Written by Joe Hill and Jason Ciaramella
Illustrated by Zach HowardA line has been crossed. After years of failure, Eric has finally found something he’s good at, and is determined to let the world know. The follow-up to December’s critically acclaimed, quickly sold-out one-shot, this new miniseries is again written by Jason Ciaramella and Joe Hill, with art by Zach Howard and Nelson Daniel. Explore your dark side.
Everyone’s favorite superhero the Cape has returned to fight injustice and and save the day! But can our stalwart hero save the girl before –
…wait a minute. That’s not this book.
Hop after the cut to find out what this book is.
Last year’s Cape one-shot was probably one of the finest examples of a one-and-done story all year. Infinitely re-readable and indefinitely worth the money, the book told the story of a boy who grew up to barely be a man, whose childhood cape turned out to be much more magical than he could have ever initially dreamed. Upon losing his entire life in the midst of a few intertwined events, he found comfort in what was left of his childhood and found it led him down a very dark path. It was a meditation on boys who refuse to become men and the dangers that lurk in the shadows of our past in their ability to warp our world views.
So if the original Cape one-shot was a meditation to that end, the Cape’s first issue of his new mini is an immediate expansion on the same idea. Eric is back, a day or so after the original story and with even less remorse now than he had originally. Our new story actually finds Eric in a much darker place originally, finding himself estranged from his family by choice and in the midst of a criminal investigation. Seems like the perfect place for some more dastardly deeds, right?
Here’s the tricky part, though: the Cape #1 was an unexpected surprise of dark storytelling with an imaginative depth to it. Perhaps it’s the quality and hype created by the original, but the new story doesn’t live up to perceived expectation. At least, not in a truly noteworthy way. Where the original Cape story flowed easily from beginning to end (and ended up being one of the few comics to truly shock me), the follow-up seems less sleek. The story feels a bit more forced, and definitely more over-the-top in scope (the whole bear scene is more shocking in that it just seems to have come out of nowhere rather than it’s graphic nature). Suddenly the sneaky bleakness is replaced with a rather overt and insane nature, and the result – at least, for now – is far less poignant.
That’s not to say that the new Cape #1 (it’s hard to call it the Cape #1, because it’s really the Cape #2) isn’t good; it really is. The Cape is easily one of the best comics of the week, by far. It’s only when compared to itself that it falls in stature, but standing against the mass? Assuredly a must buy. I’m reminded of Irredeemable by Mark Waid when it first began, how it had taken a look at the fall of a superhero and compare it against a world that felt familiar but different. The Cape is the exact opposite; Eric never even took the opportunity to rise to the challenge of being a hero, and instead gave into his darker half as an excuse more than anything. The original aspect of the Cape’s meditation on how dark one man can be when given great power is certainly there, and the setting of it within a world that is ours is still the most interesting place for the story to rest. While the subject matter and questions asked aren’t entirely new, it’s the way that Ciaramella asks these questions with the help of Joe Hill’s world that makes the Cape such a worthwhile read.
All credit goes to Ciaramella for this. Joe Hill designed the world and gave the story it’s initial creation, but it’s Ciaramella who has brought the character and story to life. This element here is two-fold though, both in a positive and negative way. On the plus side, it’s clear that Ciaramella understands the themes of Joe Hill’s original story and has created a faithful adaptation of this. However, the latest issue pushes the story in a new direction with new consequences, and it’s there that I begin to get tentative. Perhaps my love of the original story is blinding me a tad, but while I’m convinced that Ciaramella understands the character and respects the ideas that the Cape presents, there are moments in this latest issue that make me fear he may just be using this as an excuse to have some good old fashioned carnage wrought in the life of Eric’s loved ones. That’s not explicitly a bad thing as I mentioned earlier, but it would be a step away from the original tale certainly.
Continued belowZach Howard has certainly improved greatly between the original one-shot and this, however. The original one-shot displayed Eric as a slacker, or an every day run-of-the-mill type. The new story refines the design, and now Eric is a much more sullen figure, clearly overweight and unlovable, which makes his “fall from grace” (if it can even be called that) much more visually elegant. Eric has the look of a punk superhero when he is really anything but, and it’s the interior art that really nails the point home. Howard’s characters are much more defined now, fleshing out the world that Eric lives in and making the entire story more believable throughout. His sharp lines also keep the reader on edge, giving even the stories more unbelievable moments a realistic vibe that keeps the books tone and mood in sync with the original one-shot.
While I will keep my final judgements on the entire endeavor on hold for now, I still have high hopes for the rest of the book.It really depends on how it all plays out through the rest of the mini-series. Depending where it ends up, the new mini will either enhance the story or it will drown it in a lost cause. I’m being pessimistic and assuming the worst at this point, but my lowering my own expectations could certainly help the rest of the mini read much better in my eyes. Either way, I’m incredibly excited to have a new issue of the Cape, so for that we thank you.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Browse, leaning towards buy – ESPECIALLY if you bought the original one-shot
