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By Jason Bourgeois
I am totally justifying this next little review because it's an independent comic, and Independence Day is this month. That's way more reason than I usually have! I continue to avoid DC, not because I am burnt out on them, but simply because nothing is really noteworthy enough to talk about. Nothing is really all that bad, and nothing is really all that great either. There's a few exceptions, but they are few and far between.
So, instead, I continue to write about stuff from the smaller publishers for the time being. I turned my eyes this month to a publisher I've never read a single comic from, but it's still superheroes, and thus firmly within my wheelhouse. My superwheelhouse.
This month, I got my hands on the zero issue of Aspen Comics' Idolized. I heard about the book through the usual sources of comic press, and the idea of an American Idol style competition always sounds fun. True, this has been done before with books like Wildguard, and even the concurrently running America's Got Superpowers.
The difference with Idolized is that it focuses more on one character and her personal hero's journey, and less upon the competition.
The zero issue, as these things are supposed to do, lay things out pretty clearly. This is actually worthy of note, because a lot of these jumping on issues, or previews, or setups, tend to fail. See my rant on Marvel's Point One comics from awhile ago for more on that particular failure.
Idolized #0 drops you right into this world where superpowers are commonplace, by introducing the competition right away, and then once you get that part of it, they home in on the heroine Joule, but long before she had that name. Back when she was just Leslie Linnell, before she was famous, she was just a girl. A girl with superpowers to be sure, but a girl none the less. She sees promos for the first run of Superhero Idol, and knows that is her future.
But then the twist comes in. Normally, this is for fame, and fortune, but Leslie has other goals in mind. I won't ruin the surprise, because it was a pleasant little twist for me, and I would hate to take that twist away. Suffice to say, the book shifts from everything we knew, and it becomes clear that the reality series aspects of it will be more of a backdrop for Leslie's journey into fame, the dangers of that, and the larger role she has in her world's downfall, and what she causes to happen because of her quest.
I was mildly curious about the title before, but reading this zero issue has totally sold me on the series for now. They got me in the door with an idea that's timely, and then completely pulled the rug out from under me, and I absolutely want to know what happens next. I want to follow Joule's journey. I haven't been this sold on an idea from a single issue in a long time. Certainly not by any of DC's New 52.
There is nothing terribly special about the writing, but the ideas are there. It's hard to say much about character voices, since this issue was really just setup and preview, with no real story. It puts the pieces in place and introduces some mystery, but not being a full narrative, it's hard to judge just how the real book will be. But the mysteries are intriguing enough, and Leslie's voice is pretty clear in the narration, that I don't think there will be anything too terrible.
The same goes for the art. It's pretty standard stuff, and since the issue is made up of bits and pieces, with no real narrative flow, I can't judge the artist on his storytelling just yet. But what he's asked to deliver, he mostly pulls off. Things are clear, they're not too over the top, they're exactly what you would expect from a typical comicbook house style, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Based on the zero issue, it's hard to judge what the final product will be like, what we'll see in the first issue and beyond, but things are done well enough, and present some enough interesting questions that I am truly intrigued to see where this book goes.
My only complaint is that only half the book is what you would really call story. The rest of the book is flavour text pieces, done as if they're from the world of Idolized; magazine articles about Superhero Idol, the notes about Leslie's performance on the show by a judge, a transcript of an interview, etc. It's a bit light on content, and while the cover price is only 2.50, that still feels a bit much for what we got. It makes it hard to recommend a preview issue on that, but there's still something here, and the idea is so solid, that if any of this sounds interesting, I urge you to give the zero issue a look, and at the very least, pick up the first issue and come on the ride with me.
Idolized was a pleasant surprise from a company I've never paid much attention to, and I am glad I took the chance on it. It's almost a unique idea in a crowded market with a clear voice that stood out. Which is rather surprising to say about what amounts to a preview issue.
Jason M. Bourgeois
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