SUPERKILLER by Vito Gesualdi review
its late, but is it gay?
Superkiller, the indie comic by Vito Gesualdi, is here. It’s a story very concerned with the meta of superheroes and superhero fatigue. I gave part 1 a read, so I’m here to share my thoughts.
The story begins with a Meteorman scene, who’s a pretty on-the-nose Superman expy. After a solid gay joke we zoom out to reveal Beck, a waitress with decent cans, reading the comic. She banters with her boss, he leaves the restaurant in her care, she reflects on how she’s grown disillusioned with superheroes… but oh no! Superkiller, bloody from a fight, shambles in. He catches her up to speed, where we learn Superkiller is a dimension-hopper who kills superheroes in different worlds. He’s tasked with killing Meteorman - who’s not just a character, he’s also a real guy, and he just kicked the shit out of Superkiller.
The scene ends with Meteorman crashing into the restaurant, ready to finish the job.
Superkiller presents the audience with different layers of abstraction: beginning with the abject fantasy of a superhero, the rejection of superheroes, and Superkiller’s blend of the two. It felt like I was watching a zoomed-out summary of the last 17 years of the MCU and its subsequent backlash. This layering makes it all the more rewarding when these three characters are finally locked into place in the final scene.
I see what writer, Vito Gesualdi, is going for here. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that the first 10 pages could’ve been cut. Beck’s chitchat with her boss went on for too long, and giving her disillusioned backstory so soon felt clumsy. And hey, maybe I’m the rube, and these are all locking and loading the Chekov’s guns to be fired in part two. After all, if we know Beck is kind of “over” superheroes, that does give her more of a reason to join Superkiller and help him defeat Meteorman. But I’m not especially holding my breath for Cafe Owner Dmitri to come back in any meaningful way, he just sort of feels like he exists to show how much Beck’s life sucks.
I’m also not crazy about introducing Meteorman through a fictionalized comic book, then revealing this world has real-life superheroes, Meteorman being one. It came off as a bit clumsy, and now I’m wondering if superhero based comics are a niche in their world and how much are based in fiction.
If we’re approaching this as high-IQ meta commentary, I see why they could’ve seen this as the necessary way to begin their comic. I was just getting that antsy, “when do we get to the fireworks factory” feeling, since the first 10-ish pages felt more like the Adventures of a Girlfailure.
When Superkiller shows up, it feels like the show’s finally starting - but he has to explain who he is, what he does, and then whip back to a flashback so we know how he got his ass kicked. It was grating having the narrative jump around so much.
Despite this, I didn’t totally hate it. Most of the dialogue is kept smooth, and even if the plot is a bit disjointed, it does keep moving and doesn’t slow down.
Another major plus is the art. It’s very bold and confident, without taking itself too seriously. The thick lineart was such a treat, and it was all-around incredibly expressive and such a delight to drink in. And that’s mostly because the two main two characters have a decent bisexual appeal. Superkiller himself looks like if Satoru Goji was an x-man. He has a twinkish build and soft hair, 10/10 yaoi bait, I’m personally praying he gets some romantic crossover art with other indie comic superheroes. As for the girl, she’s decently cute. Her design isn’t as memorable, but the artist was able to give her such a wide range of expressions and make her so fun. Definitely has good nerdy gf kind of appeal, but-
Her character would be better if they upgraded her boobs. I want them distractingly large. They’re at a decent size now, but if they were monstrous, then this comic would’ve been memorialized amongst chounyuu lovers forever. This is a missed opportunity.
Right now there’s nothing very memorable to make her into a solid waifu character, whereas with Superkiller I can immediately see the husbando appeal.
And if you’re thinking, hey man, you’re either
sounding kinda gay, or
arbitrarily projecting your misogynistic tastes onto this character,
well, you’re right, but, Also, this came up a lot on the author’s podcast, The Biggest Problem in the Universe. Every week, Vito Gesualdi prostrates himself for the audience while his cohost, Dick Masterson, unleashes a constant deluge of fatshaming. It’s needlessly cruel, and they air it live every week.
And being a weekly listener to Biggest Problem does make this comic better. That parasocial relationship made me understand Vito’s voice and writing style better. Certain lines very much read in his style, like Beck showing all kinds of shock from the social media platform, Bonkzongo. It’s such a perfect joke word, and I could immediately imagine Vito saying it with his sarcastic delivery.
But unfortunately I can also see the self-consciousness reflected in his writing. There’s several times where lines feel like an unnecessary self-deflection that slow down the scene, for example, in the Bonkzongo panel we see Superkiller quip about how dumb it sounds. Maybe that was supposed to be the joke, but for me it killed the momentum.
There’s too many times where the joke just isn’t allowed to breathe, and I get the sense that the author wanted to always be a few steps ahead of the readers, as if he’s thinking through every possible Twitter argument that could sprout from every bad-faith, shit-slinging critique for his comic. And this pervasiveness does downgrade the overall reading experience.
Anyway, I’m bringing up Biggest Problem because I know Dick has told Vito that he needed to give Beck bigger cans. But Vito didn’t listen. I know if Dick, someone you’re so close to, wasn’t able to convince you, then I know I don’t have a chance. But I still need vocalize that her tits need to be bigger. At this point, I don’t care what you do with the story, I just don’t want X-Men Gojo standing next to a girl who’s a midwest 7. And there’s still time to fix this. You can make her jugs a little bit bigger every panel. Ease the viewers into it.
Just think, if they’re both smokin hot, you basically have the human version of the Zootopia couple, and then it’s only a matter of time until people make a doujinshi where they struggle with abortion. Superkiller just dropped a perfect ikemen in our laps. If you don’t make the girl hotter, then all of Superkiller’s rule 34 will be of him and Isom.
Thank u for reading <3
I want melons big enough to echo locate.