Bin Fodder: Hero Squared Part 3

The countdown reaches its penultimate week!  I want to thank the great team here at 8DaysAGeek for not only giving me the opportunity to bring my comics love to the masses but also inspiring me to bring it with everything I’ve got.  We have a great group of writers on this site; if I’m the only thing you read you should take a few extra minutes and check out the other articles.

 

That being said, welcome to my review of the third and final installment of Boom Studios’ comic Hero Squared entitled Love and Death.

I find it hard not to give a ton away during many of these reviews because it seems like the best way to show those who haven’t read the title just what they’ve been missing.  But in this volume I will give nothing away.  It’s just too good.  To give away an insight or a touching moment would steal your right to experience it for yourself.

 

So what can I tell you about Love and Death?  I’m glad you asked that exceedingly rhetorical question.

 

First, as titles go this one is about as ‘on the nose’ as they come.  Second, there’s a genuine character quality to Watson’s art in this volume.  That’s not to say it was lacking previously; here it just leaps off the page at you.  He has a way of using rain to magnify and intensify scenes like a director would in a movie.  He really proves to any detractors out there why he was added to this project.

In an exciting twist the Captain Valor Corps make an appearance.  They are explored more deeply in the spin-off title, Planetary Brigade.  In a laughably delightful moment the first member of the corps we see resembles Disney’s Goofy character.

 

Milo and Captain Valor realize a great many things in this volume and not in that “it’s the last story so of course they learn a few lessons” kind of way.  Giffen and Dematteis strive through meticulous dialogue to give an appearance of not really wanting you to care about the characters but giving you no option but to do so.  I’m sure that sounds confusing, but it’s absolutely true.  They will write a line of dialogue that makes you want to cry and the very next moment insert a fart joke.  Masterful.

 

What’s this story really about?  It’s about love, loss, pain, redemption, laughter, consolation, barriers, friendship and reconciliation.  That’s enough platitudes to make anyone sick, but they’re all in there.  Oh, and super powers, can’t forget the super powers.  And time travel too.

 

Ok, well, I can feel myself starting to bubble over with desire to release the telling-too-much troll so with this I shall sign off.  I hope you have enjoyed this review of Hero Squared.  Next week will be the 25th edition of Bin Fodder and I will be kicking off the revamped style with an amazing book.  In a taste of some of the changes to come I’ve included a playlist of songs I listened to while reading this book/writing this review.  Enjoy!

 

This is your Bin Fodder Guru Tim Blacksmith signing off.

 

Playlist: Dashboard Confessional – “You Have Stolen My Heart,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Maps,” Jimmy Eat World – “Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues,” Play Radio Play – “Compliment Each Other Like Colors,” Live – “Insomnia” and “The Hole in the Universe,” Owl City – “Meteor Shower,” J.R. Richards – “June Becomes July,” Nada Surf – “Inside of Love,” The Format – “If Work Permits.”

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