The Standard #2 Review


When faced with demon’s from his past, can the original Standard rise again to thwart evil?  Read on to find out.

The official description from ComixTribe:

Once, Gilbert Graham was The Standard, the world’s first and greatest superhero. Now an old man and long retired from crime-fighting, he lives a quiet life as a high school chemistry teacher. But when Alex Thomas – his former sidekick and successor to the Standard mantle – is murdered, Gilbert is haunted by old memories… and faced with a serious decision.

When it comes to creating a world of superheroes that exists outside the big two companies, it can be a sticky proposition indeed.  Firstly you have to create rules and histories that fuel both the heroes and villains without making them feel like an after thought. Thankfully this creative team does just that with their dark but compelling take on the genre.

John Lees pens a script that embraces the cornier aspect of classic comics while dealing with some very complex and all too modern narrative turns.  The result is a saga that feels like something out of the 80s or the 90s in the best possible way.  We have a protagonist dealing with an increasingly dark world while still embodying the classic tropes of an aged character.  In short the script finds a way to balance these complex aspects while embracing a story all its own.  In the end this was a potent jaunt that will keep people entertained from start to finish.

Now when it comes to visualizations contained in this independent series, Jonathan Rector, delivers some truly stunning renditions.  Through the use of carefully contained but nonetheless stylized pencil work the illustrator successfully uplifts the narrative as his panel work does just enough to create some memorable and emotional moments.  Beyond that though there were a few times where movements seemed a bit too jagged but they did little to detract from the overall reading experience.

The Standard #2 is an excellent release that does more than enough with this outing to deserve a chance to find an audience. Highly recommended.

4.5/5

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