Incorruptible #20

Max Damage has been taken hostage and literally strung up for target practice. As his former employer, Belamy, keeps putting Max to sleep and then waking him up in order to shoot at his knee caps and arms, Max tries to fight the mental warfare that's being waged on him. Belamy tries to use Max's logic against him, forcing him to confront his silly ideas of becoming a hero in a world that is eating itself. Meanwhile, Alana and Safeword try and get Armadale's help, but discover that he's fallen off the wagon and is drunker than a skunk. Max has no way out of this situation, but an old ally might be able to lend him a trigger finger.

Written by Mark Waid and drawn by Marcio Takara, this issue of Incorruptible gave us something we haven't seen yet, which is Max Damage actually taking lots of real physical damage. He finds himself in a position he had probably put tons of heroes and innocents in before, and tries to hold strong as someone explains that his whole existence is a joke. It has a fair amount of action, but this is really a character issue that defines who Max Damage has become as a person.

The artwork by Takara is just as cool as his last issue. The use of line and panel pacing makes his a detailed but very cartooned version of the characters. In fact, I have the B Cover to this issue, the one with Safeword as a shadow with Damage faded behind it on a yellow backdrop. I won't lie, I want it as a poster for my house. In fact the whole issue has great images that are frame worthy, like a certain former sidekick riding in on a badass motorcycle.

All in all this is still one of my favorite comic book series going on right now. Waid is crafting his own heroes and villains for a new era of comic book readers. What that era or age will be called I have no idea, but lets hope we get more deep characters like the ones Waid is crafting at BOOM! Studios.