Double D v1 (Image, 2015)
STORY : Eddie Argos
ART : Steven Horry (art), David Cooper (colours) & Colin Bell (letters)
Story by a British musician/writer about a fat kid who gets his ass kicked a lot and then discovers that one day he is super-strong and fast and all, so long as he keeps consuming huge amounts of food to fuel it, literally burning off his fat-butt everytime he uses his powers and becomes super-skinny if he pushes too hard and has to re-fat up.
“After the official Worst Day Ever, overweight bully magnet Danny Carter discovers he can use his excess body mass to fuel superpowers. Obviously he’s going to be a superhero and fight crime, but when you’re fifteen years old and you live in the suburbs it’s not quite as easy as expected… To coincide with the release of the graphic novel, Eddie and Steven have—alongside musicians Mark Heffernan and Grant Purser—recorded a soundtrack album, which will be released on Post/Pop Records in late November/early December.”
THE REVIEW:
It’s an interesting take on the whole superhero metabolism thing that Ive seen most often used in the Flash comics but never gets much mention beyond cursory “man Im starving” throwaway lines. Don’t want to give away spoilers, but as can be expected in such stories and is a sad bit of a rehash in recent years, there’s a bunch of people who are involved and have a stake in “people like him” – not unlike the excellent and fun Luthor Strode series or even Sex Criminals where they discover their “abilities” and find out they’re not alone in both a good and bad way. So having chosen that path did make me enjoy it a little less than the more realistic tone it started out with of this kid who suddenly has powers, uses them selfishly to make himself popular and screw with his prior antagonists and even asking his science teacher who he too easily trusts to help him figure it out while ignoring his geeky friend who thinks he should be a hero.
This could have been a much more interesting story than the way it ended up – there’s a reveal in the last third of the book that just enters into a whole other level of cliche with him having a missing mystery dad and such (you can see where this goes).
THE LAST WORD:
It started out great and had a nice flow and story despite the mediocre art that at times felt stiff and awkward in the poses and expressions (the colouring was pretty decent though), but by the end my excitement for the somewhat unique concept being delved into was all but gone.
STORY SCORE: 5.5 / 10
ART SCORE: 4 / 10
OVERALL SCORE: 4.7 / 10
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