Written by Mark Waid
Drawn by Horacio Domingues
The secrets of Jailbait revealed! Where does she come from? How did she end up with Max Damage? And what will her tombstone say? Max Damage is about to learn a lesson and his path to redemption may very well be paved in blood! This is the issue that all your friends will be talking about! Covers by Dennis Calero and Rafael Alberquerque.
Follow behind the cut for my thoughts on the issue.
Here’s the thing: I love Irredeemable, and Incorruptible is fun, but I am confused. This is the second issue promising some kind of origin to Jailbait’s story, and either I am absolutely clueless or something but this is the second time that the origin has not been presented. I’m not sure I understand really, because they don’t explain where some comes from at all. I flipped through the previous issue to make sure I wasn’t completely clueless, but this issue just furthers the story as Max Damage goes on to save her from one of the villains still loose in the city. So: what origin?
That aside, this was a good issue. This was the first time we had actually gotten to see Max Damage really be a hero, and step up to the plate with his new role as the protector in the Plutonian’s absence. In fact, the way he goes about proving he’s a hero is pretty awesome too. It’s a very cleverly written scene by Waid in which, for just a moment, it seems that everything is on the line until the twist comes. Maybe it was just the music I happened to be listening to at the time (the Battlestar Galactica season 4 soundtrack by Bear McCreary), but I found the whole ordeal to be incredibly intense.
I still don’t really enjoy Domingues’ art, though. That was my major complaint last issue and is still the one thing I don’t really care for here. It doesn’t really seem to fit the tones of the series or the events. It’s a tad bit cartoony and reminds me a lot of Humberto Ramos, and not really in a positive way. I feel like for a book about a villain turning good, we need someone whose art is much smoother and rigid, dark and foreboding. Incorruptible’s art, in comparison to previous issues, just doesn’t really match up.
I’m really enjoying the world Waid is crafting with these two books. Irredeemable is the stronger book so far, but Incorruptible is a great companion title. There is an interesting set of twists at the end of the issue that loan itself to how the future will play out for this book, and I really enjoy it. While I wish the book did more to focus on the Plutonian from an outside stand point, Max Damage and the world he lives in makes for a good enough read that I still recommend the series. It offers up an interesting look at the world around Irredeemable and helps to flesh out the mythos, that’s for sure, and for that alone it gets a thumbs up from me.
Final Verdict: 7.6 – Buy
