Story by Justin Jordan
Art by Tradd Moore
What if… Just, what if those bodybuilding methods from all the comics in the ‘70s & ‘80s really worked? That’s the question that The Strange Talent of Luther Strode asks and attempts to answer. Tucked into your favorite book alongside superheroes schilling fruit snacks and pages of the most random joke toys you’ll ever imagine is an ad for The Hercules Method, a quick-fire way to turn flab to slab that might really have something behind it.
Luther Strode is your standard high-school nerd. A lanky kid with a self-deprecating sense of humor whose nerdy best friend Pete is constantly getting him into more trouble than he wants, but never too much for him to wiggle out of. He has his requisite crush: the pierced, punk-rock-y redhead Petra, who might very well be a little into him too, if he can grow a pair and talk to her. So, to make himself more appealing and give him the confidence he needs, he orders himself a copy of The Hercules Method.
Amongst all of the amped up hyper-violence in the first issue of Luther Strode (the book opens on a scene filled with severed limbs, entrails, and a sea of blood) the parts that make it work are the tiny little character moments. Interactions between Luther and Pete are allowed room to breathe, developing their friendship without cramming it down the reader’s throat. Petra is shown to be deeper than the out-of-reach hot girl, and Luther’s mom is carrying the weight of some recent trauma that is not fully explained, but very well understood.
Justin Jordan trusts his readers to come to conclusions on their own, a rare trait in comic writers these days. He gives us the right glimpses of the right conversations, allowing the backstory to seep into the crevices of our imaginations naturally. This approach brings us closer to the important characters because we almost unconsciously make them real by filling in the blanks ourselves.
Tradd Moore’s art is an excellent compliment to Jordan’s script, falling smack dab between Ryan Ottley’s hard-edged superhero work and Rob Guillory’s whacked-out proportions. His linework is tight and accurate, with just enough of a cartoony bent to take the edge off of the violence and add that over-the-top feel it needs to be entertaining instead of just gross. He is equally adept at nerdy kids in a high-school hallway as his is at grotesque mummy-men in chain-bound captivity.
Felipe Sobreiro’s colors do an exceptional job of accentuating Moore’s breakdowns, imbuing each scene with tension and excitement where necessary and calming things down when action isn’t on order. Finch adds several shifts in the overall palette to differentiate scenes in both location and content without making the shifts feel gaudy or out of place.
In many ways, the beginning of Luther Strode may be compared to Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass, and rightly so. Although those comparisons are legitimate, I think that Jordan’s characterizations are warmer and more interesting and his protagonist more identifiable. The storyline is fun and engaging and the art is tight and appealing. The Strange Talent of Luther Strode is one of the better books Image has released this year, and definitely worth a pick-up.
