Comics / Comic Reviews / More Comics

One Shot for the Week of September 12th 2012


By Troy-Jeffrey Allen
September 14, 2012 - 22:10

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The saying used to go, "You don't spit on Superman's cape." Over the last few decades, however, contemporary comic artists and writers (mostly from the spandex-minimal Europe and Britain) have taken joy in degrading super-powered icons. From Alan Moore's seminal Watchmen to Garth Ennis' relentless The Boys, deconstructing the superhero has become all too common. So what makes C-Listers' superteam of philanderers any different?

In a world that deliberately falls somewhere between the DCU and the Marvel Universe, sits the "C-Listers," a trio of super-powered individuals who wear their sexual predilections on their bullet-proof gauntlets.

Riddled with guilt over cheating on his wife with Indestructogirl, Lieutenant Lightning finds himself seeking counsel from other members of the team. Unfortunately for him, Lightning's relationship advisors consist of the over-sexed Gear Man (think Tony Stark) and the sexually frustrated hulk known as The Manticore. The three swap some scandalous stories of super-sex, turning a much needed marriage-counseling into a series of humorous and humiliating anecdotes.

Written by Jon Jeebus with art by Mervyn McKoy, most of C-Listers takes place at a table with the guys just talking shop. Despite that, it is to McKoy's credit that the book never comes off as an endless series of talking heads. Amusingly, the artist pencils the conversations with the type of exaggerated perspectives usually reserved for action. Meanwhile, Jeebus keeps the chit chat concise, never dragging on or selling the characters’ dialogue short.

But what does C-Listers offer that is different from other "postmodern" takes on the genre? Well, quite simply, it seems to actually like superheroes. Jeebus' script may outline the sexier side of masked men and women, but it never uses the locker room humor simply as a tool to punish them for being crusaders. As impressive as Watchmen and the like may be, their depictions of violence and sex sometimes feels like an excuse to gleefully devalue the concept of the traditional hero. Since then, similar postmodern interpretations tend to make their good guys so flawed that I often found myself questioning whether they were at all different from the bad guys.

Jeebus takes more of a situational comedy approach to C-Listers, treating the heroes' off-hours like an episode of Coupling by way of The Avengers. This amicable approach is what links the post-modern superhero to the traditional ones. Distinctively, it allows C-Listers to poke fun without being cruel.

(I actually picked up C-Listers at Baltimore Comic Con in "Artist Alley." While you can't get it at your LCS, you can purchase it online for a helluva lot cheaper than any title from the big three. Check it out. It's only $1.00 for a PDF.)

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Rating: 8 /10


Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12

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