Capes #1

Capes

by Robert Kirkman, Mark Englert (Artist)

“Find something you enjoy doing and then figure out a way to make money doing it.” When Bruce Bolt first heard those words he took them to heart, and set out to do just that... he's now teamed up with a group of like-minded individuals. What would you do if you woke up tomorrow with amazing and fantastic powers far beyond that of a mere mortal? I'd become a star football player, a famous boxer, or the world's fastest pizza delivery guy. I know this much for sure, there's NO WAY I would waste my time saving lives, helping people, and devoting all my time to the well being of others, unless there was something in it for me... and neither would these guys. THIS Meet the cast. There's the Meteor Twins, beings of immense power... as long as they stay within 20 feet of each other. Big Brain, the owner whose power dwarfs nearly everyone on the planet, but has trouble fitting his head through doors. The American Champion, who's loving wife, Freedom, spends most of her time loving other men. Then there's Bolt, the resident strong man, who today is stuck showing the new guy, Kid Thor, the ropes. The only problem is nobody is prepared for what happens next. Let's just hope they're done before five O'clock... the accountants are trying to cut back on overtime.

Genres: Comics

27 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 8, 2003

About the author

Robert Kirkman is an American comic book writer best known for his work on The Walking Dead, Invincible for Image Comics, as well as Ultimate X-Men and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series Haunt. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of the original co-founders of that publisher.

Robert Kirkman's first comic books were self-published under his own Funk-o-Tron label. Along with childhood friend Tony Moore, Kirkman created Battle Pope which was published in late 2001. Battle Pope ran for over 2 years along with other Funk-o-Tron published books such as InkPunks and Double Take.

In July of 2002, Robert's first work for another company began, with a 4-part SuperPatriot series for Image, along with Battle Pope backup story artist Cory Walker. Robert's creator-owned projects followed shortly thereafter, including Tech Jacket, Invincible and Walking Dead.

Reviews

[Whatslifeanyways · Rating 1 out of 5]

Invincible has been my one of my favs and i loved everything i read from kirkman until now. This pile of garbage was first released in 2003 whixh would have been okayish for then and redrawn (traced) for a 2025 remake that has the 2003 dialogues which aged horribly. İ don’t know how people were praising this series aside from a two three background parody characters pretty dul and boring.

[Lser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what rate to give it from 6 to 8 but about the comic(no spoilers obviously):
This is some mature-reader comic book based on the invincible universe. If you wish to read this along with the invincible universe as most current readers do, read this issue after the 6th issue of Invincible(2003), or at least before the 8th like me.
It has that kind of 2000s artwork that really seemed out of context, the story isn't pretty much, seems alright tough.

[Linda Laldinpuii · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just a 3 issues series. While it doesn't really delve into too much given the short length, it manages to weave an enjoyable story about a world where superheroes are an industry and a struggling industry at that. I won't go into too much details but I enjoyed reading what was there. Just go into it with average expectations.

[Cybernex007 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve never heard of this series before I saw this on the shelf at my LCS and recognized some of the characters from the show, only to find out after I picked it up that this is a revitalized series after it went out of print. How cool is that?! This is a very straight to the point series and it’s very enjoyable that way as it follows a lesser known corporate superhero group in the invincible universe known as capes incorporated. They have their own HQ in what looks like the ghostbusters building and they act like a normal corporation, with back pay for super hero work off the clock and shift schedules. We meet one of the titular legendary members of the group, bolt, whose origin revolves around being struck by lighting and getting powers as he defeats a villain of the week called medallion…it didn’t take a genius to figure out you need to take his medallion away, lol. His manager is one of the older members of the group known as commander capitalism, and even though with that name you can imagine the more conservative views this character has…bolt and him are friends outside of work as well. Bolt got into work a little late today due to the super villain incident and also found out he was accidentally late for new hire duty. He is showing a new employee, kid Thor, around today. Turns out his super great grandfather was a blacksmith who forged a hammer so powerful it replaced Thor’s hammer when it went missing. It was eventually recovered and the temp hammer was returned and bound to his bloodline to use. So he is just one in a line of superhero adventurers.

We also get to see a bit of the management side of the organization as the group was started and still run by a man named big brain, who as you can imagine has a big brain and telepathic powers. But the organization as of late is hitting tough times, they are reaching “legendary” status but that also means they are remembered well and not funded well. Times are different and they need to get more active in the public perception, a crisis event would really help. Suddenly the meeting with the boss is interrupted as a flaming half beaten super hero runs inside and collapses on the floor, all he can say is “we got him,” before passing out. Commander capitalism recognizes him immediately as captain cosmic…who’s been dead for more than 15 years!!

While getting the tour, kid thor is especially interested in another female superhero named knockout. With all the chaos of captain cosmic showing up the entire facility is thrown into an uproar, but once bolt learns about someone coming back from the dead he realizes he has been there and done that and can go ahead and head to his lunch break. Leaving kid Thor a chance to introduce himself to knockout. We don’t see what happens there but he doesn’t show back up later with a black eye so maybe it went okay. We also get a brief glimpse of a mysterious figure with flame powers in a dark warehouse coming for bolt. Hmmm.

As bolt and kid Thor go on patrol, the two made a few rookie mistakes in their conversation. They said the Q word: “quiet.” If you want it to stay that way you never say it, and with both of them saying it they shouldn’t be surprised that machine head came flying towards their car moments later! Suddenly titan, fully stoned up, comes flying their way as well finally ready to end machine head for all the times he screwed him over. Bolt knows titan and knows this isn’t him, but it is ultimately kid Thor’s hammer knocking away the stone protective covering of titan that ends the fight.

Back at HQ the boss gives a company meeting on the situation with captain cosmic as it is not looking good. He went missing fighting Chronopile, which is like a giant Egyptian themed time travel powered crocodile who killed a lot of the original members and who they believed captain cosmic died defeating. It’s clear now he was just thrown through time and it’s entirely possible Chronopile was as well, so they have to be on the lookout for this creature and be the upmost cautious around it. Bolt and kid Thor actually missed this meeting but they got the gist and if it shows up tonight it’s night shifts problem, lol. Speaking of office politics, it seems that one of married superheroes a very unclothed Claire voyant has a thing for the older members of the group. Especially the comet twins and especially when her husband is out of town…oof. Speaking of more night shift problems, there is a massive prison break going on as a super strong cyborg with a Nazi tattoo on his chest who hasn’t moved for years finally stood up and physically punched his way out of the prison leading to a huge prison break. But as bolt and commander capitalism are quick to point out as they share a home cooked meal compliments to Bolt’s wife, that’s the night shifts problem! LOL.

[Vikas · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOL, so it is set in the world of Invincible and Capes is a superheroes agency ok kind of Vought vibes from the boys but it was fun. Let's continue and see how does this series shape up.

I have always loved comics, and I hope that I will always love them. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics or Diamond Comics or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on the international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I can. I Love comics to the bits, may the comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly feels like a parody of both Marvel and DC.

[Myles Gerber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Random things kinda happen amidst a very loose “plot.”That being said, it’s tons of fun. Interested to see how this three issue remaster will evolve into an ongoing/maxi-series.

[Nolan McNulty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun with the corporate superheroes.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

2⭐. bleh, Mark Englert's character art is not my thing in this book