The lives and loves of a handful of 20-somethings converge with a telekinetic superhero, a mind-controlling supervillain and a secret society of dentists in Less Than Hero.
Randy:
It's a common story in self-published efforts that creators turn in one finished issue and then disappear, leaving readers with an interesting premise that ends up going nowhere. Less Than Hero shouldn't have that problem, because although it was just solicited in Previews, the creators already have three finished issues ready to go.
Don:
This book reads like it was originally crafted as a pitch to Marvel. There's a strong Dr. Strange revamp riff at play here, both visually and conceptually. The creators have done an excellent job of crafting a fully realized continuity of their own, though, but what they need to work on is clarity in the storytelling.
Less Than Hero #1-3
written by Jason McNamara
illustrated by Tony Talbert
published by Polite Stranger Press
Don:
A revered mystical hero passes onto another life, another plane of existence, and his family mourns him. Meanwhile, his power seems to pass on as well... to a young guy with an attitude and a love of the spotlight. He becomes the Punk, a magical urban jester who arrives on the scene just in time to become a hero. The city has been plagued by robberies committed by the Sleeper, a villain who controls sleeping citizens to do his dirty work for him.
Randy:
There are some stories that you read and think "Well, that's just damned odd." Sometimes, it's really funny as well, sometimes incomprehensible, sometimes it's just trying too hard to be weird. Less Than Hero encompasses all of that, reading to me something like a cross between Madman, The Tick and The Filth, full of high-concept weirdness, surprisingly well-developed albeit unusual characters and some concepts that are both highly weird and highly entertaining. This self-published effort is very much a mixed bag, but each issue kept me absolutely riveted to find out what was going to happen next.
Don:
You left out one other clear creative influence: Marvel's Dr. Strange, or to be more specific, Steve Ditko's Dr. Strange. The surrealism found in this book isn't just modern in tone, a la Allred or Morrison storytelling. The Stan Lee/Ditko Strange stories of the 1960s were completely bizarre as well, due in great part to the artist's distinct vision.
Randy:
Less Than Hero is an odd comic in that it doesn't have a clear protagonist. In order to maintain a mystery about the identity of "The Punk," the "superhero" of the series, McNamara gives equal time to about half a dozen characters. The upshot of this is that the series, by issue three, has about six or seven well-developed characters, all of whom have interesting lives and stories that I'd like to follow further. The downside is that in developing so many stories, I sometimes had a little trouble remembering who was who. This is much less a problem if you stick with the book and get to know them, but a casual read of the first issue might leave the average reader a bit confused about what the hell was going on.
Don:
Clarity is a major problem with this series, though I don't think the blame falls entirely at the feet of the complex plot or pacing. It's certainly a factor, but the wordiness of the book doesn't help matters either. The dense script gets in the way of the art, and the lettering is sometimes clumsy. For some reason, I found the backwards Ns to be particularly jarring and distracting. Furthermore, the art is more than a little cramped, and it's crying out for colors to help distinguish among the characters and to make cleaner transitions between scenes.
Randy:
This is a book that rewards paying attention. When you do, the whole tapestry of story that McNamara has come up with becomes quite clear here. He's not just telling a story of a superhero fighting a supervillain, although his supervillain, The Sleeper, is one of the most fascinating characters in the book, with a very unusual supervillain power and a depraved personality grounded in believable motivations. He's also not just throwing in personal subplots as an aside to the superhero stuff. The focus of this story is on Harry's battle with illness, Brett's attempts to eke out a show business career and the trials and tribulations of Jessica and Mark and their relationship. That one of these characters is The Punk and also has to deal with random psychotics and cultists is just a further element to the story.
Don:
I didn't get nearly as much out of the characters as you did. I didn't find any of them particularly likeable, to tell the truth. I get that the writer is trying to foster a sense of mystery here by including so many characters who could be the Punk, but the result is clutter, not suspense. I think this book could have worked far better with a greater sense of focus with a smaller cast of characters.
Randy:
Tony Talbert, like McNamara, is someone who is clearly talented but who could also use a little more refinement. Just as McNamara could really use some paring down of his plots and characters to make things more accessible, Talbert could lose some of the detail on his pages that tends to overcrowd them. It's rare to see a beginning artist who has put too much detail into his work rather than not enough, but Talbert's panels are sometimes so full of characters and background elements that what's going on in the foreground is lost in a sea of activity. For the most part, however, Talbert's stuff is very strong, with exceptionally well-designed characters, beautiful attention to real details like buildings, bikes and clothes and a generally polished style.
Don:
On the density of the art, we agree, but Talbert's art was my favorite aspect of the book. The reason: one can see his love for the comic art of yesteryear shine through clearly in his work. Clearly, the Ditko influence is the most dominant here, but I also detected a hint of Frank Thorne's style here, and that of John Buscema. I get the feeling Talbert's a fan of Keith Giffen's earlier work as well. I also loved the EC Comics feel to the cover of the second issue.
Overall, I'd say there's a lot to like in Less Than Hero. Its greatest strength is the same as its greatest liability, and that's its ambitious nature. The creators were clearly aiming for something different yet nostalgic, but that may have bitten off a bit more than they could chew.
For more information about Less Than Hero and Polite Strangers Press, visit PoliteStrangers.com.
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