The best social commentary is subtle. It slips through the cracks of a comic, and requires readers to understand the subtext of everything that’s going on. Nothing is ever blatantly stated, but rather, the commentary comes through subtle nods to real life events, or creates a completely new world to illustrate the problems that ours has. However, in MPH, Mark Millar elects to throw subtlety in the trash, in favor of heavy handed social commentary. Frankly, it’s a little bit insulting to the readers that he feels the need to be so blunt with his message. It’s fairly obvious what the message of this book is, even without Millar’s heavy handedness. Yes, it’s a good message, and one that needs to be addressed in the media, but its done in such a way here that it loses a great deal of its effectiveness.
Since the social commentary is the most important aspect of the book, the fact that its written pretty poorly drags the rest of the book down. On top of that, none of the characters are all that engaging, especially once they all start using the MPH pills. This sequence especially devolves the book, as we follow three immature teenagers in their four minute journey across the United States. None of it is particularly interesting, and the dynamic between the three main characters feels forced, and, again, kind of heavy handed. At the end of the day, the majority of this book’s problems stem from the fact that it’s extraordinarily overwritten. It seems that, in his struggle to create a complex, layered story, Millar ended up forcing too much into the book. Its lack of subtlety is quite jarring, and makes the book lose any effectiveness that it may have had.
MPH, when all’s said and done, is a very simplistic comic. Social commentary is generally associated with “smart” or complex comics, but MPH is neither of those. It’s really just a bland look at American society, focused around a cast of characters that struggle to be interesting. Sure, it isn’t all bad. The book has a good message, even if doesn’t exactly deliver that message effectively. And the last page of MPH #2 offer a look at another aspect of this world, showing us a completely different side from the one that the rest of the book shows us. In fact, it’s the only part of the book that is mildly interesting.
MPH is really just a “safe” book for Millar. The concept of real world superheroes isn’t anything we’ve never seen from him before. So on top of everything else, this book lacks originality, both in the world of comic books as a whole, but also in terms of the work that Millar has done before. Event he artistic style isn’t anything special or original, in fact, it, like the rest of MPH, is fairly bland. There’s nothing stylistic about it, and there are no risks taken in terms of the artistic direction style of the book. But really, the biggest issue with MPH is how much untapped potential it has. Somewhere in here, there’s a great story to be told. The fact that it hasn’t been realized at this point is, more than anything, a disappointment.
