Saturday Night Showcase: Impossible!

Action Age Comics is a rather fun collective of people who like their comics Bob Haney style, or to use the term I created, Finkleberging at it’s finest. It’s all about finding the strangest thing they can think of, and making it work in the story without taking you out of it going “what the slagging heck!”. Tonight I was hoping to bring you their latest masterpiece, Woman of ACTION, but it’s not done yet. Only the first part is up, with the next two to come over the next two weeks. So I need something to fill this space until I make sure it’s Showcase worthy. (So far, so good.) How about my favorite Action Age comic of all time! Sure. Tonight I bring you…

click to read tonight's Showcase

Alternately, you can download the comic in CBR format, a file type custom made for online comics, that you can view using a compatible program. Luckily, the online version is the same comic.

"Have a cup of tea. I'll be back with your body bags."

Impossible! is the story of Jon Raymond, a man born to be a super hero. Literally, his dad had him altered to be a super hero. That’s because of what happened to the last super hero, but I’ll make you read the comic to find out.

I’m not sure there are any deep philosophical questions, since I don’t think that’s really the Action Age’s style. However, it does bring a couple up, doesn’t it? Can we really escape our destinies? And what about the Blue Ribbon. Does he represent the fate of the “classic” super hero in a world where deconstructing the classic super hero has become the norm? (Thus not only missing the point of Watchmen and the like in favor of just having darker stories, but trying to convince us that they’re not trying to be like everyone else. When in fact that’s what everyone else is doing with the super hero genre these days.) That would be kind of ironic (I think–darn you, Morissette!), since super heroes forced the adventure heroes out of the picture long ago.

Never hire a Pokemon as your speech therapist!

Jon Raymond isn’t that classic super hero. He’s more of an adventurer, more along the lines of Doc Savage than Superman. And yet here is he being forced into the classic super hero mode, even without the cape. I miss the classic super hero.

The art by Chris Nye is beautiful. I’ve seen “professional” comics with art that isn’t nearly as good as this comic. The writing by Chad Bowers is fun yet dramatic. The action is action packed, the death scene really brings out the emotion, and it all matches properly. Between this and Danger Ace, which I reviewed back in the Free Comic Book Day reviews, I’m already a fan of his work at only two comics. Like most Action Age comics thus far (or at least the ones I’ve read or looked through), only the cover is color while the story in black and white. That doesn’t really hurt the comic, although I decided to take a shot at what the Blue Ribbon might look like in color, choosing bright colors as befits the classic super hero costume. Note that I threw it together in maybe 10-20 minutes, so it’s not exactly quality work.

Impossible! is a great read that I hope someday gets an offline print version. I would love to be able to show this off in my collection without having to turn on the computer. A second issue was recently announced, and while I wait there’s still Woman of ACTION to check out, and I encourage that.