Four Panel Folly Comic museings.

Best Comic I Read This Week: The Incredibles #1

Adaptation, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Incredibles. Those are my three favorite movies.

Peter David, Kurt Busiek, and Mark Waid. Those are my three favorite comic book writers.

Now, I will never deny that a Royal Tenenbaums miniseries written by Peter David might just be the coolest thing ever. Nor will I ever rag on the idea of Kurt Busiek putting his pen to a work of fiction inspired by Adaptation. But when you focus the beam of pure, unbridled joy for all things super heroes which emits from Mark Waid's heavenly face towards a new ongoing series for The Incredibles, I'm gonna pee my pants a little. I wasn't even wearing pants. I put them on so I could do the appropriate response. Then I promptly took them back off. Because of said response.

I was a little worried this title would break the family of super heros up to do their own solo adventures, or maybe just feel too much like a team-book. Thankfully, Waid is writing them as a family first and The Incredibles second. Also thankfully, the plot feels very much like the movie.

The plot focus on a mentioned-off-hand-so-it-must-have-happened continuity of an alien virus. The virus has now infected Jack-Jack despite the rest of the family's apparent immunity. This use of a plot point which occurred before the events of the film helps the world the Incredibles family inhabits appear bigger and more active.

Now it is time to nit-pick, which is my right as a super fan of The Incredibles and as a jerk with a blog.

To start with: I'm still worried.

There is something about this issue, either how the plot is structured or all the new characters tossed into these 22 pages, that suggests maybe Waid is trying to write this title for kids. The Incredibles IS part of BOOM!'s kids line of comics, so that is perfectly understandable. Regardless, I'm scared the dude's trying to be something he's not. Or something he always was.

Waid's writing has never been bloody, gruesome, or in any way “not for kids”. It's writing like his which the industry needs more of because of its accessibility and richness. It's writing like his which will bring in new readers and keep comic book fandom from becoming another clubhouse which will die once its finite number of members does. The idea of Waid trying to write in a manner which does not come naturally for him has me worried.

Also, the art is iffy at best. Ramanda Kamarga handles the day to day stuff of the family decently, but the second super powers come into the mix the pages start to look very second rate. Sometimes the action displayed in the panels felt unnatural. I would have to look twice just to be sure I understood what had occurred. I like Kamarga's style for this title, but I want it to be consistently as good as it is on the first two pages.

I love Mark Waid. I love The Incredibles. This title is a natural for me. I was excited while reading it and I'm excited for the next issue. I'm willing to accompany it through some growing pains and if you are too I'm sure Waid won't let us down.

What I learned today: Buying a dozen donuts is an impromptu decision you'll regret for days. It's the most economical mistake.