Superior (graphic novel): 1 [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

The book is so good, I don't know where to start. For one, it's Mark Millar's homage to Superman, and a very smart one at that - there are references to comic books, movies and the whole super-phenomenon. It's also - like The Ultimates - a story for the new century, current and relevant to today's readers, not a repetition of old themes.

At the same time, it's a story about serious disease (sclerosis) and also about the temptations, we're faced with, the choices that we make and their consequences.

The hardcover is beautiful, masterfully put together. Just a great book!

There's maybe one chapter in the middle, that I felt was a bit to slow and made me put the book down and read it in two sittings instead of one, but now I know, that it was worth to finish it.

Simon Pooni was a regular kid once, captain of the school basketball team, until something life changing happened to him - he contracted multiple sclerosis. Confined to a wheelchair and barely able to use crutches his future looks bleak. That is until a space monkey appears out of nowhere and gives him superpowers! Gone is Simon Pooni, Superior is here!

In a twist on the body swapping premise made famous by "Big" and "Freaky Friday", a disabled boy finds himself with a new body that not only looks exactly like his favourite fictional superhero but can fly, has super strength, super speed, laser vision, the whole lot! Except the space monkey is not who he appears and Simon is about to realise the true cost of a wish fulfilled.

Mark Millar writes a great story most of us who read superhero comics have dreamt of - what would it be like to have superpowers? But more than showing the benefits of having someone like Superior in real life - stopping terrorism, averting natural disasters, saving millions of lives - Millar does a fine job of putting a disease that can afflict anyone, multiple sclerosis, in the spotlight.

One of the best lines in the book is when Simon becomes Superior and says something like "Looking back, I could fly, I had super strength, I could shoot lasers from my eyes, but when people ask me what I liked best about being a superhero?, it was being able to move my toes again". It's a heart-breaking snapshot of what people with MS must feel like every day. The tribute to Christopher Reeve at the back is touching too.

But enough touchy-feely stuff, has the book got the action superhero fans crave? Of course, it's Mark "Ultimates" Millar at the helm. Superior finds his own Lex Luthor (the book is a very thinly veiled riff on Superman) and huge battle scenes commence, skilfully drawn by Lenil Yu who did great work with Millar on their last collaboration, "Ultimate Avengers".

It's a really fun book to read but, in contrast to Millar's "Nemesis" which was out this time last year, "Superior" has a lot of heart to it and you find yourself rooting for Simon throughout. A great alternative take on superhero stories, "Superior" is an excellent read.

More lightweight than I had hoped from my initial leaf-through a few months back. There's a lot of possible emotional issues that could have confronted all the the main characters that were skimmed over or ignored completely but this allows the novel to retain its fast pace and plot progression. The concept is superb and is well handled and the wrap up is excellently done even if it's a little obvious with the exception of the twist for the character of Tad Scott whose stand out moment I had not expected at all and was truly great (and could have done with more screen time).

The art work is competent but the action scenes weren't completely clear and the artistic representation of women in the book is appalling (a preponderance of cleavage shots that aren't even that well done and a few physical impossibility/broken spine moments trying to get as many assets into frame as possible). The *writing* of the female characters is on a par with how the male characters are handled in that they lack some depth but are not 'weak' in any pronounced way and the art work unfortunately doesn't reflect this.

Despite it's flaws this book is a worthwhile read handling a slightly more complex issue than a straight forward superhero romp in a deft manner and maintaining fairly tight scripting and pacing throughout. Nice to see a solid plug for the multiple sclerosis society at the end though it would have been better still if it was placed before the commercial adverts.

4 out of 5