As the world’s only superhero, Alpha One is an icon of hope to all mankind...but at what price? While the population is inspired from a distance by their savior, police captain Gabriel Cole has gotten close enough to discover the mystery behind Alpha One’s public origin; and that his twisted plans to create a utopia are more dangerous than anyone could dream! This MIGHTY edition collects all twelve issues of the acclaimed series, three rare eight-page stories and a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes sketches and script.
* From Peter Tomasi (Blood tree, Light Brigade, House of Penance, The Bridge), Keith Champagne (The Switch, Daybreak!, Frank N. Stein), Chris Samnee (Firepower, Daredevil), and Peter Snejbjerg (B.P.R.D.) with a new cover by Dave Johnson!
Peter J. Tomasi is an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics, such as Batman And Robin; Superman; Super Sons; Batman: Detective Comics; Green Lantern Corps; and Superman/Wonder Woman; as well as Batman: Arkham Knight; Brightest Day; Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors; Nightwing; Black Adam, and many more.
In the course of his staff career at DC Comics, Tomasi served as a group editor and ushered in new eras for Batman, Green Lantern, and the JSA, along with a host of special projects like Kingdom Come.
He is also the author of the creator-owned titles House Of Penance with artist Ian Bertram; Light Brigade with artist Peter Snejbjerg; The Mighty with Keith Champagne and Chris Samnee; and the critically acclaimed epic graphic novel The Bridge: How The Roeblings Connected Brooklyn To New York, illustrated by Sara DuVall and published by Abrams ComicArts.
In 2018 New York Times best-selling author Tomasi received the Inkpot Award for achievement in comics.
Set in a world where Alpha One has been the world's only super hero since the fifties. The series focuses on Alpha One's Jimmy Olsen as he learns the lengths his mentor will go to to create a utopia. Yes, this has been done before but this is done well.
A decent "But what if Supermanan just LOOKED like a good guy and was really a BAD guy?" story that doesn't do enough with its premise and takes a long time getting to the climactic moment we all know is coming. Not enough surprises.
Ironically, I read this because Peter J. Tomasi has written some great Superman comics.
Thoroughly enjoyed The Mighty. Writer Peter Tomasi takes his time to set up and tell an interesting story. The concept is simple: What if the world's only superbeing is not really a very nice person? If we expect someone to save "us" (the human race) are we perhaps also setting ourselves up for a certain type of exploitation? Tomasi's Superman is Alpha-One, and he is as American as apple pie. Or so it appears...or is there something more sinister going on? Horrifying mayhem and of all stripes ensues. How do you resist a force of nature? Is a supreme being really worthy of our (hero) worship if he is immoral? Does might make right? Sure there are various stories with this theme out there but this one is really good.
The real hero of this story is not the one with powers, but the everyman, and that makes this enjoyable for me. Also a wonderful depiction of a loving marriage. The art is great though can be surprisingly violent at times. I picked this up because of the creators and I’m not disappointed.
This series asks the question "what if a Superman-type hero went bad?", and while it's hardly the first story to explore this idea (Injustice: Gods Among Us, Invincible), this one tackled it in the most interesting way I've read so far. A friend of mine loaned me this, and a quick flip through the pages to skim the art didn't do anything to spur my interest, but once I dove into the story I quickly found myself sucked in, eager to learn what happens next.
The story is mainly told from the perspective of the newly-appointed head of the token law enforcement division that acts as liaison to the world's only superhero. As Captain Gabriel Cole gets closer to the hero he's looked up to his entire life, he begins to learn things that cause him to question Alpha One's character, and whether humanity really should be putting so much trust into him. To say more would spoil things, but the relationship between this regular human and superhero is very compelling and evolves in interesting ways as the story unfolds.
Peter Snejbjerg's art is competent if not a little bland in the first third of the book (I prefer his art for Vertigo-type stories rather than superheroes), but he left at that point and I found his replacement artist Chris Samnee's work to be a little more interesting. The character designs (all set up by Snejbjerg) are fairly boring though--generic white blonde cop guy is married to generic white blonde lady, while Alpha One is basically Superman in a dull monochrome costume. None of the art is bad--it's just not that exciting to look at. I didn't find myself getting sucked into the artwork the same way I did the story.
Definitely worth a read if you can borrow it from a friend or your local library.
There are two things Tomasi understands that so many writers who've tried the 'what if superman was evil?' simply don't. Two things that save this work and make it really great. I'm sure getting to work on Superman outside of this helped a lot. Firstly, he understands that evil Superman isn't a novel concept and so a work has to stand on its own outside of that (in this case, a damn good detective story). He understands that the key to Superman is that its not the powers but the man himself, so evil Superman has to be a profoundly different person in important. Bonus points for the great art, that evokes the early Superman comics and cartoons.
