Masked
Edited
by Lou Anders
I
may not have read many superhero comics, but I nonetheless find the
concept of
powered individuals incredibly
intriguing and rife with possibilities. Masked
collects fifteen stories of superheroes and supervillains with a
pleasantly wide variety of styles, subjects, and, yes, superpowers.
Though the anthology is a bit uneven, as they tend to be, I
appreciated each author's attempt to reinvent a trope that often
seems to have worn out its room for originality and growth. The
originality never ceased to impress me, particularly in Bill
Willingham's "A to Z in the Ultimate Big Company Superhero
Universe (Villains Too)". Willingham brilliantly utilizes a
nursery rhyme structure
to introduce a roster of 26 alphabetically categorized super
characters, while
simultaneously
keeping his
story
moving at a fine clip. It is a silly conceit, to be sure, but the
format feels appropriate and functions as both a (gentle) skewering
of and love letter to the genre (which, to be fair, often relies on a
good deal of silliness in all of its formats). More serious, but
equally enjoyable, is Chris Roberson's "A Knight of Ghosts and
Shadows", which introduces The Wraith in an adventure with
thematic depth, written in a convincingly journalistic style that
befits its mid-1940s setting; I
only wish that I could read about more of his adventures.
Other stories achieve varying levels of success, but each author
offers an interesting take on the idea of the superhero, a draw that
makes Masked
as compelling as the very ideas it celebrates and thrives on.
Grade:
A-
No comments:
Post a Comment