The idea of giving the worst person in the world superpowers isn’t entirely a new concept. The Boys and Invincible both featured antagonists who were held to the world as paragons of virtue, then turned out to be anything but. Jean Grey gained godlike powers, then became a force of destruction as Dark Phoenix. The Schlub #1 from Ryan Stegman, Kenny Porter, Tyrell Cannon, Mike Spicer and John J. Hill stands out from the pack by taking a humorous spin on the concept – and the results speak for themselves.
Roger Dalton is going nowhere in life. His wife broke up with him, his father and brother are captains of industry, and he can’t even keep his bowling league out of the gutters. The one thing he has going for him is his dental practice, and even that’s wrecked when the superhero Cirrus bursts through the wall after a battle with his nemesis, the dread sorcerer Wyrm. But when Roger ends up activating a device that Cirrus was tying to keep out of Wyrm’s hands, he switches bodies with the superpowered champion and sees a chance to live the life he wants.
Stegman and Porter are pretty direct with their script, drawing deep parallels between Roger and Cirrus. Roger’s flaws are evident from the very first page; he’s talking on the phone with his ex-wife Sara, trying to get her to take him back, while he’s still with a patient. He adds ridiculous surcharges to his patient’s bill; I won’t spoil them here, but reading them out loud will make any reader with a sense of sanity go “is this guy serious?!” In contrast, Cirrus is selfless to the point of potentially sacrificing himself to save the world. Which makes it all the more hilarious when they switch bodies.
That same sense of contrast is embodied in Cannon’s artwork. Roger is short, rotund, and perpetually scowling behind his thick lenses. He also isn’t in the best of shape. Cirrus is a massive, towering pile of muscles draped in a pure white suit and a cape – he’s basically the love child of Superman and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Once the body swap takes place, you can immediately start to see the changes in both of them; Cirrus-as-Roger stands up a little straighter, while Roger-as-Cirrus has to learn to carry himself in a certain way lest he crack the planet in half. Even the pacing of the book has a nice juxtaposition; you’ll have epic scenes like Cirrus and Wyrm duking it out followed by a rather grotesque scene of Roger cracking open a patient’s mouth with his tools. It goes without saying that this book probably isn’t going to make anyone a fan of dentists.
This being a superhero book, you’d expect bright vibrant colors and that’s what Spicer brings to the table. Roger’s office is the bright, pristine, and antiseptic – what you’d expect from a dentist. Wrym’s sickly green skin is the stark opposite of Cirrus’ blue and white superhero outfit. And of course, befitting a superhero comic, Hill’s lettering is big and bold – loud BOOMS and KRAKS accentuate every toppling building.
The Schlub #1 may have one of the world’s worst superheroes, but it’s one of the best comics I’ve read this year. Stegman proves to be just as capable of a writer as he is an artist, especially when backed with top-tier talent, and it’s proof that Vanish wasn’t the only great comic to come out of KLC Press.
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