[...] With Demo, writer Brian Wood (DMZ, Channel Zero) and artist Becky Cloonan (American Virgin, Flight) team up for a jaded look at the world through a variety of character studies of broken lives. Although the project sprung from an aborted try at a Marvel teen mutant book, Wood does much more subtle and interesting things here than its beginnings would suggest. The twelve characters here, each with their own story, aren’t superheroes; instead, Wood describes them as “young people with power”. They’re the ultimate outsiders, and in most cases, they’re overwhelmed by the potential of what they can do. [...]

I thought the violence was tame; people are bopped on the head and such, no severe damage is done (though scars and peg legs indicate past and possible future carnage), and much is slapstick. The only negative for me was that I sometimes had difficulty understanding what was happening in a battle scene.

Lyle, good analysis. I also find that the book he describes usually sounds much better to me than the book we actually get — It’s a Bird is a good example of that. I wanted more of “how an artist interacts with the idea of Superman”, less noble suffering and indy-style autobio.

Honestly, I like Seagle, I even have a complete set of The Crusades, another work like American Virgin that was way better in concept than in execution. But this new series is really a new low, I think. I’m so glad I had a copy of Solstice on hand to wash the taste of “Head” out of my brain.

I hold out hope, though, because Seagle’s House of Secrets started out as a shallow piece of dreck and then morphed into something really amazing. So maybe, lightning will strike twice, eh?

Yeah, this series is doomed. *sigh*

I think I’ll pass on the collection now.