Customer Reviews

Love and Capes, Vol. 1

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I first saw this series, I have to admit... I was a little dismissive of it. All I saw was the subject of superheroes lives & thought "Oh, this is a ripoff of 'Noble Causes'", which made me suspicious of it. After all, there's a lot of people who have made their own versions of popular comics & characters. After reading only about 10 of the strips, I realized that I owed this strip a HUGE apology for not giving it more credit.

Love & Capes follows the daily life of the superhero Mark (the Crusader) & his girlfriend Abby after she is told Mark's biggest secret. She then finds that she has to deal with the mundane & exotic problems of dating a superhero. The plus side? Getting to jet to any location in the world for their date. The minus? Having to deal with her hair afterwards. (As well as having to put up with Mark's superhero ex-girlfriend.)

I really can't say how much I love this comic, although I will say that I think it's frakking awesome. It really does deserve more attention than what it gets now, since with all of the superhero movies & such that have come out, this is the perfect comic to read. It's especially good to give to that person that may not be into the whole Marvel & DC scene, but still likes the idea of reading about superheroes & their lives. The characters in this strip are much more human & easier to relate to than the heroes in Marvel & DC, so it's easier for the average reader to get into the comic.

Now as far as the art goes, I love it. This is one of my favorite styles out there & I like how the characters all interact with each other. I mean... sometimes when I've read some of the love interests in some of the more mainstream comics, the interactions seem a little forced. But with these comics? I can really see the affection & love between Mark & Abby- I can believe that they're actually a couple & that they work as a couple.

If you haven't picked this first volume up yet, do so. You won't be disappointed. Well... that's not entirely true. You'll be disappointed that the volumes & the webcomics aren't coming out fast enough!

Sometimes I've gotten on to good things late. I didn't start watching Buffy the Vampire slayer till season 7 (that's right the last season). I didn't start watching Gilmore Girls till season 2. I didn't start reading Harry Potter till the 3rd book was published. I didn't discover the Beach Boys till 1977. In other cases I've been ahead of the curve. I was one of the few that watched Firefly while it was on TV. I started reading Lisa Lutz's excellent Spellman Family series from the start. I was a fan of Aaron Sorkin from the start of Sports Night (and followed him to West Wing as well as Studio 60) There is a nice smugness to finding things from the start and watch everyone else find the magic. That has been the case with Love and Capes.

I was reading Thom Zahler's work from the start. I read his three Raider stories as well as his romantic story Long Distance (all available from Amazon by the way). All of them great stories and all of them very enjoyable however when I picked up the first issue of Love and Capes, I knew that this was going to be something totally different. I love Abby and Mark and I eagerly await the chance to read the latest chapter in their romantic journey. What's even nicer is that I like the supporting characters just as much as I do the two leads (in fact I think Thom should do a special one shot featuring stories starring the other characters from the book but I digress). The love story in Love and Capes makes me smile, makes me laugh and at times makes me tear up a little. It is one of my favorite books.

I mentioned how that it's nice to be at the start of something, well it's also nice to come to the party late. You get the thrill of discovering a new treasure and you are able to devour the new (to you) material at a wonderfully fast pace not waiting for the writer to produce a new book. If you haven't read Love and Capes this is your chance to read the first 6 issues of the story in one wonderful collection. Come on in, there is plenty of room on the Love and Capes bandwagon. I promise you will enjoy the journey.

Mark and his girlfriend Abby are a normal couple with normal ups and downs, except for one small difference: Mark is also the superhero Crusader. Needless to say, this adds some extra challenges to their dating life. Readers will love how down-to-earth, slice-of-life Love and Capes is. The stories are not complicated tales of good versus evil; they are simply stories about two people in love. Mark is everything that Superman isn't: confused, awkward, ordinary. Abby is Lois Lane, but softened. Instead of trying to survive in the rough and tumble world of journalism like Lois Lane, Abby owns a bookstore, so she is quite a bit more relaxed. There are the usual bunch of side characters that you would expect from a romantic comedy: Abby's judgmental sister; Mark's partner in fighting crime, Darkblade (a Batman stand-in, but with a sense of humor); and Amazonia, who is, of course, a Wonder Woman figure but is also--much to Abby's dismay--Mark's very well endowed ex-girlfriend who would be more than happy to reclaim her place by Mark's side.

Zahler's art is cheerful and colorful, the perfect fit for his warm-hearted story. Mark has the appropriately square-jawed face and Abby is pretty, but not so pretty as to be annoying, whereas Amazonia's beauty is much more in-your-face, appropriate for her pushy character. Zahler's panels are mostly just squares, but they fit the crisp, clean look of his art and keep the book easy on the eyes. Which is perfect, since this kind of romantic comedy should be a relaxing read. Readers don't need any knowledge of superheroes to enjoy the story, though if they have a rough idea who Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Spider-man are then they'll get the majority of the jokes. For readers looking for something different, who want a laugh or two, or who love romantic comedies, Love and Capes is a fun read and well worth the time.
-- Snow Wildsmith

This is a fun story about the relationships superheroes have between each other and regular people. I would recommend it to comic book fans, and even more to people who don't understand comic book fans.