cover image Jacked

Jacked

Eric Kripke and John Higgins. DC/Vertigo, $14.99 trade paper (168p) ISBN 978-1-4012-6270-9

Supernatural creator Kripke teams up with Hellblazer artist Higgins for this halfhearted superhero deconstruction tale. Josh Jaffe, unemployed husband and father of two, is rapidly descending into a full-on midlife crisis: his body is falling apart, his lovemaking is lackluster at best, and he’s losing the respect of his children (and himself). Gifted superpowers by a suspicious nootropic drug he bought online, Josh gets suddenly and unexpectedly in over his head when he punches his wife-beating neighbor—who happens to be a major drug dealer—into a coma. In order to save his family from the fallout, Josh must power through his self-loathing to become a real hero. Kripke tries to redefine what that concept means, but any lofty goals this script may have had are lost in its “mature,” hyperviolent masculinity and insinuations that femininity can only be powerful after repeated trauma. Higgins’s art does well with the action, but his faces often stray toward the uncanny valley. (June)