Incorruptible Vol. 1

By Mark Waid

Super villain Max Damage had an epiphany the day The Plutonian destroyed Sky City. When The Plutonian turned his back on humanity, Max Damage decided to step up. Now Max Damage has changed his name to Max Daring and turned from his formerly selfish ways to become... INCORRUPTIBLE. The flip side of BOOM! Studios' break-out smash hit, IRREDEEMABLE, examines the hard, difficult road to changing your ways and making a difference in the world...

• Language: English
• Publisher: BOOM Studios
• Release date: Nov 20, 2013
• ISBN: 9781613980118

Mark Waid

Mark Waid is an American comic book writer known for his work on DC comics, notably Superman.

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Reviews for Incorruptible Vol. 1

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reason for Reading: I'm really enjoying the Irredeemable series and this is a parallel series which has the premise of the reverse happening. I was eager to read it as I have also become a big fan of Mark Waid.Incorruptible is the story of Max Damage the world's toughest super villain, who was there the day that Plutonium turned evil going berserk and destroying the city. This hit Max with an epiphany, if the Plutonium was no longer the one saving the world there was no one else left who was able, except him. Max becomes a changed man and uses his incredible power for the benefit of humanity, though everyone is scared to death of him and finds it hard to believe. But Max has decided that saving the world is now his job.I really liked Incorruptible and I think I'd say I liked it even more than the Irredeemable series. Things happen fast when Max is around. All his friends are villains and crooks so he has to turn them in when they break the law. Leaving him alone with his girlfriend, J@ilb@it, whom he won't have a s*xual relationship with anymore because of her age, no matter how hard she tries. Max goes after an evil scientist who is telling people he can give them superpowers but usually ends up killing them or worse. He goes back into his past where we can see how evil he truly was and we witness the day he watched Plutonium first go berserk which sent Max on a months long disappearance to do some soul searching. Finally Max goes head to head with a villain named Amberjack who is rumoured to have an inter-dimensional device to parallel worlds.Max is a man of action. We learn an awful lot about him, his past, his character in just these first four chapters. He seems like he is going to be pretty much of a loner, he has his girlfriend and he has confided in the chief of police, and this is going to allow his character to grow much more quickly than if he were a member of a team. This publisher does say the book is recommended for ages 15 and up, but I'm not comfortable with that. This a much more adult presentation than Irredeemable. There is more violence and a lot of s*xual innuendo and behaviour. Parents will have to use their own judgment call on this.The artwork is gorgeous, leaving a dark and edgy feel. The book ends with the usual Cover Gallery and then several pages preview of Waid's Potter's Field, which I've read and highly recommend. I'm very impressed with the character of Max Damage in this first volume and I eagerly await the second volume. It may be too soon to make a judgment call but I think this may be my favourite of the two series.

[snat_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Irredeemable, Mark Waid explores what would happen if one of the world's most formidable superheroes flips a switch and becomes the villain. The Plutonian turns his back on humanity and instead indulges in creating the violence and destruction he once sought to stop. When the superhero who once kept you in check has now bumped you down to number 2 on the FBI's most wanted list, what's a supervillain to do?For Max Damage in Incorruptible the answer is to attempt to fill the void left in Sky City when its protector goes rogue. When Max realizes the Plutonian has seriously gone batshit crazy and may never recover, it causes a bit of an existential crisis. Max reveals that, no matter how terrible he was, in the back of his mind he always knew that men like the Plutonian would keep him from pushing things too far. Civilization was kept in place by the balance between good and evil. Max understands that the scales may now be permanently tipped toward chaos and anarchy, so it's up to him to try to restore balance. This role reversal is intriguing, although by the end of volume 1 Max's redemption isn't very convincing. Sure, he destroys anything purchased with his ill-gotten gains, breaks off his sexual relationship with his underage girlfriend, brokers a peace with the local police, and tracks down some bad guys, but how genuine is he? This isn't a complaint as I'm hoping it leads to some complex character development as Max attempts to become the good guy and struggles with his criminal past, but, if not, then his conversion seems conveniently simplistic.There's some punchy dialogue throughout and the characters are imaginative. Jailbait is the underage girlfriend of Max who can't quite come to grips with the fact that the man who introduced her to the thrilling life of crime and apparently mind-blowing sex has gone all white hat on her. Her reactions are often amusing, especially as we realize that while Max may have gone straight she certainly doesn't intend to follow suit. Max himself has a peculiar superpower--the longer he goes without sleep, the tougher he becomes. Bullets can't pierce him. Fire can't burn him. However, the hardening of his physical self allows him only two senses: sight and sound. It's only after a good night's sleep that Max can feel all five senses before his body once again begins the hardening process.The artwork is nothing special; while it tells the story, it does little to enhance it. In the cover gallery there is some work attributed to Rafael Albuquereque of American Vampire fame and I could only imagine how his gritty style might have taken a story like this to the next level.

[rosa.mill · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So this graphic novel is the flip side of the Irredeemable series by the same author. Max Damage used to be a villain, however after witnessing the carnage that the Plutonian has wrought on the world he feels a need to turn himself around. In this book we witness Damage's return to society and get to find out a little bit about his origin.

Right now I have to say the most interesting part of this series is Damage's relationship with Jailbait. When you hear Jailbait recount what their relationship used to be like you get the impression that at some point this relationship was just about sex, but as you watch how he treats her now you can see that clearly he has strong feelings for her and that he always has. You can kind of figure out the psychology of his behavior based on his arguments with Origin. Because he couldn't physically feel much, he wanted to pretend that he couldn't mentally feel things either.

I don't know how I feel about Max's total 180. If the world is in as sorry a state as it seems to be I don't know that anyone would feel so willing to give up the money and cars that could help them pull things together. While I understand how seeing what the Plutonian did could make him change his behavior, I am just not sure I am comfortable with some of the extremes he is going to.

[schatzi_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This trade is the flipside of the Irredeemable storyline, where the Plutonian goes from superhero saving the world to supervillain terrorizing the world. In this trade, Max Damage, a "bad guy" with impenetrable skin, shoots, stabs, and robs his way through the city with his gang of criminals. But then he witnesses a life-changing event - the Plutonian's devastating leveling of Sky City and the murder of millions of people in an instant - and decides that he has to reform. Max discovers that it's not so easy to switch sides, especially when everyone knows him as a villain.For some reason, this trade just didn't have the appeal that the Irredeemable trades. Max seems to be a good character, but I just wasn't that drawn to him. Jailbait, his sixteen year old former girlfriend, is pretty funny, but ultimately she seems shallow as well. It's still a good story, but it doesn't have the pull that Irredeemable has.