Super Human Resources #1
Posted: Monday, December 1, 2008
By: Karyn Pinter
Ken Marcus
Justin Bleep
Ape Entertainment
Everyone can remember their first day on the job: walking around meeting new people whose names you forget a minute later, having to fill out a mountain of paper work, trying to find the coffee room, getting poisoned by a ninja. Well, okay, some of us don't drink coffee, but that ninja part – we've all been there, right? I guess only if you work at Super Crises International, the office setting of Super Human Resources. This is for anyone who has ever worked in a cubical, for the over-worked and under-appreciated, for the number crunchers, and for those who are convinced that the copy machine is indeed smarter then anyone else in the building and is secretly plotting the downfall of humanity (I'm one of them).
Super Human Resources is a spirited and humorous beginning to Ken Marcus's comic writing career. It tells the tale of Tim, a meek temp coming to work for the first time at Super Crises International (or SCI), where the crazy business of superheroes is business as usual. Since it's his first day, Tim is given a tour of the building and meets his new co-workers, a mix of the power-endowed and the ordinary civilian. The story is bitingly fun, filled with the sarcasm one would overhear at the water cooler or in the staff break room away from the bosses. Truly, this is the work of someone who has spent the better part of their working career chained to the cubical wall and day dreaming, like most of us do. And for those of you who think this is just a comic about white collared super powered desk jockeys, think again. There's a traitor lying in wait at SCI, though we don't yet know who it is.
Justin Bleep's artwork adds to the feeling of slightly askew normality with bold angles mixing with round lines and dulled colors. The look is very cartoony, but I mean that in a good way -- honest. It wouldn't be doing the comic any favors if the art was serious and dramatic. It needs to stay in the realm of goofy and light-hearted. I can foresee this comic gaining a cult following, much like its movie counter-part, Office Space. It's funny to most, but golden to those who really know where it's coming from.
This isn't a dense comic, and it's not going to sprout off into six different story arcs that you'll have to chase through five different comics; it's just a good time. You remember those comics -- going to the shop, flipping through a comic, and then buying it because it looked like it could be interesting? Well, this is that comic. Super Human Resources, the comic that's just worth reading. Right now the story is just getting warmed up; Tim is in the office and there is foul play in the future. We'll just have to keep reading to find out how Tim's 9 to 5 grind is going to end.
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