“The Mantle” #1 is a self-aware superhero book with an uncommon twist: Mantles die a lot. The Mantle is hunted by The Plague, for reasons yet unknown, and when The Mantle is killed, like the Slayers and Green Lanterns before him, the power is immediately and unceremoniously transferred to a new host. If you are looking for some capes free from events and crossovers this summer, “The Mantle” might be the brutal book you’re looking for.
WRITTEN BY: Ed Brisson
ART BY: Brian Level
PUBLISHER: Image
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: May 13, 2015
This first issue wastes no time getting down to business, and in fact directly addresses the expositional burdens of introducing characters and concepts. For me, this week and nod to the reader didn’t really play. It was kind of like Brisson saying “Look, this is how super hero stories start, we have to explain where their powers came from and the world they belong in now that they have them. I know origin stories are boring, but at least you know I’m trying to rush through it so we can get to the good stuff.” I don’t really want stories to apologize to me for being told, I want to be invested. Tongue-in-cheek and satire aimed at the medium work great in books like “God Hates Astronauts” when they commit, but the way that “The Mantle” is self-aware is something in between that comes across as shrug.
If you get past the awkward introductions “The Mantle” has a pretty interesting concept. The Mantle is a being of unlimited power provided he or she has the time to practice and train to unlock his or her full potential. The Plague wants to eliminate every Mantle as soon as they are chosen to avoid this. It means that the clock is always running and that the story has a built in tension and sense that The Plague is always right around the corner. By the end of this issue it would seem The Mantle for this story has been selected, or in other words “our” Mantle, but this series could just a likely take a “Death Note” approach and continue to introduce new protagonists every so often, which would be pretty unique.
The cast of supporting characters is unique enough; between them a teleporter, a medium, and a hulk. These three seek out each new incarnation of The Mantle, train them and try to protect them from The Plague. We haven’t seen the medium use her powers to talk to the dead yet, but I can only imagine how significantly this will play in later. There are hundreds of dead Mantles that may offer some guidance, for instance.
The dialogue is pretty atrocious, and that is the main reason I find it difficult to recommend this book. It has a lot going for it terms of style and substance, but I cringed so hard at lines like “Guy looks meaner than my Step Dad after a night at the pub”, “cock nozzle” and “eat fist, dick bag” it practically ruined it for me and narrowed the audience down to pre-teen boys. Which is strange, because Brisson’s recent “Murder Book” was unquestionably good and not a single line bumped me in that entire anthology. “The Mantle” on the other hand, is fun, but I can’t say it’s great.