Irredeemable (Mark Waid)

I was surprised when I searched for this and didn't find anything.

In short, Irredeemable is Beware the Superman taken... its the bloody trope picture.

The world's greatest hero, The Plutonian, begins a quest of extreme genocide, and his former team, The Paradigm, must hunt down his past in order to figure out his weaknesses, if any.

I have a question for anybody that has read this series. There is a spin-off known as Incorruptible, which focuses on a supervillain, Max Damage, witnessing The Plutonian's rampage.

Does anybody know at what point, or issue, of Irredeemable that I should start reading Incorruptible? Do the two stories coalesce, or can Incorruptible be read independently? I'm up to Issue 5 in Irredeemable, and from what I've gleaned from Wikipedia, I want to start Incorruptible around Irredeemable #9, or Volume 2.

edited 28th Aug '13 6:35:45 AM by FOFD

Just got around to reading it. Couldn't stop until the end. The story does a good job of pacing the suspense, and is especially at Bait the Dog and Yank the Dog's Chain. The ending, however, was weak as all Hell. And the Planet Hulk-slash-Dantes Inferno arc was ridiculous.

i've read the first few issues.

it has an interesting hook, though the art is just ok.

edited 27th Jun '15 8:15:45 AM by wehrmacht

Oh, come on, the art is decent and does its job. I've seen comics contemporary to that that looked like utter crap.

I especially love the Slasher Grin and Psychotic Smirk on the Plutonian every time he seems to have convinced someone to give him a shot, while fully intending to do something horrible to them. And the art also does a great job of making him seem open and trustworthy and accessible and magnificent in his Superhero days.

i probably sounded harsher than i meant to. i'm not saying the art is BAD, mind you, i just don't find it a high point for the book. waid's ideas are what make it worth reading.

edited 27th Jun '15 8:16:53 AM by wehrmacht

I liked that arc. Telekinetic masochist. Time paradox-creating punches. The memory-absorbing shapeshifting. All ideas I hadn't seen before at least. The twist with the time paradoxes was neat.

What? There weren't any paradoxes! It was just time travel. As for being punched across space-time, I forward Gurren Lagann.

Lots of Diabolus ex Machina in this story, isn't there? Lots of cruel twists.

edited 28th Jun '15 12:47:09 AM by TheHandle

I am currently reading this comic right now and I am really amazed with this. We take our heroes psychology for granted, The Plutonian is Superman but without any of his maturity and depth but you could also make the same argument for any of the charaters. One example I can think of is Hornet(?) who was Batman if he wasn't a paranoid individual who didn't trust anyone and was a bit more idealisitic.

edited 2nd Jul '15 10:26:31 PM by GAP

Actually this story, especially after reading Incorruptible, has given me a new appreciation for The Metropolitan Man.

There, Luthor is a heartless sociopath who is also a philanthropist... sort of. He's... Pragmatic Villainy and Properly Paranoid, taken to the logical extreme. When Superman appears, Luthor very soon decides that he needs him dead, not because of jealousy (at least, there's no indication that this is what moves him) but out of the cold-hearted calculation that, even if there were a very small chance of Superman going Plutonian, the horrible consequences of that eventuality are so immense that, regardless of how well-intentioned Superman were be, humanity can't afford the risk of him existing.

The fic also takes the time to show Superman being clumsy, awkward and immature, in a way that is initially very frightening. But he soon outgrows his Silver Age-ish antics, because he's actually genuinely trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. More importantly, he's thoughtful, caring, humble, open to criticism, and ready to learn.

Then Superman's moral evolution reaches the point where he decides he can't be a Small Steps Hero, and tries to recruit Luthor to be his human advisor and help him make the most good out of his powers, even if it involves, say, waving his arms up and down generating electricity for a few decades.

In the process of attempting that, he triggers one of Luthor's Crazy-Prepared kryptonite traps that he never ever expected having to use, and Luthor walks up to the weakened Superman and simply shoots him dead. In the face of Lois Lane's accusations, Luthor calmly affirms that his actions were a net good. She storms off, disgusted. The End.

So, yeah, after reading Irredeemable, if I didn't have the benefit of a narrator's omniscient POV, I find it very understandable not to give someone like Superman the benefit of the doubt...

Lex Luthor is pragmatic sociopath? That story sounds dark but in an interesting way. Still, I wonder what would the psychological effects would be if he did went rogue?

He's so pragmatic, he makes a point not to taunt, provoke, or antagonise Supes in any way, but to instead pretend to be his biggest fan.

The psychological effects on whom?

edited 3rd Jul '15 1:39:56 AM by TheHandle

Everyone else but mostly Superman. Superman is much mature emotionally than the Plutonian and the Sentry to an extent.

Lex would be smart enough not anatagonize Supes and may even include him in his plans.

edited 6th Jul '15 1:31:53 AM by GAP