Greg Willis arrives in New York City from Wisconsin, ready to make it big in college and as a superhero. Things. . .do not go the way he planned. He gets humiliated by a villain named Black Flame, struggles to make friends, struggles to keep his grades up. Just generally struggles. The mini-series is about how you react when things don't go like you hoped. Do you get up, or stay down? Keep pressing, or decide it was all stupid anyway, so who cares?
The whole teen superhero trying to juggle all the parts of their lives isn't new, but McKeever tries to add something by connecting it to that out of your depth feeling a lot of kids get when they first go to college. Everything's different from high school. New place, new people, rules are different. No one's there to make sure you go to class or do your work. Gravity is similarly new to being a superhero, so his expectations are similarly unrealistic. The idea he might struggle to find crime to fight, or to gain recognition, or even get his butt kicked, clearly hadn't occurred to him.
Most of the time, Norton draws Greg as not very impressive. He's a little awkward flying, or trying to use his powers to fight. As the story progresses, he gets better. Better able to use his powers, and Norton draws him taking up more of the page. Gravity's taking control, becoming the driving force of his own life, for better or worse.
This was Gravity's introduction to the Marvel Universe. It's during the same mid-2000s stretch that introduced Arana, the new Scorpion, and Amadeus Cho. I'd say Cho is the only one who really ascended to any level of greater success, with his run co-starring in Incredible Hercules. Even so, he's sort of relegated to an Agents of Atlas group that pops up every once in a while. I guess maybe Arana, but they took away her powers and just started calling her Spider-Girl, so I'm not sure we'd really be talking about the same concept by then.
Better than Gravity. I don't know the last time he popped up. Young Allies, which was also written by McKeever? Wikipedia agrees it was 2011. He couldn't even get included in Avengers Arena, for cripes sake. He is somehow at a level below acceptable cannon fodder. It is interesting to compare how McKeever writes him to how Dwayne McDuffie did in Beyond! and Fantastic Four. McDuffie's version is very much the awestruck and awkward young superhero. A bit over his head, but game to try.
McKeever's version is more emotionally volatile. In this mini-series he goes through both an angry phase, where he pushes everyone away, and a depressed phase, where he gives up on everything. In Young Allies, he gets obsessed with taking down the Bastards of Evil, forgetting things like shaving or bathing because he's focused on getting those villains. He feels things deeply, but not in a healthy way.
2 comments:
At the time, Gravity seemed to come across as a bit of a copy of Invincible. Young hero, finding his way, vaguely similar costumes. I don't know if anyone else felt that, and even if they did, I doubt it had much of a role in Gravity not catching on, but maybe.
That's something I hadn't considered. Even with Invincible having a cartoon now, I tend to forget he was a big deal.
Post a Comment