It’s not easy being dull, bland and all powerful.
What They Say:
Abby and Mark are a typical couple. At least, that’s what Abby thinks. Unknown to her, her boyfriend is not just an accountant, but also the super-powered crime-fighter, the Crusader. And, tonight, Mark’s going to let her in on the secret.
The Review:
As we’ve seen since the start of the series, Love & Capes definitely riffs off some of the usual fan complaints about how Superman is with bits of Mark’s personality as the Crusader. With him being a ten year veteran, one of the big respected guys with a lot of power, skill and ability, he’s also the butt of many jokes and little interest from the next generation of kids growing up. While he does an immense amount of good, often with ease, he’s viewed as dull and uninteresting because of his power set and so forth. What’s made it worse for him over the years is that it seems like everyone else in the Liberty League has had a movie made about them and even some of the other up and comers have it happening, which we see in the opening bit involving the Arachnerd. Of course, Mark knows most of the truth about the guy so he’s frustrated that the movie got so much of it wrong, not really understanding why.
That frustration comes out a lot in this book as he tries to do things to take his mind off of it all, such as the family picnic with Abby and her family. That’s not an easy feat though since her brother is a real tool and he has to hide so much of himself from everyone while being roundly mocked by said brother. There are cute moments to it though and some of the road trip there aspects are definitely fun, especially as he power-reads his way through a lot of books. This plays into something that Abby is up to in this issue in that she’s trying out for the role of Viola in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and that has the two of them spending a lot of time together so she can practice. The realization that he’s basically acted out an alternate identity all these years makes her understand how invaluable his notes can be. It’s good to have the two of them working together towards her goals, which hasn’t happened too often so far, as it reinforces that he is a good guy and that she really does understand it.
The main focus overall though is on Mark’s problems with Arachnerd, which stem from the lack of respect he gets in general. It’s a fun approach to take and it’s one that definitely helps to humanize him a bit more so that we know he’s not infallible. It does get to be a little much at a couple of points in time, but there is a larger reason behind it as well that becomes the end point of the issue. Mark’s career as the Crusader has been a big one to the lives of many people, but there’s just a lot of gags played to it at this point since he has been doing it for ten years. It’s been fun having that part play out, but I hope that we’ll see him get a bit more respect and adulation, tempered adulation, as the book goes on though to try and balance things out. And even a movie deal. I’d love to see the fun of that unfold.
Release Notes:
This comiXology edition of Love & Capes comes with the main cover as released with the print edition and no other extras.
In Summary:
Love & Capes returns its focus on the main pair here after a Charlotte heavy issue last time around and it even drills it down a bit further so that it’s mostly about Mark as Crusader. We get some good stuff with Abby and again see that she’s still a bit easily emotional and uncertain of herself but that she also finds a lot of her balance in life when it comes to Mark. There’s some cute bits mixed in about others, from Charlotte to Darkblade, but also some continued ribbing and grin and bear it moments between Abby and Amazonia that continues to amuse me. After four installments, the series definitely hasn’t lost its charm, but this one just feels a bit weaker and less defined overall, even though there is an end goal within it that plays out well.
Grade: B
Readers Rating: [ratings]
