Comic review-The Superannuated Man #4: Deviation from the norm

Written by: Ted McKeever
Art by: Ted McKeever
Published by: Image Comics
Release Date: November 5th 2014



I stopped reading many of my long-time favourite Marvel and DC superhero books out of apathy, out of the growing realisation that they were beginning to flow over me. Week by week I was reading my Avengers and Batman books, but they were having less and less impact, culminating in a point where I could read the book, put it down, and forget about it entirely.

Was the art any good? Was the story any good? Were the themes topical? Did I enjoy it? Did it say anything about the world? When the answer wasn’t a clear no, it was a middling, indifferent empty (as the kids say) ‘whatever.’

So I stopped reading them.

Today the only mainstream superhero book that I am still reading on a regular basis is Green Lantern, specifically the ‘Godhead’ arc. I do it to keep in touch with that old feeling. The feeling I had when I didn’t think about what I was reading, I just read it, enjoying the feel of it.

Those days are long gone. I think about what I’m reading these days, and what I get from mainstream comic books is production line apathy. I get compliance, a lack of questioning, a going with the flow for selfish careerism. There is regurgitation of old ideas, a lack of connectivity to a changed world, no imagination, and no deviation from the norms of what is expected from a good little neo-liberal consumer slave in 2014.

I can’t read books like that anymore, but I try to stay in touch.

The Green Lantern Godhead arc has been okay so far. It’s average, sometimes horrible (as it is this week in Green Lantern #36) but I know what I’ll get. So when I read a comic book that is in a completely different league, an excellent book like ‘The Superannuated Man’ I’m immediately reminded of why I stopped reading so many average comic books in the first place.

Why read average when excellent is available at the same price? Why read about government agents saving the planet from stale villains that have been around for so long that they have lost all relevance in this post 9/11 world? To keep in touch with happy old memories I guess. That’s why I buy the occasional Marvel and DC book. I know it’s going to be average, not worth my time, but it contains a childhood memory, and if I consume an extremely small dose of their ignorant statism, corporate compliance, apathy and unit shifter product it's not so bad.

Plus, it makes me appreciate quality books like this one so much more. The Superannuated Man #4 is not just better than your average Batman or Green Lantern book. To even compare the two would be like comparing a CIA produced Hollywood movie to the greatest works of Italian neo-realist cinema. Zero Dark Thirty compared to Bicycle Thieves would be an apt comparison. It’s ridiculous to even go there at all, so I won’t.

Sometimes you don’t appreciate just how delicious the freshly made cheesy mushroom, pepper and onion encrusted pizza is until you have spent a month eating bland tinned soup, and so the wheels of the comic book industry continue to turn. Average tinned blandness dominates, but delicious cheesy excellence is there, if you want it.

Rating: 9/10