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Over the years we’ve had many realistic or modernist takes of superheroes. Add Wyrd to the list, a new miniseries that is Curt Pires and Antonio Fuso’s take on realistic and grounded superheroes.
Wyrd immediately establishes the mindset and attitude of its protagonist, Pitor Wyrd, before showing us what he does for a living. “Showing” is a good word to use as this issue has clearly taken the concept of “show, don’t tell” to heart. The issue shuns narration or inner monologues and lets you watch Wyrd and the story unfold. This is an action story that feels fairly familiar and some of the dialogue is sharp, but it doesn’t have that extra something that really makes it stand out yet.
One great thing about Wyrd issue #1 is how self-contained the story is. A lot of modern comics focus on the overall story arc and long-term storytelling, which often leaves first issues feeling incomplete as the creative team focus on setting things up. Here Pires and Fuso tell a story that starts and ends in this issue. We get a resolution to the story while the epilogue hints at the history of Wyrd. This makes this issue a satisfying read as a single.
Wyrd does have a really good sense of style, with great layouts throughout. The use of overlapping and inset panels is very effective and the choices of angles and shots makes for some great visual storytelling. The realistic and gritty feeling backdrops help ground the story. The first few pages are an effective introduction and the main fight scene is told by interspersing it with panels showing how the protagonist got here. Fuso’s work here is distinctive and there is great contrast in the two stories being told during the fight scene. A lot of the effectiveness of Wyrd comes from Stefano Simeone’s choice of colors. They give the different settings and perspectives clear identities that really helps with the fight scene. The strong colors in the background of the opening scene adds a lot as well.
All in all, Wyrd doesn’t do much that we haven’t seen before. We’ve seen modern superheroes, realistic settings and anti-heroes. What it does do is tell an engrossing, interesting and stylish story that both makes you want to keep reading and tells a self contained story.
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