CROSSOVER

Summer Madness

RELEASED OUT NOW! Publisher Image Comics

Writer Donny Cates

Artist Geoff Shaw

Watchmen’s famous “last word on superheroes” was ultimately fatalistic, but this similarly definitive take is a more joyous celebration of the genre. The third issue even opens with a wry reference to the controversial conclusion to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s 1986 opus, which unexpectedly saw a giant squid devastatingly fall to Earth.

With all the fictional superheroes and villains revealed as being all too real, a comparable apocalypse occurs here after Colorado is caught up in a summer event – the Crossover of the title. With the supes imprisoned in a huge, impregnable dome, comic shops become the frontline of a violent backlash against the medium. Donny Cates has fun with well-worn tropes like “the chosen one”, as erstwhile religious zealot Ryan Lowe is tasked with tracking down cosplayer Ellie Howell, who in turn has befriended a mysterious young girl. A “fake”, the child’s superhuman nature is indicated by her pixelated skin, which Geoff Shaw and colourist Dee Cunniffe neatly depict with duotone.

With jokey asides about leading comic writers being MIA, there’s a danger of overdoing the meta-fiction here. The first three issues are packed full of allusions to well-known characters, with #4 promising an appearance by not only Michael Allred’s Madman but also a Tbc-at-time-of-writing popular hero. Considering the current ubiquity of superheroes on both the big and small screen, it’s odd that there’s no reference to their wider appeal beyond hardcore fans. Still, this is one event book you’ll want to get on board. Stephen Jewell

Comic shop boss Otto’s “Wertham Was Right” T-shirt is a nod to the author of Seduction Of The Innocent.