Irredeemable #29

Since I've finally caught up with this series(it's taken me a while, but I was finally able to get the whole series through trades and singles), I can finally do my FIRST Irredeemable review! Well, my first review of a single issue of Irredeemable, since I did review a trade or two a few months back. Regardless, here's the review.

Irredeemable #29:

Summary: We get started with Survivor trying to keep his team, the New Paradigm, from killing him now that the Plutonian had returned to Earth. Survivor tries to convince his team that together they may have a chance at taking the Plutonian down, but the Paradigm are too freaked out to listen, so Survivor decides to take Plutonian out himself... Unfortunately(or maybe fortunately), by the time Survivor returns to where he last saw Plutonian, Plutonian is gone, as well as most of the New Paradigm... Where did Plutonian go? He took his allies(a band of escapees from a insane asylum) and the New Paradigm and was tossing the New Paradigm members through the air was hard as he could, telling his teammates to make a wish as the Paradigm members burned their way through the night sky. Next we head to the remains of the Oval Office, where the acting president of the United States is met by representatives of the Chinese/Japanese coalition. The coalition members show the president a plan that their top scientists had drawn up years ago to deal with super-powered beings such as the Plutonian if worst came to worst(and quite frankly, worst HAS come to worst!), a plan that would involve wiping out one-third of the planet's population, but in doing so, also ending the menace of the Plutonian for good... Meanwhile, the Plutonian and his current girlfriend/sex partner, Cutter, track down Bette Noir, since Bette nearly killed Plutonian a few issues back. Bette, tired of running, tells Plutonian to just get it over with and kill her, but Plutonian surprises everybody by planting a big ol' kiss on Bette, his one time love interest. This angers Cutter, but Plutonian tells the two women he feels they could have a lot of fun together... Well that's kind of creepy. Finally we head to Kaidan, who has managed to hunt down her former Paradigm teammate Gil to ask for his help against the Plutonian. Gil, still smarting over Bette Noir's betrayal of him, isn't interested, at least until Kaidan summons Scylla's ghost. Scylla's ghost tells Gil that hope wasn't quite lost yet and reveals that he and Survivor weren't twins, they were actually triplets, meaning there was a being out there that potentially held the power to FINALLY end the threat posed by the Plutonian.

Thoughts: First the good. I enjoyed reading this comic from cover to cover and was never once bored by any portion of the story, no matter where Mark Waid took us. So the story was good and the art was good. My problem actually has more to do with the Plutonian actually being back on Earth... While he was trapped on that insane asylum planet it was easy to forget all the atrocities he committed. As a matter of fact, he was almost likable... ALMOST. But since he's returned to Earth, he's become almost the prototypical super-villain... Earlier in this series, although he was obviously in the wrong and insane, the Plutonian kind of tried to rationalize the things he did. When he destroyed Singapore it was to make a point to Qubit. Now he's just running rampant, killing people and being an all around asshole just for the hell of it. A part of me wonders how much longer Waid can draw this series out... I mean at this point I WANT to see the Plutonian die! He truly IS Irredeemable! The best thing about this issue though is that it seems there are two potential ways to kill the Plutonian, the secret plan the president was handed, as well as the OTHER brother of Survivor and Scylla. It's odd, and a testament to Mark Waid's writing ability, that I'm so into a comic book where I legitimately want the lead character to die!

Score: 8 out of 10.Look up evil bastard in the dictionary and you'll find a picture of the Plutonian!