Bastard Son Of A Thousand Comics: The Strange Talent of Luther Strode #1 Review

EDITOR’S NOTE: This review contains spoilers. If you decide not to read it, just go buy the book right fucking now, and we’ll leave it at that.

The Strange Talent of Luther Strode is the story of a high school nerd who buys a “Tired of having sand kicked in your face?” fitness book out of the back of a comic book, develops superpowers after reading it, and uses those powers to get a girl and defeat his jock nemesis in dodgeball and in a high school men’s room fistfight. Truly, writer Justin Jordan is one of us… or would be if he didn’t seem to know that people like us didn’t go into the men’s rooms in high school, because we generally didn’t need cigarettes or black eyes.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s more going on than Geek Rage in this book. We open the book seeing Strode in a flash-forward where he’s masked, ripped and has the ability to stop loads with his chest and beat men down by jerking off some of their parts… which sounds like it would be yet another reason that I personally never went into the high school men’s room if it didn’t look like this:

Jordan teases that there’s some kind of reasoning behind Strode’s newfound powers, and that those powers might make him the target of a mysterious bearded dandy called The Librarian that will lead us to a greater story to take us through this six-issue miniseries, but issue one is all about a high school loser who gets superpowers… which is absolutely smart and compelling storytelling.

Because after all, it’s pretty safe to say that if you’re reading a comic book, you were either a nerd who had a hard time in high school, or you were a jock who suffered a grievous concussion. And if you were the latter, you’re not reading a book as smart as Luther Strode.

And smart it is, because there is a LOT of groundwork laid here, and if you’re not careful, you could miss it.

We’re introduced to Luther’s class-clown best friend, who does his best to get Luther laid with an easy redhead who kisses him after he says seven words to her (Including “um” and “shit”. And yes, I counted.). If she’d given him enough time to throw in “please” before she locked lips with him, she’d probably have let him throw her a Dirty Sanchez.

We also meet Luther’s mom, who flinches when she hears a knock on the door and doesn’t calm down until Luther tells her, “He’s not going to find us, even if he gets out,” just before leaving to attend class at Voorhees High School.

See what I mean? Basically, Jordan has laid the framework for an entire fucking 1980’s slasher flick, all stealthily under the framework of what looks like a superhero origin story… particularly when you stop for a second, put your beer down and realize who else is named Strode. Mark my words: I predict this book will give us surprises. Terrible surprises. Like the high school men’s room. But I digress.

The pencils by Tradd Moore, an artist I’ve never seen before, are… interesting. It’s generally very cartoony, with not particularly realistic figures and broad facial expressions. Which works just fine for the high school sequences and at-home stuff, and SHOULD be terrible for the more violent scenes, but somehow this guy takes this style and uses it to show absolutely satisfying and fun over-the-top violence and bloodshed. You can see a little of it in the scan above, but to show you the dichotomy, let’s look at this jackwagon…

…decide he’s tired of seeing the mechanics of a flushing toilet up close:

Cartoony yet realistic violence should work as well as cartoony yet realistic pornography. It should be like seeing Jessica Rabbit as the lead in a Cleveland Steamer cartoon. It should hurt the mind. And yet here it works.

So even though the greater story is only teased here, Jordan gives us an issue introducing us to a character that seems DESIGNED to be compelling to its audience, which could come across as cynical, but which instead made me really LIKE this kid. I identify with him, which make me invested in him. Combine that with the rich possibilities that Jordan gives us as to how the rest of the story spins out, even though I don’t know who this Librarian is or how Strode got his powers, I’m in to see more.

Pick this one up.