Image credit: Julio Brilha/Scout Comic
Have you ever thought about the manga “Kerpow!”? Anyone who is easygoing in any sense of the word will be dismissed almost immediately in this first issue. A vigilante (Midnight) wearing a Batman-like costume from this comic book world is brutally murdered in the opening scene, and the murderer’s son Jacob witnesses the death of the hero he had read about in the comics just before the incident.
It wasn’t until the classic ’80s story A Death in the Family that I thought about how reckless and stupid it would be for Batman to take a kid out on the streets of Gotham to take down criminals. There wasn’t. It really hit home when his second Robin, Jason Todd, was brutally murdered by the Joker in that story. Especially since I was about the same age as Todd at the time.
That’s poignant here too, as Midnight’s child sidekick Starling is also killed shortly after the older superhero.
Jacob’s father is a man who rose from a lowly gang to the city’s organized crime scene thanks to his care for Midnight and Starling, troublemakers in the city’s criminal factions.
Almost ten years later, Jacob has forgotten what happened and is doing his best to carve out a respectable and legitimate life for himself. But as the saying goes, he may be done with the past, but the past is not done with him.
Right from the shocking opening sequence, Kaapow! #1 is a manga that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and doesn’t let go for a while.
This piece is brilliantly written by creator and writer Tom Fyans. Despite the presence of costumed heroes, the tone is grounded and believable throughout. Julio Brilha’s art is also phenomenal, which again helps sell the realistic tone required for Fyans’ script. Similarly, the colors by Rod Fernandez, while not overly subdued, aren’t bold enough to take the reader into territory where more fantastical superhero comics often veer.
Then again, is this really a superhero comic? At best, this is a story about a costumed vigilante, but in reality it centers around a character trying his best to deal with his past, even though it haunts him in various ways. This is the story. It’s a great start, and despite its down-to-earth nature, it goes to some unexpected places (and we have no idea why or even how it takes a few turns). It’s a great cliffhanger and I’m very impressed with issue 2.
Car pow! #1 is available now directly from Scout Comic.
Thanks to Tom Fyans for providing a digital copy of Kerpow. #1 for review purposes.
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