Catholic-ometer: 3.5 of 5
Enjoyability: 5 of 5
I recently reviewed the first volume of PS238, and all of the general points that I made there apply to this second volume as well. It's an enjoyable comic, fun and positive; about superhero children who go to a school for superpowered beings. The concept has been done before, but unlike other comics that have approached this (most notably several "X-men" books,) this book embraces the old-school silliness of the Silver Age, without the poor writing quality that tended to come along with it. The stories are enchanting, entertaining and fun, and never depressing or angsty, like the aforementioned X-men books. Characters develop and change, and stories never become too dark to be enjoyable, even when bad things do sometimes happen. In short, it gets nearly everything right, avoids the major missteps that comic books have made over the course of comic book history, and produces quite possibly the finest series of superhero comics ever released in America. All that, plus you can read it with kids.
Again these comics are all in black and white, and they're supposed to be that way. Also, most of them can be found online as part of Aaron Williams' internet webcomic of the same name, though a few (such as the introductions of Malphast, Angie and the Flea,) are only found in trade form.
Five issues of PS238 are collected in this volume, beginning with issue 6, which was the one that convinced me that I was in good hands reading this comic. In issue 6, two new characters are introduced; "American Eagle" and "USA Patriot Act." Each has basically the same kind of MO. They walk around in bright, flag-themed outfits, spout over-the-top, patriotic rhetoric at every chance they get, and constantly fight with one another. They're apparently being groomed by our nation's political parties, to replace another patriotic-themed superhero when he dies/retires.
This kind of premise sounds like a recipe for disaster, or might even threaten to turn PS238 into a politically-charged book, but to my amazement, Williams avoided doing this, showing both clever writing skills and greater maturity than most modern "entertainers." Politics shouldn't be about who's on whose side. It should be about the issues, and all of this so-called "comedy" that you see about politics in recent years has really done nothing but decrease the human ability to reason, while increasing faction-based devotion (which has no intellectual basis at all.) I don't know if this was Williams' reason for framing the book as he did, but even after reading it several times, I'm still not entirely sure which party was supporting which Jr. Patriotic hero. At one point, they say their favorite colors; blue and red, which might be a clue, but it's not overt enough to mean anything, and maybe it's better that way. The political reality that this comic points to is simply that America is incredibly divided right now, while still doing its best to keep up appearances. Any person of either party can look at this, and get some laughs, and by shifting the focus onto truly nonpartisan political humor, Williams showed that his interest was -entertainment,- not some ulterior motive of his own. I think that's the reason why I loved issue 6 so much, and why I felt so safe in the hands of PS238 after reading it.
Issue 7 tells the story of Mister Extraordinary; the world's first superhero in the PS238 universe, and the problems that he and his family faced as a result of his powers. In some ways, it's a tragic story, but Williams makes it work magnificently by focusing, not on the tragedy, but on the good that comes about in spite of the tragedy, and on the foiling of the plans of evildoers, which, in my view, is the best he could have done with a story like this one. You don't feel depressed when you put it down, and really, that already makes it superior to the tragic tales told by other comic companies.
Issue 8 talks about the history of Project Rainmaker; the branch of the school that teaches those with non-combat-oriented powers, though many of them, I'm convinced, could be truly devastating if they put their minds to it. Apparently, it was once a controversial government program, to try to learn the secrets of superpowers. This is another tragic tale, after a fashion, but again, it's exciting, and a lot of fun to read. I was very pleased with how it was handled.
In issue 9, "The Revenant" (a sort of Batman parody,) takes Tyler under his wing, and tries to teach him a little about how to fight crime without any special powers. This one is just pure fun, though we see that Tyler is looking for more information on his teachers.
Finally, issue 10, in which Tyler, Angie and the alien Prospero are given a science project involving silly putty; a project that takes them back into outer space, and into deadly peril. This issue is high-flying adventure at its finest.
Although no major story arcs are ended in Volume 2, a couple are started, and several new characters introduced. The overall result is a volume that, by itself, is part-introduction, part-setup, part self-contained storylines, and just good, clean fun all along the way. As fun, entertaining, secular comic books go, this is the measuring stick. I loved it, and I hope you will too.
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