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Love and Capes #1-6
Maekkle Press |
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Rarely will you see me start a review with the words heartwarming and cute and have it end up a decidedly positive review. Unexpectedly, that's exactly how this review will begin and end.
I applaud Thomas Zahler's creativity with Love and Capes. He's pulled off something that isn't easy to do... A heartwarming, at times cute, humor based, superhero, slice of life drama that focuses on the life of the hero rather than the action sequences. It's essentially a story of romance with a solid heartbeat of humor that delivers, sometimes, a punch line a page. In this series, the combination of dating, relationships, crime-fighting capes and superhero lore really works.
In Love and Capes, the style of the art has a classic saturday morning cartoon feel. The pages are organized into a nice sequences that reminded me of a web comic's storytelling pace. Here it's taken smoothly into comic form and crafted with style.
Many of the pages frame out as mini-plots complete with individual punch lines yet every section advances a broader story that proves quite enjoyable. The humor is character and situation based and makes you smile (hence the heartwarming aspect) as well as laugh. The humor isn't forced as Zahler appears to have a gift for inter-character banter that I really enjoyed. Love and Capes gently pokes fun at many super-hero standards, but does it in a way that feel's like a send up to the genera rather than a series of "caped" stories pot shots. That target can be harder to hit which makes the story all the more fun.
Key to the tale are characters modeled after Superman (Crusader, the lead of the story), Batman (Darkblade), Spiderman (Arachnerd), Wonder Woman (Amazonia), Shazam (Major Might), Doctor Strange (Doctor Karma), Aquaman (Mermantis) and many others. Mixing with this cast of capes is Abby (Crusader's love interest) and Charlotte (her single sister).
The series benefits quite a bit from bringing established character concepts into the story. It dodges the need to explain the interplay between the characters and allows the reader to quickly jump into this Lois and Clark relationship without wasting time setting the stage. The world in which these heroes live is fully realized and the supporting cast proves significant to the story and enjoyable.
Abby's sister Charlotte serves as a great confidant with the story (quickly learning Crusader's secret identity) while Darkblade is the constant friend to Crusader giving the series a great Brave and the Bold Superman/Batman aspect I particularly enjoyed.
Longtime Marvel and DC readers will quickly appreciate the in jokes and references. Here, it doesn't feel like knock off jokes. There is a fresh and creative approach to the humor. There are certainly many fan boy references to catch, but the relationship remains the main driving force for the jokes.
Take for example in issue #5 when Crusade calls to tell Abby he's going to need Abby to pick up his folks at the airport. He does it via cell phone while in the grip of a five story behemoth called the"Kirbivore". Jack Kirby fans everywhere are certain to enjoy this sequence as the character pays homage to those classic monster stories of old. At the same time, it's his calm explanation that he's "kind of in the middle of something" and Abby's follow up "you don't think you'll be able to get free in time" that makes the joke for the sequence.
Little things like a snow globe which reminds the reader of the bottled city of Kandor or Doctor Karma (the story's Doctor Strange character) invoking the "distended digits of Ditko and the linguistic legerdemain of Lee" while casting a spell really should make comic fans chuckle. That said, a cosmic comic level of knowledge isn't needed to have fun with the book. It works on both levels.
Through the course of six issues, we get to see Abby discover her boyfriend is Crusader, work their way through the holidays, deal with Crusader's past love (Amazonia), enjoy a trip to Atlantis, balance saving the world with their relationship, deal with up and coming heroes, head off super villain blind dates and so very much more.
I found Zahler's series instantly comfortable, funny and refreshing. It was heartwarming and cute and had a lot of qualities I honestly enjoyed. From the retro look of the character to the care put into weaving the comic references to the situational comedy, this book is well worth checking out. It's humor is adult and all ages at the same time and well done start to finish. The title bills itself as :A Heroically Super Situation Comedy" and were it a televised situation comedy, I would classify it as must see tv.
Learn more about the series by visiting www.loveandcapes.com.
