa yhteen supersankariparodiaa ja sitcom-henkistä ihmissuhdesaippuaa. Sarjakuvassa piisaa dialogia, jopa siinä määrin, että sitä on vähän raskasta lukea.

Sarjakuva on tarinansa puolesta ihan kelvollinen, mutta taidepuoli ei saa aikaiseksi suurempia riemunkiljahduksia.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one a bit better than Planetary Brigade. While in some ways a sequel to that series, this stands alone pretty well.
Imagine being the most powerful superhero in the world, and watching that world destroyed by your arch-nemesis. Instead of dying, you are flung into an alternate world, one in which there are no superheroes. In fact, your alter-ego exists in this world as well...but never gained super-powers, because he's a slacker who ditched school on the day he would have received them on a field trip.
The alter-ego of his nemesis is also here, and also very different...
The story, as both versions of both this central character and his nemesis interact, is very interesting.

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Giffen/DeMatteis JL books, but this doesn't quite work. It's horribly overwritten with the dialogue practically squeezing the characters our of some panels. And while the banter starts out funny, it grows old as the characters cover the same ground again and again. Not bad, but should have been better.

[Eskana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure why the description is in Spanish... but here you go:

Plot: This story focuses on a superhero called Captain Valor, whose whole world was destroyed an all-powerful evil lord, also his ex-girlfriend. Instead of dying, Valor is sent to another reality, where he meets Milo, another version of himself who is a slacker. Basically, "comedy" then ensues as Milo and Valor try to get along, and then of course the evil overlord shows up... who looks identical to Milo's faithful girlfriend. So we get a lot of comedy of errors, basically.

Review: This wasn't bad, it just didn't feel like anything hugely special to me. The concept is okay, but I didn't get anything out of the execution. Giffen is obviously doing his classic JLI banter here, and it works to an extent, but I almost feel like this story is a vehicle, like an old-school musical, made to show off a particular skill rather than actually tell a story. And I say that as a fan of the JLI characters (although, granted, I did sometimes find their banter pretty childish and annoying. Even Batman made jokes in that series!)
The art also isn't anything special; it's just okay. Unless you are a die-hard fan of Giffen or are interested in this concept in general, I would say it's not especially worth the search it will take you to find it, but then again, it's more or less harmless fun. Don't go looking for anything too deep, and you'll probably have fun.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as funny as Giffen and DeMatteis' past collaborations, but they were starting to show some of the heart underneath the characters, so I might be back for Vol. 2. No matter how funny JLI was, it worked because the humor flowed from the characters and you believed Blue Beetle, J'Onn J'Onzz and Max Lord as characters.

I don't quite believe the Hero Squared cast yet - and the jokes alone (although occasionally funny) too often verge on tired old superhero parody jokes.

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real candidate for 3.5 stars. Nothing new or earth-shattering, but good old comfort food DeMatteis-Giffen-style, and compelling enough to make me read the next one if I can find it.

[Daryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giffen & DeMatteis, rightly or wrongly, are best known for their humorous comics work, mostly on the JLA titles, and those titles are prominently mentioned in the promo material and blurbs on this graphic novel collection. However, the JLA stuff worked mostly because they took familiar, generally ultra-serious characters (like Batman and Green Lantern) and turned them into fodder for jokes and silly situations. (And it didn't work all that well, as their JLA was occasionally chuckle-inducing but never really laugh-out-loud funny.) Hero Squared tells the story of a Superman-archetype named Captain Valor (he even has a Batman-esque associate called the Grim Knight), whose world, and entire universe, is destroyed, and he finds himself in the next universe over, a world much like our own, without super-heroes, super-villains, or aliens, pursued by his arch-enemy who (maybe) was responsible for his world's destruction. His doppelganger on this world is a slacker filmmaker who spends most of his time playing video games. Hilarity should ensue, but it doesn't. The book is extremely dialogue-heavy, and even when the dialogue tries to be funny, it isn't. And the situations tend to be a bit too grim to lend themselves to much humor. I picked this one up (along with its two sequels) from Boom's sale; here's hoping the other volumes improve on the concept.