Rating: 
-
Reason for Reading: Next in the series.
Flashes back into Plutonium's past give us small glimpses into who the former hero was and some insight into his childhood, but Tony still remains an aloof character who appears to have had nothing but selfish motives his entire adult life. He then comes out of his respite to exact revenge and torture upon some people from his childhood. This volume concentrates mostly on Bette and her character's development. We are shown her past history and secrets all while Plutonium was still their leader and the guilt she carries now within her. The army has lost hope in the Paradigm's ability to deal with Plutonium, so they have brought forth their own villain. This new addition to the cast is a pretty cool character, Orion, a demon hunter who is brutal and no match for any of the Paradigm. It will be interesting to see him go up against the Plutonium. The next volume is due out in November ('10).
As usual the volume ends with a Cover Gallery and then a 15 page preview of Waid's "The Unknown" which I must get round to reading one of these days.
Rating: -
Irredeemable is one of those concepts that seems so simple, you're surprised no one has thought of it before. What if Superman turned on us? Who would be able to protect us from his God-like power?
I've been along for the ride so far, and the story itself is very good. Waid does a great job building a comic book world that is both familiar and unique through flash backs and dialogue that never beats you over the head with exposition. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions the characters have been pretty one dimensional.
The Plutonian (Superman) is especially guilty of this, though in this volume we see more of his history. Too bad it doesn't really provide anything new, except further demonstrating that he has often received the short end of the stick. You see, all the Plutonian really wants is to be loved (yes, that simple), and while the public respects him, they fear what he is capable of. People also get angry when he fails to protect them, or whine when he doesn't do things the way they want them done. It's a lot of pressure on one man, and it's really no wonder he cracked. Still, he doesn't seem evil, just insane. Most of his actions are reactionary, rather than premeditated.
Bette Noir gets most of the (much needed) development, as we finally get the details on her affair with the Plutonian. We also learn more of her secrets, which rachet up the intensity of the story. Her husband, Gilgamos, is also fleshed out a little, but is still fairly shallow. Luckily, it seems that he will be getting some attention in future volumes.
My favorite part of this volume is the addition of a new villain, Orian, who bears a passing resemblance to Superman alumn Doomsday. Orian is a hunter demon summoned by the military to take out The Plutonian. He is as cunning as he is brutal, and is a welcome addition to the story.
Overall, this volume adds even more suspense to an already tense story through some great twists while adding some much needed character development. If you're on the fence about picking up this volume, I can promise you won't be disappointed. If you're a fan of untraditional superhero stories outside of the worlds of Marvel or DC, be sure to pick up volumes 1 & 2. It's quite a ride.
Rating: -
The concept for Irredeemable is pretty simple, the Plutonian (a low-rent Superman clone) has gone crazy and is killing off other heroes, villains, even whole countries. In this volume the surviving heroes discover a possible weakness, what's left of the US government launches a desperate plan, we learn a bit more about the Plutonian's history and see what his arch-enemy is up to. There are chilling scenes of the Plutonian's evil and the heroes' desperation.
But this book suffers from the same problems earlier volumes did. There's a lot of set-up but not much meat. The Plutonian remains a one-dimensional villain despite the glimpses at his past. He has no goals, no motivation and kills indiscriminately . Many characters, including the Plutonian are terribly derivative.
I'll stick with it, it's a fun story and a guilty pleasure but I hope writer Mark Waid has a plan in mind for this story and won't just drag it out as long as he can.
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