Critique lite. [Villainous by Stonie Williams; Jef Sadzinski]

Tilly, one of the newest super-powered people to join the Coalition of Heroes, is doing her best to navigate the dizzying world of superheroes. Working with her idols should be a dream come true, but when she learns the truth, Tilly's dream quickly becomes a nightmare. Now, Tilly has to make a choice - Get in line and stand with her heroes, or take a stand and risk becoming something more... Villainous

I don't think there's anyway I can review this graphic novel volume without mentioning The Boys. The Amazon series has been timely addition to the now-dominant media landscape of superhero stories. The Marvel Cinematic Universe runs so fantasy action zeitgeist and presumably will sent trends for years to come. I wish I could be snooty and say I'm above such things, but I've mostly watched each WandaVision episode as soon as it drops every Friday morning so far, so I'm not. Not that I need to be snooty. 

Because with age has come a new lens on superheroes. One really starts to examine the hypocrisy of supers, their innate elitism and classism. But also, other questions. Like why should a nearly untouchable elite bear the burden of saving the world? Why would a nearly untouchable elite bear that burden? These are question that have come up and been addressed before, in comic storylines, in movies, across the board. Civil War in the Marvel Universe, the Crime Syndicate or Injustice from the DC Universe. In The Boys, another comic adaptation, the comic itself a dark take on the genre, the story just riffs off on a reality of super authoritarianism and corporate dominance. Sure, capitalism is evil enough, but why do we love stories that include an added layer of superhuman dominance without consequences?

I haven't read the original comic source material, but I could help comparing Stonie Williams and Jef Sadzinski's Villainous to what I've seen of the Amazon show. You have a small opposition group fighting against the publicly adored supers and the machine that stands behind them, a personally affected neophyte who learns the unsavory truth, and some big corporate scheme. Superhuman abilities aside, what's consistent is the audacity of this small group to feel as though they will single-handedly save the day or that a revelation of the truth will immediately change the status quo. It's just funny to me.

So the story was a bit predictable and the characters maybe uninspired. The Black male character fit the naïve policeman trope so expectedly well and I first had my suspicions with the Black female character when her hair was mentioned. As opposed to being a critique of superheroes or our protagonist working through this earth shattering breakthrough that recontextualizes everything she knows kind of moment, the story just speeds on through to the next point of the story. Character development isn't as fantastic as it could have been and the villains felt flat. This reads as an obvious set up for future adventures but unfortunately I'm not inspired to read on and see what they are. 3 stars from me.

Villainous (ISBN: 9781952303067) is due for publication May 2021.