Irresistible

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TPB:  Incorruptible Vol. 1
Writer:  Mark Waid
Artist: Jean Diaz
Price:  $16.99

Incorruptible is the companion book to Mark Waid’s Irredeemable.  While the Plutonian is a hero who has become a villain, Max Damage is a villain who is trying to be a hero.  Max’s origin story is more front-loaded than the Plutonian’s, allowing more of the story to take place in the present and seeming to give Incorruptible a more substantial feel than Irredeemable. 

Max Damage was a powered supervillian who became more and more invulnerable the longer he stayed awake.  Along with his underage sidekick, Jailbait, Max used to commit murder, robbery and terrorism with abandon.  However when the Plutonian showed up to Max’s last crime scene instead of stopping Max, he instead slaughtered 3.5 million innocent people – the majority of the inhabitants of a major city. 

Shaken to his very core, Max resolves to turn his life around and fight to stop the Plutonian in any way he can.  In the first trade, he seeks out the chief of police to try to mend his bridges with law enforcement and searches for a device which is rumored to be able to transport a person to a peaceful, parallel dimension.

The art is very reminiscent of Peter Krause’s work on Irredeemable and is excellent for all the same reasons.  Incorruptible has more of a sense of humor than its counterpart, mostly due to Jailbait’s antics and her reluctance to leave her lucrative life of crime behind her.  It’s not hard to see Max’s darker impulses, only hinted at here, becoming a major driving force in his character’s actions but also his undoing unless kept in check.

Incorruptible is a must-read for anyone who is reading Irredeemable.  Max Damage is as multifaceted a character as the Plutonian and his tale of redemption hopes to be at least as interesting as the Plutonian’s fall from grace. 

Final rating (out of 5):
5_Star

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