Jupiter's Legacy 2 #1
Written by: Mark Millar
Art by: Frank Quitely
Colored by: Sunny Gho
Lettered by: Peter Doherty
“Heroes” rule the world through fear and strength. All those who opposes them are gone or in hiding. The only hope for humanity is a family in Australia and any super villain they can get to before the heroes do. This is world of Jupiter’s Legacy 2, a follow up to Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s groundbreaking and highly touted Jupiter’s Legacy. Although some time has past from when the parent series ended, this issue hits the ground running and doesn’t pull back reintroducing familiar characters, as well as some new ones who surely have a role to play. Fans of the first series and newcomers alike will be pulled into this book and immediately become attached the world that it is building, a world that has traces of the genre and our own reality.
For those of you who are not aware, as I was not, Jupiter’s Legacy revolves around a group who we imbued with super powers in the 1940’s while on an expedition. As the decades went by and they became heroes in the public’s eye, fractures began to develop amongst this group. Some for personal reasons and others for ideological, culminating in the murder of the Utopian and his wife by the Superman analogue’s own brother and son. This sets up the story of Jupiter’s Legacy 2, where the Utopian’s daughter and her family are in the midst of forming a resistance to her brother and uncle’s rule. What makes Mark Millar’s writing so great in this issue is that I went into reading it without knowing anything about the prior series and he planned for that. All you need to know from the first series to enjoy this one is explained in one page beautifully drawn by Mr. Quitely. The key to any great story is a good hook, and this one does by just setting the scene. As we race around the world with our would be revolutionaries, Millar puts just enough feeling in each scene so that we as the audience can get a sense of who these characters are and why we should care. He does this equally well with the “heroes” of the story, so that even if you do not support their actions, you are able to understand them. The issue ends on a high note with an anticipated showdown between the familiar “heavyweight” and a new character that can perhaps tilt the scales in this conflict.
I recommend this issue to anyone who either finds an appeal in the sort of old fashioned heroism that has gone out of style in recent years or perhaps just wants to try something different in the superhero genre. As I’m sure this series will make the reader question, “what is moral?” or “what truly is the greater good?” I am eagerly awaiting issue 2.
Art by: Frank Quitely
Colored by: Sunny Gho
Lettered by: Peter Doherty
“Heroes” rule the world through fear and strength. All those who opposes them are gone or in hiding. The only hope for humanity is a family in Australia and any super villain they can get to before the heroes do. This is world of Jupiter’s Legacy 2, a follow up to Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s groundbreaking and highly touted Jupiter’s Legacy. Although some time has past from when the parent series ended, this issue hits the ground running and doesn’t pull back reintroducing familiar characters, as well as some new ones who surely have a role to play. Fans of the first series and newcomers alike will be pulled into this book and immediately become attached the world that it is building, a world that has traces of the genre and our own reality.
For those of you who are not aware, as I was not, Jupiter’s Legacy revolves around a group who we imbued with super powers in the 1940’s while on an expedition. As the decades went by and they became heroes in the public’s eye, fractures began to develop amongst this group. Some for personal reasons and others for ideological, culminating in the murder of the Utopian and his wife by the Superman analogue’s own brother and son. This sets up the story of Jupiter’s Legacy 2, where the Utopian’s daughter and her family are in the midst of forming a resistance to her brother and uncle’s rule. What makes Mark Millar’s writing so great in this issue is that I went into reading it without knowing anything about the prior series and he planned for that. All you need to know from the first series to enjoy this one is explained in one page beautifully drawn by Mr. Quitely. The key to any great story is a good hook, and this one does by just setting the scene. As we race around the world with our would be revolutionaries, Millar puts just enough feeling in each scene so that we as the audience can get a sense of who these characters are and why we should care. He does this equally well with the “heroes” of the story, so that even if you do not support their actions, you are able to understand them. The issue ends on a high note with an anticipated showdown between the familiar “heavyweight” and a new character that can perhaps tilt the scales in this conflict.
I recommend this issue to anyone who either finds an appeal in the sort of old fashioned heroism that has gone out of style in recent years or perhaps just wants to try something different in the superhero genre. As I’m sure this series will make the reader question, “what is moral?” or “what truly is the greater good?” I am eagerly awaiting issue 2.
A Look Inside
