Grounded #1

Let me start by saying I really liked the first issue of this book and highly recommend it to everyone. But there were some flaws -- in my opinion, of course -- and I’m going to discuss them, as well as the good stuff, in detail in this review. If you haven’t read the book -- and I’m betting many of you haven’t -- you may want to stop reading now, because I’m going to give away major plot points. And I’m going to ramble. Which, as my wife will tell you, is my superpower. That, and procrastination.

In the first 20 or so pages we’re introduced to Jonathan, who could have been you or me as kids. He loves comics. He doesn’t read them, he absorbs them; he lives them and he firmly believes superheroes exist and that comics are the conduit by which normal folk learn of their super exploits. And he believes that he has superpowers, or that he will - he just needs to find the right path to them. Because many of us remember this stage of our childhood so well, Jonathan’s efforts to find his powers are the strength of the book. You may not have gone to his lengths but you know damn well you at least put on a cape and tried to jump off the roof. C’mon, admit it. Author Mark Sable and Artist Paul Azaceta capture that youthful optimism perfectly. Jonathan never waivers or doubts the fact that he will be a superhero. If you don’t believe it then he’ll happily demonstrate what he unabashedly aspires to, homemade costume and all. For Jonathan, superheroes exist, period.

And now here’s a little twist: in GROUNDED, superheroes do exist. In fact, Jonathan soon discovers that he is the son of Apollo, one of the mightiest of them. And yet, Jonathan has no powers, he’s grounded. But, thanks to a little indiscretion on his father’s part, blowing his family’s cover, he now has to move to a new school where he alone is without powers. But I’m getting ahead of myself. If you’ve already read the issue, check out a preview of #2 here. This appears to be the intended premise of the series. How does a non-powered (I hesitate to say “normal”) kid handle himself amongst a school full of superpowered kids? If  handled properly this has promise, although in the short run there will be inevitable comparisons to Disney’s soon to be released SKY HIGH. The good news? There’s almost no way the comparison will be negative. (I’ve seen the SKY HIGH trailer twice, but I feel like I’ve seen the movie four times. Pretty scary considering it opens Friday. The words “derivative”, “uninspired”, and “predictable” come quickly to mind.) Over the long haul Sable will have to be careful not to get too derivative himself and avoid getting caught up in the whole teen-angst territory. Unless that's his intent, in which case he'll have lost me as a reader anyway.

Now for the quibbles. The problem with a terrific book like this is that any perceived flaws stand out like Jessica Simpson at a MENSA meeting. The biggest one for me was Jonathan’s reaction to catching his Dad cheating on his Mom. (“Big deal. Every kid’s parents have affairs.”) This seemed a little too pat and Hollywood a reaction, but it’s fairly clear this book will be only distally about the parental relationships. The other problem is with all the various superheroes (and villains) depicted. Some nice variations on the standard archetypes show that Sable has given this some thought, but there are a number of heroes that are carbon copies of established heroes, making it difficult to discern if he’s aiming for originality or deconstruction. This will probably work itself out, but for whatever reason it bothered me. Maybe it’s just Sable’s tribute to the superhero genre; check out Jonathan’s school:

Remind you of anything?

How about this:

There are lots of these little homage’s throughout the book. It’s a fanboy’s dream.

GROUNDED is intelligent. (This is not surprising. Sable has a B.A. in English from Duke, an M.F.A. from NYU and a Judicial Doctorate from USC. He may not be the most educated man in comics, but he’s in the team picture.) And the art, detailed but muted, with wonderfully complementary coloring, captures the feel of the script quite well. You'll like this, go forth and buy.

Comments

[Zilla]

i only read the first paragraph of your review (on your advice) - but i love YOUR superpower. it's very similar to mine as a matter of fact.

[Pers N. Grata]

Hi Kurt: Enjoyed the review- I'll be picking this up tomorrow when I go out to buy DC's Sacrifice/Omac crossover. Yes, I'm a sucker.

I thought I'd draw your attention to this:

http://jadedfanboy.blogspot.com/2005/08/do-superfriends-hang-out-in-cincinnati.html

which I posted at my site after reading your review.

Cheers!

[Mark Sable]

Thanks for the review, Kurt.

I think your criticisms have merit. It's a fine line between an archetype/homage and, well, copying. Hopefully, as the series go on characters that appear to be "carbon copies" will distinguish themselves.

I am definitely not aiming to be derivative or wallow in teen angst with this book. I'll be interested to hear what you think, good or bad, when later issues come out.

I'm going to refrain from talking about Sky High for legal reasons (the law degree has to count for something).

Just out of curiosity, who are the more educated people in comics? I know that Brad Meltzer went to Columbia law school. Other than that it seems like there are a lot of brilliant auto-didacts out there (although I think that the British public education system or their culture in general lends itself to more literate writers).

Mark Sable
writer/creator
GROUNDED

[Kurt]

Mark,

Glad to hear you're not pursuing the teen angst angle - I suspected as much. From the preview you’ve posted for issue two I'm sure I'll have favorable things to say.

You're asking the wrong person about who the more educated people in comics are, but if there are any others with multiple advanced degrees I’d love to know about them. Anyone else with knowledge on this feel free to chime in.

I will say that the overall IQ of comics in general seems to be trending up and I attribute that to the writers. As more and more smart, literate folks realize they can reach an appreciative audience through comics, I think we’ll see more people like yourself getting involved on the creative side. That can only be a good thing.

Sadly, I think you’re right about the British public education system. Just don’t mention it to my wife the teacher.