Heroes International #1 - Short Fuse Media Group

HEROES INTERNATIONAL No. 1, December 2018

Set some “years after a tragic event that the media dubbed ‘The Zero Event’ where all of the superhero population disappeared”, Luke Herr’s plot for “Heroes International” #1 should effortlessly enthral many a reader with its heavy focus upon the new 'capes' emerging “around the world to fill the void left by the missing heroes.” However, whilst the arguably easy route for just such a storyline might be to have the likes of Iron Shield, Nimbus and Spyware fit seamlessly into the spandex-wearing crime-fighting gap, and effortlessly defeat the intriguingly powerful Dragoness due to their Extra Human Division (EHD) funded training, this particular twenty-two periodical takes a decidedly different route by “featuring a superhero team just like any other popular superhero team from Marvel or DC with one exception...They Suck!”

Indeed, straight from this book’s opening, it is all-too apparent that this squad’s diverse cast of characters are not only as inexperienced as Doctor Melanie Blake’s pre-mission briefing is uninspiring, but are almost all ‘in it’ for their own selfish reasons. Whether that be the super-strong Crag’s bone-headed desire to kill his foes rather than first save any hapless nearby civilians as ordered, or Hue-Man’s insufferable arrogance, which is as prominent throughout “Team Spirit” as his disconcerting potbelly. It’s certainly hard not to initially side with the villainess in her supposedly peaceful search of a German village for the Dragon Scroll until the green-clawed woman savagely cuts down an unarmed elderly Jewish homeowner later in the comic simply because the man “couldn’t make it easy” for her.

Fortunately, such ineptitude also provides this book with plenty of pulse-pounding action, which really helps infuse its narrative with a cracking pace and carries the reader through the plot’s obligatory flash-back sequence to a time when poor political decision-making robbed the government division of both its funding and its best members, such as Repotozone and Endeavour. In fact, the debatable highlight of this publication is Ad-Lib’s inadvertent entrapment within a dragon-shaped magical crystal and the highly disagreeable Kristopher Jordan’s ham-fisted effort to wrestle his former team-mate into submission following his latest faux pas; “What is a Drag-Lib? Did you get Ad-Lib turned into a dragon?” 

Quite possibly this “Kickstarter” financed publication’s biggest asset though, is the sheer number of different individuals which Quinn McGowan has had to pencil for it. Admittedly, some of the “self-taught” artist’s line-work appears somewhat hurried or overly cartoony in places, yet the “owner and editor in chief of Legends Press Comics” must still be applauded for drawing such a wide variety of oddities and imbuing them with such fascinating costumes, like that of Soundbyte’s claustrophobic-looking deep-sea diving suit or Eleven’s bug-eyed ninja attire.

Writer: Luke Herr, Lines & Inks by: Quinn McGowan, and Colorist: Michael Woods