Written by: Mark Millar
Art by: Wilfredo Torres & Ive Svorcina
Publisher: Image Comics
For the most part, Jupiter’s Circle #2 is an entertaining read; Millar manages to cut right to the heart of the story with a visceral whimsy that makes you feel a great sense of connection to its victimised characters. In the 1950s, homosexuality wasn’t really understood and it was deemed as inappropriate and wrong; when you are a man of great power and importance, how do you keep such a huge revelation to yourself?. Telling any kind of story with that notion in mind is going to be a challenge, but when the character in question is a superhero, it gives us as readers many different areas to explore and many questions to be asked. It is still common in today’s society to not condone and accept love within the same sex, so when the story is taking place in a post-war world where people aren’t as open to these kinds of attitudes as they are now, what are the consequences going to be. Especially as a superhero—someone who is there to save humanity from constant threats—how do people support that, knowing they can’t agree with their relationship choices, even though these people are saving their lives? As for the hero himself, the inner turmoil and guilt he is made to feel becomes quite apparent and with quite a shocking and intimate scene well into Jupiter’s Circle #2, you can really see that Mark is reflecting his own frustrations at people’s negative and narrow views on the primitive and basic right to love who the hell they want without being persecuted for it.
As for the story itself, J. Edgar Hoover has blackmailed these heroes and in this issue, we are seeing those affected finding a way to overcome this adversity. Hoover wants them to be inducted into the American government and believes that by threatening Blue Bolt with photos of him kissing another man going public, he will be successful in doing so. With a subject so sensitive, Millar is careful with it and gives us a delicate story of truth conquering hardship in the most purest form; by the end, we are left with the matter being 100% resolved and I’m OK with that. Sometimes, comics labour their point and drag out the drama to keep the readers hooked, whereas Mark Millar has given us closure already; however, I don’t for one moment think that the matter has been truly determined. We have another 8 issues for the government to ruin the happy ending and it should be interesting to see how he does this; there are also some heroes that aren’t exactly OK with Blue Bolt’s coming out as well—something which will surely be built upon as the story continues.
Wilfredo Torres has an artistic style that meshes perfectly with the ‘silver age’ and manages to give the overall tone of the story a much needed maturity and ‘old comic book’ feel. As with comics from the 50s/60s, the style was very straightforward and minimalistic. Torres mimics this well and the early Detective Comics impression feels very much alive in his work. Ive Svorcina has done a great job with the colours too—also using basic methods free from any real shading or depth, allowing the style to match that of Torres’ artwork, whilst still using a wide palette to give the comic book life and animation.
If I had one negative, it would be that the heroes are a little stagnant. Nothing about them feels refreshing and the characters feel a little bland. Apart from Blue Bolt, there is no depth into their own stories and I feel that by now some of their own tales should have been explored. It isn’t a huge grumble because it seems as though the main focus is more on the actual psychology and not the character; there is plenty of time for Mark to delve a little deeper and he hasn’t let me down yet so my faith is fully invested to his ability.
All in all, Jupiter’s Circle #2 is a smart and personal look at love, society and saving the world in an era that was still getting used to anything that wasn’t what its perception of normal was. It gives us a deep journey into the soul of a man on the precipice of life, when his decision to do the right thing or take the easy way out could cost him greatly.
