Project Superpowers: Hero Killers

Project Superpowers: Hero Killers #1-5

by Ryan Browne, Pete Woods (Artist), Matt Idelson (Editor)

Welcome to Libertyville U.S.A.! Home of too damn many superheroes!

Watch out, crime, here comes Captain Battle Jr.! And Sparky! And Tim! Yeah, you know...Tim! What? You’ve never heard of them? Huh. Well, it’s hard to be a sidekick when there is a city full of capes running around stopping every misdemeanor with a spandex wrapped flourish. Now watch as things get weird when three lad companions (totally not weird) try to get to the criminals before their bosses do!

From the insanity-riddled minds of Ryan Browne (God Hates Astronauts) and Pete Woods (Robin, Deadpool). Prepare to feel the wrath of Tim!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2018

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A more humorous and irreverent deconstruction of superheroes ala the Seven from The Boys. An even more inept superhero version of Reservoir Dogs if you will. The sidekicks are tired of being shunted aside by their mentors. Things melt down quickly after an encounter with Black Terror goes horribly and hilariously wrong. These sidekicks will get the respect they deserve even if they have to kill for it.

[Alex Sarll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ryan Browne brings the same reverence for superheroes which animated the hilarious God Hates Astronauts - which is to say, none whatsoever - to the Golden Age D-listers of Project Superpowers - a franchise that's become much more interesting since they ditched the attempt at an overall continuity led by dull classicist Alex Ross, and just let mean sods like Warren Ellis and Browne cut loose. The premise here derives from every scurrilous old joke about kid sidekicks as combination dogsbody, houseboy and human shield, and while that's not exactly new territory (cf Marshal Law, or Veitch's Bratpack), this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Because this time out, knowing they're not making a novel point, the creators can just go all out for laughs. Outrageous misbehaviour, stupid sound effects, and footnotes flogging a joke about lettering choices into the ground - they're all here, vaguely justified by a setting where one town has a serious surfeit of superheroes, and you sometimes have to break a rule or two to make a name for yourself, let alone get hold of the coveted key to the city. The art is by Pete Woods, meaning it's slightly more straight superheroic in look than God Hates Astronauts, but funny in a whole different way every time a supposed hero does something terrible. Which is most of the time. Puerile, but enormously fun. Though obviously not for everyone - if the notion of a mad scientist called Dr. Baron von Physics doesn't raise a smile, this may not be for you.

[Chinyimba Mando · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting deconstruction of the Superhero genre, the narrator is especially fun to listen to, and the story is nothing new it's interesting seeing it applied to superheroes. It reads a lot like the "Wanted" comics.