Love and Capes Volume 2

In my review of the first volume I stated that  Love and Capes  was a superhero story that could appeal to just about anyone. That opinion stays. Not only does this comic series poke fun at all of the superhero cliches & story elements, but it also manages to put the main focus on all of the interpersonal relationships between the characters. If you want to give a non-superhero friend a superhero comic, this would be one of the ones you should give them.This volume collects issues 7-12 of Love & Capes, with the storyline picking up almost right where it left off in the previous volume. Mark is planning on proposing to Abby, but is just waiting for the right moment. When her sister Charlotte saves him from proposing at the wrong moment, Mark can't seem to find that golden moment to propose. But that isn't all that these two lovebirds have to deal with. From identity stealing villains to alternate realities to finding out that perfect wedding dress was designed by your fiancee's ex-girlfriend, there's no such thing as easy for Mark & Abby.I loved this volume. It really reminded me as to why I love this series so much. Sure, some might get a little bored that there's not a huge glut of fight scenes & tight spandex costumes but the beauty of this series lies in the simplicity of it. We can pretty much predict how things will end up but it is how it gets there that is the fun part. It's the small parts that are so great & how those small parts get wound into the larger story arcs. Why this series hasn't been optioned for a Hollywood flick is beyond me- it's got just about everything in it that you need for a great summer superhero flick.And the artwork? The artwork is a bonus. Zahler never goes in for the ultra-realistic tone, choosing to opt for the bright colors, bold lines, & semi-cartoony styles. It fits perfectly because while there are serious story lines in this volume, the overall feel isn't supposed to be gloom, doom, & plot arcs drawn out to infinity.If you've read the first one you HAVE to buy this volume. Even if you don't buy any of the other volumes to this ongoing series, you need to buy this just so you can read the wedding issue. It's just that much fun to read. If you haven't read the first volume then I recommend that you start there. You could probably pick this volume up & follow along relatively easily but it's more fun when you see all of the story that's come before. Trust me- you won't regret it.

From meeting new characters like Micro dot this book starts off even better than Vol 1 as it focus Abby and Mark future together starting with Mark trying to find the perfect romantic setting which to ask Abby to marry him. With Abby's sister leaving the book store to continue her schooling in Paris Abby shows what an over protective big sister she really is. The book covers the type of Superman What If stories as Abby takes a potion to gain temporary super powers of her own and a visit to Amazonia's home dimension. One of the best parts is a story that makes me think a little of Back to the Future 2 as a super villian travel back in time and kills Mark in the past creating an alternate time line for the present which only Abby and her special brain that mind readers can't read realize something is wrong. So it up to Abby to travel back in time and avoid her pass self around Mark to get the time line and her wedding back on track.

We continue to see the path of true love in the 2nd collection of Thom Zahler's Love and Capes. We see several touch points in the typical romantic journey, a proposal, shopping for wedding attire, choosing a best man, wedding gifts and of course the obligatory pre wedding crisis however in this book each of these moments are made unique and special because of the outstanding writing. There is a lot of humor in the stories but you all so get an outstanding love story. I've read all the individual issues as they were released but there is something very special about reading them in one setting. Thom has created a fresh take on super heroes in love, or should I say two people in love.

I hadn't actually read a copy of 'Love and Capes' before meeting Thomas F Zahler at the 2011 Long Beach Comic Con, (aka LBCC).Of course I had heard of the series, and had even seen him at a comic con before, with lots of attendees at his table at those times.Tina and I actually caught Thomas during a very brief lull at his table during the 2011 LBCC, where the top right photo was shot.After talking with Thomas briefly about his series, he showed me a copy of Vol 2, the TPB (trade paperback) of the collected series.So what exactly is in Vol 2? Here's a brief promo:"The Crusader and Abby are going to the chapel, and they're gonna get married! Along the way, though, there will be secret wars, evil twins, earthquakes, disasters, and the Crusader's ex-girlfriend, Amazonia. It's wedding planning, super hero-style! Collects issues #7-12 of the Harvey-nominated series."Okay... So I started reading this TPB, thinking that coming in at issue #7 of the series, (see this link from GCD for the entire Love and Capes series), that I could have trouble catching up with it...Well, I didn't have any real trouble catching up with the storyline!I quickly picked up on who was whom, and how they fit into the storyline. A nice collected story arc, and the artwork was darn good too!Quite often when a comics creator has this much control over an intellectual property, it goes off track or derails partway through a story arc. However, not in this story arc!I found it to be exactly what it stated on the front cover on the TPB: "The Heroically Super Situation Comedy". Yes, indeed!I would actually think of giving this to a person who does not like 'superhero' comic books, as even though it has superheroes throughout the pages, there aren't mindless slugfests or inane plots on conquering the world.Yet, I would even think of giving this to a person that likes 'superheroes' because it reminds me of the 'Lois & Clark' style of presenting superheroes on TV. Not that it copies anything, but this TPB gets more into the lives of the superhero and his girlfriend than a 'mainstream super hero comics' would. Which I found refreshing! I looked forward to reading each chapter (comic book issue) separately at each reading.So my comic book grade for this TPB is a NEAR MINT MINUS (NM-) 9.2 out of a possible 10.0 comic book grading scale.That's because although there are features at the end of the TPB on this story arc, there wasn't an 'intro' to the characters at the front of the TPB, other than a general 'intro' by Kurt & Ann Busiek. To have new readers, like me, get totally involved and want to purchase Vol 1 or even Vol 3, there should be character bios / illustrations or even a mini-review of what happened in Vol 1 to make the new reader want to know what happened prior to this story arc. As this TPB Vol 2 is almost a 'done in one' compilation, there isn't the immediate desire to want to rush out and purchase the other volumes, after reading this one. Which has both a good point to it as well, as some readers don't like 'continued' story lines in a TPB. Marketing is always a little tricky, as the 'floppy' publication format (comic book) doesn't always blend into a 'compilation' format, (TPB). In this case, other than that minor point I'm making, this TPB is worth purchasing and sharing with family / friends.Michael D HamerskyComicBookCollectorsBlog.com

With the emphasis on relationships instead of super-heroics, this series has become a way to spark my wife's interest in comics as a genre.