A Pair from PlanetLar

Planet of the Capes

Creators: Larry Young and Brandon McKinney

AiT/PlanetLar; 72 pages, $12.95

So? On the surface, this is a fairly straightforward superhero story that uses the same “iconic” characters that many comics, big and small, have tapped into over the years. But the title, “Planet of the Capes,” really refers to the comic book market, the superheroes who have dominated it for the past 40 years, and the troubles its faced as its audience dwindled from millions of everyday kids to thousands of hard-core fans. Brandon McKinney does a great job with the art — which switches from graytones to cool, retro color at just the right moment — just as he did on “Switchblade Honey” last year with Warren Ellis. But it’s understanding which characters represent which company or person in the comics biz’s history that will make or break it with readers. Those who get it and have a sense of humor about comics will get at least a smile if not a few outloud laughs. The rest … well, let’s just say that the small number of people who even have a chance to see a black-and-white graphic novel like this for sale anywhere near their homes or schools is a big part of what this book is really all about. Grade: B-

Hench

Creators: Adam Beechen and Manny Bello

AiT/PlanetLar; 72 pages, $12.95; ships in June

So? This is a story about the little people of comics, about a hard-luck bastard who finds himself attracted to, then stuck in, the world of being a henchman to the supervillains who inevitably lose to the superhero. There’s a lot of fun in this book to go with the pathos of the traditional hard-luck crook genre. And the more you know about comics, the more fun you’ll have spotting the in-jokes and homages sprinkled lightly throughout. Beneath its clever premise, though, Beechen finds moments of black and comic strangeness and even kindness of the sort that you expect to find in an HBO series. Manny Bello’s art varies from excellent to crude, but always carries an appropriate tone for a story whose more ludicrous moments work better with an “amateur” look. While not something that would work as anything but an original graphic novel or one-shot comic book, this really does make for a fun story for those enamoured with — or obsessed with — the intricacies of the superhero genre. And if you’re reading comics, doesn’t that pretty much automatically mean you? Grade: B+