An issue ago, I thought BOOM! Studios’ Irredeemable was really ready to take off. After several months of interesting but isolated moments, the story had begun to flow in a clearly defined and unified direction. As the heroes of the Paradigm sought to locate an old villain and enlist his aid against the rogue Plutonian, one could sense that the meandering of early issues had finally made way for the introduction of rising action. Sadly, such progression toward a climax once again comes to a halt in this eighth and most recent chapter, calling into question the series’ ability to pull readers in for the long haul.

The derailing of Irredeemable’s newly found momentum is largely due to the outcome of the search for the aforementioned villain, the fearsome Modeus. Long promised to be the one man whose abilities might be capable of slowing the Plutonian, Modeus suddenly seems much less significant in this issue, as the hero Charybdis reveals himself in to have powers of great magnitude. A risky alliance with a ruthless criminal no longer makes sense after one of your fellow good guys has just beaten the enemy to a pulp. Though some dialogue suggests that the hunt for Modeus may continue, it’s also possible that Charybdis will now simply lead a charge to save the day. Neither option is really trumped up as a lead-in to the next part of the story, a component that good serial fiction should always have.

The series’ prevalence of flashbacks to the Plutonian’s past indicates that writer Mark Waid intends to trace his character’s descent from good to evil, but these sequences have also failed to build upon each other for dramatic effect. The one in this issue follows the same template as many before—something happens to the hero to upset him and he proceeds to throw a super-powered tantrum, often whining about how other people view him. Instead of witnessing a slow transition into madness, we’re being repeatedly hammered with the same musings on the pressure of heroism. It is hard to care about new specifics of a character’s fall from grace when we already know so much about the underlying concepts.

By now, readers should know what to expect when it comes to Peter Krause’s art. His classic John Byrne-like style is perfect for a book about a Superman analogue, even if more than one character in this issue looks like they’re wearing a bad toupee. However, the overall quality of the art here is hampered the overuse of an intricate color effect that clashes with the simpler, sketchier line work. It is as if George Lucas got a hold of the book and mandated a lack of restraint in the computer generated images department.

Irredeemable is a book that would really soar if it could ever allow itself to deliver a cumulative impact. As a writer best known for his work in the '90s, Mark Waid knows how to avoid “writing for the trade.” However, he could do his latest series a big favor by treating it more like a singular epic than an aimless chain of individual issues.

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