The Image Comics series Bounce, by writer Joe Casey and artist David Messina, takes superheroes into territory where they seldom go.
The heroes at DC and Marvel are truly great characters who are beloved by almost all of the comic fans including myself.
However, they are now owned by big corporations, and therefore they must abide by strict guidelines as to what they can and cannot do.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, sometimes tight parameters assist a writer.
It is certainly not turning me off to them, I am a frequent buyer of DC every Wednesday when the new issues are released, and enjoy them immensely.
However, these characters are big money makers in this modern age of entertainment. At least from an outsider’s perspective, it appears that means maintaining consistency throughout the lines of comic books, so the characters stay in prime condition to do well at the box office when their films come around.
This is why a series like Bounce is such a great breath of fresh air for this superhero fan, and may be to other fans as well. It does not appear that our hero from this series has many limits as to what he can and cannot do, and because of this, we get a great story with character types and situations that we are not used to seeing in a comic book.
Included in what is a good story to begin with, we have swearing, the use of marijuana, successful people in respected positions that can be rather immature, a roommate who is a drag queen, and a superhero who is anything but perfect, and probably not a good example to follow.
It is not the shock value of these elements that make the story entertaining, but the story itself. However, there is no question that the components listed above exist in our world today, and the fact that this series does not hide from that gives the story a very natural and down to earth pace.
The story itself is compelling and easy to follow. Our hero Jasper (Bounce) has the ability to bounce around like a super ball as the result of government experimentation. He has taken up fighting crime as a costumed vigilante. Jasper is a pothead, informal, and imperfect person, but definitely a good person.
He is a far cry from his brother who is the district attorney, and is looking to put a stop to the rise of vigilante justice. His brother is not very proper like one might expect of a district attorney, as he is very lively and wants justice done, and demands good work out of those close to him. He swears plenty, but he feels very natural as a character.
I would highly recommend this series to comic fans. It does have mature language and themes, so people should be aware of that while giving the series a look, but this a good story. This world is very much like our own. The feel of it is so real, but in all the right ways.
Despite the violence and some coarse language, this read very smoothly. Image Comics is producing some really cool series, and Bounce is definitely one of them.
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