Ben Edlund created the Tick and the zany, super-hero satire world in which he existed. Now imagine what it might have been like had Alan Moore created the character. That's the sort of feel I got from reading David Yurkovich's super-hero sendup, Less Than Heroes (not to be confused with a recent small-press comic book release entitled Less Than Hero). The characters -- heroes and villains alike -- are as goofy as those one would find in one of Edlund's stories, but there's a dark, cynical edge to one aspect of the story here that also successfuly incorporates a sense of the cosmic and mysterious. In terms of art, though the artist's figures are somewhat crude at times, there's an inventive use of perspective and shadow to achieve some gripping visuals.
The Threshold is the resident super-hero team of Philadelphia, and its members do a decent job of protecting their city. The Threshold is seen as a group of second-rate super-heroes, though, but fortunately, their enemies aren't as nasty as those who plague larger centres. However, the villains of New York, unable to overcome the power and prowess of the New York Super-Hero Syndicate, set their sights on the easier pickings of Philly. Meanwhile, a government conspiracy is on the verge of being exposed to the world, as an incredibly powerful and perhaps immortal being escapes from a secret lab and wanders toward -- you guessed it -- Philadelphia.
Yorkovich's hero and villain designs are, for the most part, rather simple, and that makes sense. He's commenting on all super-heroes here, not just the weird new ones he's created for this book. What's most striking about the art, though, is the dark and mature atmosphere that's to be found throughout the book. That mood and the panel layouts put me in mind of J.H. Williams's work on Promethea.
Yurkovich's quick little one-liners are a lot of fun. From the heroes' complaints about the Red Silhouette's window damage to the snobbery of the New York heroes, the writer had me smiling from cover to cover.
The greatest strength of this book is the dichotomy that permeates the entire volume. Yurkovich plays it straight and serious all the way through, and it works surprisingly well. He fosters some real tension here, especially when it comes to the Lightning Man's story and the death and destruction that always seems to follow him. I'm also pleased with the complexity of the storytelling here. There are multiple plotlines running through the book. A large cast demonstrates just how ambitious Yurkovich is. However, the graphic novel remains quite accessible.
