By Kevin Juaire, David Campiti, Ronald Lim & Mike Witherby (Pied Piper Press)
No ISBN:
Less a recommendation, and more a cautionary tale for would-be publishing moguls, Hero Alliance materialised in the wake of “superhero realism†as defined by Watchmen and Marvelman/Miracleman, as an increasing number of creators attempted to rationalize fights ‘n’ tights sturm und drang with our plebian world of hemorrhoids, bad breath and fallen arches. As with so many of these enthusiastic and well-meaning homage/pastiches, a surfeit of lawyers and paucity of luck and determination derailed and ended a series with a great deal of potential before it really got started – although with over 25 assorted issues from three publishers, it got a lot further than most.
The story itself concerns an immortal Superman analogue dubbed Victor who has suffered debilitating guilt pangs since his arrogance and negligence allowed an arch enemy to murder his superhero team The Guardsmen. Now years later his own mentor Golden Guardsman has been murdered and splendid isolationism doesn’t seem that great an idea…
Approached by the Golden Guardsman’s daughter Kris he discovers that her brother murdered the aged hero stealing his helmet of power and going on a brutal rampage. Victor can no longer remain aloof and decides to establish a new band of heroes, giving them the mentoring and guidance they’ll need to survive in a hostile modern world…
Very much a generic take on a generic genre, there’s still an awful lot to enjoy in this slim tome (other than the costumes and hairdos – but I’ve lived through flared trousers and poodle perms twice so anything can be endured if you just try), with some intriguing ideas and a few clever twists of all the old set pieces – as you’d expect with an editor like Marvel veteran Roger McKenzie at he helm.
The art is more than competent and Lim and Witherby are assisted by Bart Sears, Rick J. Bryant, Craig Brasfield and Mark Pacella, which gives the tale a powerful aura of tension and drama. Cursed with troubled production, the series that spun off from this book had a lot going for it too, but was swamped in an avalanche of similar product that came out of that period’s self-publishing boom. Perhaps it’s time for a comprehensive collection – if everybody concerned has finally decided who owns what…
™ & © 1986 Kevin Juaire and David Campiti. All rights reserved.