Loved everything about this-the artwork, the story and a sweet, uncomplicated hero who makes sure he does a good deed every day. ( )

Cute. Good artwork. Okay plot. Huck is the stereotypical nice good guy which makes him easy to like but not much of a character. ( )

I guess the first question to come to mind is, does Mark Millar even fucking care about the comics that made him what he is today? I mean, this is the guy that did so much good with The Ultimates.

As per usual for Millar these days, he takes a slightly different look at a well-worn comics trope, this time Superman. But he makes him a simple gas jockey who does good deeds.

Also, as per usual, he teams with a great artist, then proceeds to waste said artists talents by giving only the barest of stories to work with. Instead of taking a few years to fully build a real character with real relationships and motivations, instead, he goes for the quick hit visuals, the shorthand events meant to sketch the character with the barest of effort.

This could have been so good. Instead, Millar infers a romance in about three panels, introduces a brother with no questions as to where he's been, brings in the obligatory scantily-clad female with no real agency or role, and wraps the whole thing up in six issues.

Along the way, we're treated to shit dialogue along the lines of, "You'll never escape our super-high-prison," and, "how can you hope to overcome my superior intellect," and, "you are just a retard gas pump attendant, how do you think you can best me?"

This all falling quite neatly into the "officious villain who consistently underestimates his nemesis" comic trope. Basically, Millar wants you to suspend your disbelief enough to buy into these two really fucking stupid ideas:
1 - Villain spends years looking for the ultimate super-soldier, then finds him, and proceeds to underestimate him--the weapon he's been looking for for likely three decades--because, hell, he ain't so much. Even though he's exactly what he's been looking for, fer chrissakes.
2 - Said villain is bitter because--despite his formidable intelligence--he lost his most important asset twenty-odd years earlier, yet somehow is able to work the Russian government to continue to support him. For twenty years. As a failure. Because he's smart.

It's fucking offensive being written down to like that.

Millar, stop reading your own press, stop trying to create "product" that can be turned into movies, and write a decent fucking story for once.

Though, quite frankly, even if you do at this point, I doubt I'd read it. ( )

Perfectly entertaining standalone story from the Millar-verse. I knew nothing about this going in and it hit all the right beats in all the right places. I didn’t quite buy the meanness of the artificial intelligence robots, but Huck was such a delightful presence that it didn’t matter too much. Pleased to have picked this up. ( )

I like the main character, his daily good deeds and his mother. But the plot is just a far-fetched and sloppy serving of cheese. This book falls well short of its potential. ( )