Joe Hill's The Cape Review

Joe Hill's The Cape

writer- Jason Ciaramella

artist- Zach Howard

When we were children, we all fantasized about having special powers like super strength, invisibility, or x-ray vision. Some of us even tied towels around our necks and pretended we could soar into the heavens. Joe Hill's The Cape, explores one of the possibilities of what happens when the kid next door puts on a cape and discovers that he has superpowers.

The Cape is written by Jason Ciaramella and illustrated by Zach Howard. As you might have guessed from the book's full title, it's based on a short story by New York Times bestselling author, Joe Hill.

I'll admit that the main reason I gave this book a look was Joe Hill's name on the cover. I know they say to never judge a book by its cover, but Joe Hill has never been wrong. Now, I'm going to read everything Jason Ciaramella touches. He's flawlessly captured the feel and style of Joe Hill within the pages of The Cape, and has left me stunned. In the book, Ciaramella introduces us to an 8 year old boy. We like this boy right away. We empathize and sympathize with this child and when he's older and trapped within his own disappointment and pain, we care. But then we get a sudden punch to the gut. Blaming everyone else for his personal failure, this child is transformed into a man filled with rage and loathing. The thing about Ciaramella's writing, the thing that makes this story so believable, is the answer to the question, “If you had superpowers, would you be a hero or a villain?” It all comes down to human nature. When real human nature rears its head in our comic books, it makes us uncomfortable. But when we're uncomfortable, we know we've just read a great story.

Zach Howard's art is well suited to this title. It's realistic enough not to distract the readers and yet rough enough (or dark enough) to keep us a little uneasy. Howard's artistic style and Ciaramella's writing tag-team us into that discomfort and place us inside our heads. We're no longer looking at pictures in a book. We're experiencing the story as it's played out, scene by scene, as though we're a part of it. This effect has been known to haunt tsome reader's thoughts long after the book has been put down.

I think it's important to point out the colors by Nelson Daniel in Joe Hill's The Cape. Coloring has finally become its own art form and is being recognized as such. Daniel brings bright vibrant colors to the happy youth of the main character and dimmer darker tones to the angry bitter life of the character when he's older. In my mind, Nelson Daniel's colors are just as responsible for the intense feel of this book, as Howard's art.

There you have it... The Cape, as read and reviewed by Outside The Cube. If you missed the series in its individual issues, you can get the hardcover collection from IDW at your local comic shop or at most online book sellers. It's well worth it if you like serious, intense, edge-of-your-seat reading.