Like Father, Like Daughter #1 - Short Fuse Media Group

LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER No. 1, March 2016

Described during its Kickstarter in October 2014 as “a refreshing take on superheroes from the perspective of a young lady whose father left her to become the world's first superhero”, Kathryn Calamia’s treatment for Issue One of “Like Father, Like Daughter” is certainly successful in producing a pair of protagonists which are dissimilar to the vast majority of stock crime-fighting characters that have gone before them. In fact, despite this twenty-three page periodical’s narrative arguably touching upon some themes previously explored within the likes of Mike Mitchell’s 2005 comedy film “Sky High” or actor Tobey Maguire’s tongue-in-cheek scene during the 2002 “Spider-Man” movie where he tests out his super-powers for the first time, it is hard to recollect another comic’s leading cast member who seems to so intensely antagonise over their personal life choices by being a super-hero first and foremost, as Invulnerable seemingly does at this publication’s conclusion.  

Admittedly, like any good writer “Comic Uno” begins this tale with plenty of pulse-pounding action as the apparently all-powerful, blue-suited champion for justice is proficiently pencilled by Wayne A. Brown thwarting the escape of a pair of balaclava-wearing, gun-toting bank robbers. But whilst this exhilarating race through the city’s bustling traffic offers this book’s bibliophiles with plenty of visual evidence as to the superman’s terrific speed and formidable physical strength, the sequence’s intense pace is soon replaced with the much more mundane daily habits of Casey’s college life, and arguably it is only at this point that the “YouTube” personality’s script begins its interestingly unique detour from the cape-wearing genre’s normal fare…

Indeed, the utter loathing which Invulnerable’s daughter has for her ‘heroic father’ is particularly palpable throughout this piece, and only seems to dissipate once Stephanie enacts a strenuous work-out regime for her long-term friend in order to establish the limits of the student’s powers; “Look on the bright side, at least we know you can survive a five-storey fall.” The sheer sense of fun the two girls appear to be having during these passages brings a much-needed lightness to proceedings, especially after readers will have had to negotiate four-pages of Casey pontificating over what has happened to her in a local diner, and in addition, helps increase the dramatic sombreness of this comic’s final act, when in a clearly poignant scene wonderfully coloured by David Aravena, the father pens his child an emotional explanatory note as to why he “abandoned his true responsibilities.”

Written & Created by: Kathryn Calamia, Pencils & Inks by: Wayne A. Brown, and Colors by: David Aravena