I completely understand what Jason Martin is trying to do here. His terrific indy book, SUPER REAL, is at a point where he needs it to get wider notice in order to solidify it in the marketplace. As someone who’s read the book since he first handed me his PREVIEW SPECIAL two years ago, I’m an early adopter here. But unfortunately, SUPER REAL VS THE COMICS INDUSTRY doesn’t really do the job it really needed to in order for it to be successful.

SUPER REAL itself has a very snarky, satiric bent to it, so the natural progression to poking at other comics isn’t one that’s out of reach. The problem is that Jason turned loose some talents that didn’t do his own work justice. The first story in the book, is drawn by “Boo”, and wow, is it scary… looking. The story telling and panel work is so awful that the story is almost unreadable. Nothing can kill a story quicker than bad art, and considering this stuff leads off the book, it puts the entire comic in a hole right out of the gate.

Martin himself takes on the art chores for story two, and things pick up, and a later bit from the great Jim Mahfood helps immensely. But just when it seems like the book is going to completely recover, the final pages of the comic see the story run aground, and it frustrates. SUPER REAL is a book that is very much worth your time, but ultimately this digression for the series doesn’t pay off.

Marc Mason