Local Man #2: Here We Go Again

LOCAL MAN #2 is a superhero comic without any superhero action in its main page count, and yet, it is a masterclass in what a superhero story can be.

So far, the most vital aspect of this series is its rich character work. Jack Xaver isn’t the most complex, groundbreaking character in the world. He’s a down-on-his-luck superhero that everyone seems to take great pleasure in kicking down. However, he isn’t straddled with a one-note narrative or a lack of human complexity within his characterization that would make his story like every other.

In issue two, the team focuses on how Jack, not his superhero persona, has affected everyone around him. His relationship with justice, characterized by the issue’s opening arrest, doesn’t come from the powers or the cape. It comes from his innate want to do good.

The center of this plot relies on the cliffhanger from the last issue, utilizing the quick fridging of Jack’s first archenemy to push Jack out of his funk. Instead of bastardizing Jack to make him feel worthy, the issues stop to explore the complexity of raising a supervillain and the relationship one would have with their heroic opposites. Jack goes out to talk to Hodag’s mother. Jack navigates his guilt about Hodag’s beating at the hands of Gen 13 by understanding how, even in the mind of Hodag’s mother, he helped the villain in the long run. This is further characterized by Jack’s father, who mentions that Jack just wanted to teach kids art before the powers. His goal as a superhero was to save and inspire, not parade around as a celebrity. This being backdropped against his identity as a fly-over state citizen makes all the emotions feel even more real.

It gets at the core of this series’ goal as a reconstruction of 90’s superheroes. There is a trend to confuse deconstruction and emotional complexity in this genre, and Local Man isn’t trying to take Jack and break him down into his most essential elements. It’s addictive, building up an emotional narrative about perceived failure. In many ways, this issue is the anti-modern era comic. It’s a reminder of what superheroes can be. Inspiring, complex, and oh so very human, yet still innately good.

The dialogue and lettering are exquisite, well-written, and clear to the reader. It enhances the team’s art, which is even better in this issue than in the last. Fleec’s work in the main book is somewhere between realistic and classical, saying what it needs when the situations are dark and humorous. Seeley’s work in the backup is beautifully 90’s. The colors in both sections of this book are dynamic, adding depth to the art in the main story’s modern palette and the backup’s more poppy coloring aesthetic.