Троп зі злим Суперменом є одним із найбільш перевикористаних сюжетів в коміксах. Серед відомих представників цього тропу ми маємо таких персонажів як Гоумландер із "The Boys", Омнімен із "Invincible", Гіперіон із "Squadron Supreme" та сам Супермен з всесвіту Інджастіс. Багатьох авторів хлібом не годуй дай тільки написати таку історію, у того ж Марка Вейда за плечами є одразу два представники у вигляді Аксіома та Плутоніанина (серії про яких я обов'язково колись розберу), хоча здавалося, що він не є великим шанувальником історій такого типу. Однак сьогодні мова не про нього, сьогодні поговоримо про серію "The Mighty". Цей комікс зацікавив мене через, те що одним із сценаристів є Пітер Томасі, який писав дуже класний онґоїнґ Супермена у відродженні. Тож давайте дізнаємося, чи вдалося йому написати, щось варте уваги чи ні.
Наш герой, Ґабріель Коул, працює в поліцейському департаменті який є підконтрольний єдиному супергероєві у світі Альфа Один. Однак коли помираючий начальник Коула з'являється на порозі нашого героя, йому доводиться стати тимчасовим керівником поліцейського департаменту та напряму працювати з Альфою.
Взагалі серію можна розділити на три частини. У перших чотирьох номерах сценаристи, Пітер Томасі та Кіт Чампаґне, знайомлять нас з персонажами. Ми дізнаємося про життя Коула, що його пов'язує з Альфа Один, бачимо його перші кроки в ролі начальника й зародження його робочих та дружніх стосунків з супергероєм. І це моя улюблена частина коміксу, мене дуже порадувало, що автори вирішили приділити цьому стільки номерів, а не одразу гнати вибудовувати розслідування та таємницю навколо Альфи. Певні натяки на те, що щось не так звісно є, але їх спокійно можна списати на випадковості. Взагалі мені ці номери настільки сподобалися, що я б з радістю читав комікс тільки про те як ці двоє співпрацюють разом.
Друга частина відбувається в номерах з 5 по 8 у ній Коул розуміє, що щось не так і починає своє розслідування. З мінусів, мабуть, виділю, що перехід до недовіри вийшов дещо різким, але в усьому іншому серія все ще непогано тримається й починає нарощувати напругу.
У номерах з 9-12 у нас уже все переходить до прямої конфронтації. І на мою думку це найслабша частина коміксу. Тут ми й дізнаємося про справжнє походження Альфа Один та його плани, а також отримуємо декілька нелогічних рішень з його боку. З того, що мені сподобалося можу назвати сцену коли Коул приходить до свого помічника і як вона паралелить сцену з початку.
Щодо малюнку то тут все досить непогано. Перші чотири номери малював Пітер Снеджбджерґ після чого його замінив Кріс Семні. Обидва художники досить добре впоралися зі своєю роботою, плюс у них стилі досить подібні тому зміна вийшла досить органічною.
Загалом "The Mighty" вийшов хорошою й на початку дуже приємною серією. Плюс враховуючи кінцівку то я навіть був би не проти побачити який небудь сиквел. Раджу прочитати.
Peter Snejbjerg is a longtime favorite artist but it's so rare to find his work. When I saw this book I had to have it, even though most of the art is by Chris Samnee. Samnee is another favorite artist but a more recent discovery and thankfully a more prolific one. So yeah, the art is pretty great throughout and it's not jarring to go from one artist to the other: they hang well together.
I'm a long time fan and read of Tomasi. He's done some brilliant work at DC. Some of their best books of the past 20+ years have had his name on them. I was very interested in reading an indy title from Tomasi. Perhaps I've read indie stuff from him before but nothing is coming immediately to mind.
With this book is all too familiar set up of the Superman figure who's not all that he appears to be. It's fairly well done but works since this one have probably surpassed it, either in pure shock value or in quality of the story. But I would say the art in this volume can't be beat and is worth the time to value the strong lines and perfect layouts.
Well, this series sure caught me by surprise. The first issues were full-on gimmicks and I kept thinking: we're will the conflict start? But it's a slow creep; small hints littered here and there. You read something that doesn't make sense and you figure the series got a bad writer and pass over it. But something still feels off. And then in start trick down. And you find that Alpha One is not what he seems to be. really well executed. The first few issues we're really emotional, I really liked how you bonded with the characters. The small cast really helps to keep the story focused and I 12 issues is exactly the length the story needed to unfold
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Alpha One is the world's only superhero and is an icon of hope; however, a police captain named Gabriel Cole comes to the realization that the utopia Alpha One wants is far more radical than anyone suspects. Tomasi does a great job of playing with the tropes of superheroes and our preconceptions of Superman, who's all about truth, justice, and the American way. Read it; you will not be disappointed.
A great story of a different take on a Superman-like character. I was hooked to the climax. I was all ready to give it 5 stars… and then the denouement let me down. I didn’t believe that’s what the characters would choose to do.
Stories like this have been done before and will be done again but Peter Tomasi crafts a marvelous tale that even drifts into a horror story. The rise and fall of Alpha One is so much fun to witness and begs to be touched upon again. Seeing Alpha's facade crumble and trying to piece together where its going is a great ride. Art by Snejberg and Samnee was great and perfectly suited to the title. Overall, an amazing title that doesn't get enough acclaim.
A solidly entertaining entry in the small but intriguing subgenre of stories about omnipotent superheroes who go bad. All the better because two-thirds of it is illustrated by the amazing Chris Samnee.
Good read. Fun spin on the superman mythos. I liked it. But seriously two writers could not Google 1 Corinthians 13 so as to not misquote it? Hmmm but anyway a fun read!