Sunday, October 23, 2022

Sunday Splash Page #241

 
"Another Day at the Office", in Hero Hourly #2, by James Patrick (writer), Carlos Trigo (artist), Alex Sollazzo (colorist), Marco Della Verde (letterer)

Written by James Patrick, who also wrote the two Kaiju Score mini-series, Hero Hourly follows Saul Smirkanski, who expected a life making a lot of money in high finance, but ends up working a 9-to-5 job as a superhero-for-hire when the economy tanks. There's a somewhat longer review here.

Patrick writes a lot of humor into it around regular job problems like lazy co-workers, crap bosses, and the company doing things like diluting the formula that temporarily provides super-powers to cut budget. But he also sends Saul through a character arc. Initially, he resents the job and keeps waiting for something to turn it all around and give him what he thinks he deserves. Later, he seems to decide this is what his life is, and he'll just do well at it and someone will reward him with a promotion. Finally, he concludes he's got to seize the wheel and make something good happen in his life.

That's a little simplistic and overlooks a shitload of issues that can make that difficult for someone, but it's progress for Saul. And it contrasts with another character, Foreclosure (or "The Foreclosure"), who can't get his shit together and keeps waiting for that one big thing that's going to fix it all.

Trigo and Sollazzo make sure the look of the book fits with the tone Patrick's establishing. The company uniform is not flattering. All the villains' costumes look home made and mismatched. Nobody looks especially fit or heroic in it, and that everyone wears the same outfit makes it even more mundane. This is job for these guys, not some great calling. They got bills to pay, this beat working at Taco Hut. The monsters look more interesting, but it's also not a job for them.

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