Perhaps I go about it backwards. I’m primarily attracted to a comic because of the artwork, ultimately putting up with story line inconsistencies if the art is superior (figuring, at least I’ve got something to look at). That being said, I found David Yurkovich’s Less Than Heroes (published by Top Shelf Productions) to be strangely compelling. While the artwork is not the books strong point, I realize that comics is about storytelling, and Less Than Heroes introduces at least four sub plots in the attempt to present a complex book of intrigue and subterfuge.
Taking on the genre of caped crusaders with a cynical eye, Yurkovich weaves a tale of the snack munching, super-market shopping members of Threshold, four “super-heroes” who fight crime in Philadelphia, sort of your not-ready-for-prime-time-players. For depth, the plot also follows a secret government agency, Shadow N.A.S.A., the untimely death of a child that sets up events which are fulfilled years later by his reincarnation, and the doings of the NYSS (The New York Super-Hero Syndicate). Juxtapositioned within the continuity, the story lines gets confusing sometimes, and I had to go back and re-read a number of pages to get the gist of who was who, and how it related to the story as a whole.
In the beginning of the book, David’s art is a little muddled, which for me at least, distracted from the overall appeal. Around halfway through the 143 page volume, however, the artwork improved dramatically, and I was able to settle in, overlooking the lapse of corrective anatomy and periodic crowded panels.
Technical discrepancies aside, I found that I enjoyed reading the book. Yurkovich has a firm grasp on satire, lampooning the whole idea of the need for super-heroes in the first place. He also introduces one of the most fascinating super-villains in the process; the dreaded “Stamp Collector,” who is able to capture and transform his victims inside of U.S. postage stamps, telling them that “The pages of the album will be filled by humanity.”
Threshold is taken early on in the struggle, and as they delve deeper into the album, stamp by stamp, to find out the secret of the Stamp Collector, the NYSS super heroes arrive from New York to do physical battle with this nefarious character (as well as a band of super-villains which have migrated from New York in search of easy pickin’s). But before they will place one super-limb in danger, contract negotiations must first take place with the mayor of Philadelphia for things such as health-care provisions, bystander liability, and media rights.
Welcome to the real world of super-hero unions! Only after these fine points are worked out will the do-gooders battle the villains. As the New York team fall one by one to the Stamp Collector, the final super-heroes’ solution is as all inclusive as it is devastating (sorry, no spoilers here)!
The final chapter, December 24th, is a brilliant epilogue which, by nature of it’s sociological context, seems almost out of place with the story which has preceded it, being able to stand alone with it’s inclusion in some graphic novel anthology of short stories.
My overall analysis is that I found the story just quirky enough to keep me reading, in numerous places laughing out loud at David’s somewhat twisted sense of humor. As an added bonus, the essay by Yurkovich in the back on “Why Heroes Don’t Age” is an insightful peek into the world of comics in general, and super-heroes in particular.
As always, Top Shelf’s production is top notch, the book being printed on medium glossy interior stock and a heavy satin cover. For those who like alternative press, Less Than Heroes by David Yurkovich gets a “thumbs up”!
Alex Ness
If Cubism is a phrase that is a positive one to you, read on. If modernism is a phrase describing art that appeals to you, re
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