An interesting twist on the superhero genre. Banjax, once the city's Golden Boy superhero, has fallen from grace and is now a bitter, washed-up has-been. His former protege, Gyro, is now the toast of the town, using his powers to create a corporate empire, all while taking himself out of the actual crime fighting, creating a team of super soldiers to fight criminals instead. When years of using his superpowers results in Banjax developing terminal cancer, he goes on a vigilante rampage. The people of the city, tired of Gyro's waning power over crime, starts to favor Banjax again. It's an interesting look at the fickleness of fame and how quickly the public can turn on a favored celebrity, told from a superhero's point of view. I enjoyed the story enough to want to continue reading it in the future. The artwork is good and suits the story well enough, but doesn't really stand out.

#BanjaxSeason1 #NetGalley

Banjax: "He who goes bump in the night!"

A formerly celebrated vigilante superhero out to redeem himself. Equal parts hero and villain. While Banjax was falling to the depths of despair his former protege Gyro was rising to the heights of capitalism... Banjax has become a joke. Gyro has gone soft. A clash is inevitable.

This is basically the graphic novel version of an action film (probably starring a B-movie martial arts guy and a faded Hollywood star). The story moves fairly quick, is easy to follow, and is more entertaining than not. The art serves the story. Not fancy, not bad. There's some social commentary that hits and misses.

It's okay. I don't think I would have any interest in following the continuing story but I'm not disappointed that I read it.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Banjax is a washed up, disgraced superhero who only has a few months to live. So he goes all Punisher and starts offing criminals leaving his former sidekick to try and stop him. It's not bad, although the book can be wordy and the art and coloring aren't great. The story ends unfinished. I would have liked to see more of a resolution in case this doesn't come back.

Banjax is sort of a washed up, dying superhero named Laird Mason who seems to get his second wind, going on the kind of crimefighting rampage that makes him feel young again. He realized he had super strength as a teen when he used its against his abusive dad. After that, he became a superhero. He used to tag team with a guy named Raines who later captured the public’s fancy by being a less ruthless crimefighter. Now Raines has his own company, the country apparently having outsourced security to second-rate superheroes. When Banjax makes a vigilante comeback, Raines is tasked with bringing him in. That doesn’t go so well, despite the serum that keeps Raines’ team members juiced — a serum that just might be the cure that Banjax needs.

The vigilante-justice story is familiar but it’s told with a couple of fresh twists. I liked the fact that Banjax teams with a reformed serial rapist to help him with his rampage. As sidekicks go, sexual deviants are more interesting than the disguised deviancy of a teen in a Robin suit. Mason also has a daughter named Fiona whose life he will likely ruin at some point, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Raines, on the other hand, has a hot but manipulative and controlling girlfriend, the kind who make guys think the hotness will somehow offset the evil. Never happens. When Raines finally goes back in action with some new juice, he carries a golf club, apparently channeling Tiger Woods, who as superheroes go is a pretty good inspiration.

Even more interesting is the story’s structure. Issues one and three in this volume tell us the story from Banjax’s perspective. Issues two and four switch to Raines’ perspective, which is intriguingly different. A good many of those scenes take place in corporate boardrooms, an appropriate commentary on outsourcing (who needs cops to protect a city when you can hire an ex-sidekick?). Meanwhile, Raines needs to man up if he want to take out Banjax, but he might not have the stones to do it. Sucks to be a sidekick.

The explosive art and the vivid coloring help make the volume a success. The story is a bit above average but the art is top notch.

Didn't think I would like this one but it's actually pretty un-pudownable. It's brutal, violent, bloody and messed up but it's also a well told story about the rise and fall and rise and fall of two men. One is born with super strength and ultra-fast healing abilities and one is just a poor kid struggling to survive. They become practically family until one of the two goes totally off the rails and the other is forced to hunt his former friend down. The table though, turn over and over, and you never know quite who to root for, or if either of these men are either heroes OR villains at all, or just really flawed, messed up human beings trying to survive in a messed up world the only way they can.

This was not a bad graphic novel. It started a little slow at first, but got better as the story moved along. We get to see the glory days of this hero, and when he took in a new protege. There was also a fall from grace for them, and a diagnosis that fast forwarded their plans for this city. It is hard to say if this will be a graphic novel for everyone, but I think some people will enjoy it.

This is a title to take note of. Yes, it's wordy, and no, the artist can't decide on one protagonist's girlfriend's face from one frame to another, but it is a strong, strong kicking for the superhero genre. This LA has been host to at least two muscle-bound vigilantes – they don't have much other than a wicked punch and healing power, but they've done enough to clean the streets in their time. One has even begat the other, as his kind of mentor. But neither are exactly on the moral straight and narrow – the older needs more of a chemical impetus than he should, while the younger has become a media whore to build up his own corporate self-image. So in amongst the yacking, and the punching, you really do get a good look at two rarefied people of ill repute, and what happens when they match that with too much physical power. The older character says he inches up to a line but never crosses it, and I think this inches up to the line of forcing its moral down our throats, and thankfully doesn't go too far into preaching. Some might possibly quibble the verbiage is too much and makes the differing positions of the men too blatant, but I didn't mind its broad strokes. This was fun.

Flawed superheros, lots of fighting but lots of colour. The story line is good with lots of twists and turns. I didnt rate it higher because I didnt really like it but that is my personal choice. I think there is a good action story here with good art.