alexperc_92's review
5.0
Funny, with romance and a good dose of reminding me why I also love Lois and Superman!
(But Cat and Bat are my favorites!)
(But Cat and Bat are my favorites!)
csdaley's review
5.0
This was a reread for me. I wanted to go back through before I read volume 3. You know a book is good when you laugh as hard the 2nd time. This is a super sweet and funny comic. If you haven't read it you are completely missing out.
dumblydore's review
5.0
Bought all the online trades on Valentine's Day, and even though this is like my third read, it's still so addictive and fun. I wish there were more funny and romantic comics like this. We don't all want epic nonsensical sagas spanning across multi-earths with oversexualised or violent characters—sometimes we just need something that pokes a little fun at the genre, and is suitable for anyone to read.
readingrobyn's review
3.0
This first volume of Love and Capes did not disappoint. Having just stumbled upon this on the library shelf I was instantly drawn in by the cartoon art style and promising concept. Granted, it's a idea we're all probably a little too familiar with, woven into every superhero comic known to mankind, the story of the love interest. The reality of leading a double life, one in tights and one in love. In this book however the POP! BANG! POW! action takes a major backseat and the growing relationship between the Crusader (aka Mark) and Abby, a local independent bookseller, is right at the forefront.
Upon checking out the what's-what about Love and Capes, I was surprise to learn that this entire series can be read online. http://loveandcapes.com/lnc/?p=3 brings you straight to page one. Although personally, I would recommend the physical books if they're available to you. The images are just so crisp and the pages so glossy, it really does look fabulous in print. Whereas the digital version does leave a little something to be desired.
The actual art of Love and Capes is probably some of my favourite I've seen in a while. I just haven't come across much done in this classic bold cartoon style. It makes me think of everything fun and innocent about superheros, reminding me of the fun of watching morning cartoons or The Incredibles. The colouring is varied and dynamic which draws you into each page. But I have to say my favourite thing about the art is most definitely the character designs. Sure, everything here concept wise can be traced back to the standard superheros we all know and love, but the designs set these characters apart, from the Crusader, to Abby, to Amazonia. They're ideas that we can all recognize, but there look and more so their personalities set them apart.
So many of the superhero parody I've seen in pop culture forget to take the characters they're creating and make them truly interesting people in their own right. It's the major difference between exploiting the archetypes of superheros and just being a copy-cat for the hell of making a quick n' easy joke. Which I was happy to see this avoid.
The characters here each have their own thing going for them. The Crusader is a superman familiar but he's forever an accountant with a bubbling sense of humor. Abby is the smart superhero girlfriend, with an honest attitude and an interesting life of books and theatre outside her boyfriends constant heroics. Even the side characters have some sort of back story going for them and each is well throughout.
This is just pure light and fun. Nothing was particularly laugh out loud for my tastes, but it was always super playful and had me smiling the whole way through. The story lines also had great flow and were very easy to indulge in.
When I finally finished up I was reading the section from the author at the back of the book (with his process of creating Love and Capes) and that's when it all clicked. The writing style and dialog is just so comfortable throughout the story and I kept thinking how natural it all felt, almost a little familiar, but a good sort of familiar. That's when he said it. Sports Night. The sitcom comedy that focused on dialog and simple arcs, I could see the feel Zahler was going for with Love and Capes having cited that show.
This guy is one of my kind and everything about Love and Capes made me feel all happy and mushy inside. With any luck I'll be reading volume two very soon!
Upon checking out the what's-what about Love and Capes, I was surprise to learn that this entire series can be read online. http://loveandcapes.com/lnc/?p=3 brings you straight to page one. Although personally, I would recommend the physical books if they're available to you. The images are just so crisp and the pages so glossy, it really does look fabulous in print. Whereas the digital version does leave a little something to be desired.
The actual art of Love and Capes is probably some of my favourite I've seen in a while. I just haven't come across much done in this classic bold cartoon style. It makes me think of everything fun and innocent about superheros, reminding me of the fun of watching morning cartoons or The Incredibles. The colouring is varied and dynamic which draws you into each page. But I have to say my favourite thing about the art is most definitely the character designs. Sure, everything here concept wise can be traced back to the standard superheros we all know and love, but the designs set these characters apart, from the Crusader, to Abby, to Amazonia. They're ideas that we can all recognize, but there look and more so their personalities set them apart.
So many of the superhero parody I've seen in pop culture forget to take the characters they're creating and make them truly interesting people in their own right. It's the major difference between exploiting the archetypes of superheros and just being a copy-cat for the hell of making a quick n' easy joke. Which I was happy to see this avoid.
The characters here each have their own thing going for them. The Crusader is a superman familiar but he's forever an accountant with a bubbling sense of humor. Abby is the smart superhero girlfriend, with an honest attitude and an interesting life of books and theatre outside her boyfriends constant heroics. Even the side characters have some sort of back story going for them and each is well throughout.
This is just pure light and fun. Nothing was particularly laugh out loud for my tastes, but it was always super playful and had me smiling the whole way through. The story lines also had great flow and were very easy to indulge in.
When I finally finished up I was reading the section from the author at the back of the book (with his process of creating Love and Capes) and that's when it all clicked. The writing style and dialog is just so comfortable throughout the story and I kept thinking how natural it all felt, almost a little familiar, but a good sort of familiar. That's when he said it. Sports Night. The sitcom comedy that focused on dialog and simple arcs, I could see the feel Zahler was going for with Love and Capes having cited that show.
This guy is one of my kind and everything about Love and Capes made me feel all happy and mushy inside. With any luck I'll be reading volume two very soon!
alexandra_92's review
5.0
Funny, with romance and a good dose of reminding me why I also love Lois and Superman!
(But Cat and Bat are my favorites!)
(But Cat and Bat are my favorites!)
caitcoy's review
2.0
Love and Capes is a humorous look at relationship with a superhero that has all the elements of a romantic sit com. Mark Spencer is an accountant during his work days but spends much of his time as his alter ego The Crusader, saving Deco City from various menaces and supervillains. Just to make things a bit more complicated, he’s dating a young woman named Abby Tennyson, a clever and good-looking bookstore owner who has absolutely no idea that Mark is anything but an accountant. When Mark finally decides to let Abby in on his big secret, will it rock their relationship? What about supervillains, time travel, alternate realities and all the other crazy things superheroes deal with? Regardless of anything else, life is never boring when you’re dating a superhero.
On the website for the comic, Thom Zahler mentions that it was a love of the cancelled “Lois and Clark” television show that inspired him to write Love and Capes. And it’s easy to see that influence in the series. One of the things that the series does very, very well is the treatment of the relationship between Mark and Abby. Oftentimes with romances involving superheroes, the romance takes a backseat or is used for plot devices like creating a weakness for the superhero or forcing them to have to save their significant other. Love and Capes is a story about the relationship first and superheroes second. The issues that Mark and Abby run into are standard relationship trouble, with the added twist of having to deal with fantastical elements as well. This focus on the relationship rather than crime fighting (which largely happens off-camera) makes the relationship feel more like an actual relationship and less like someone forcing a love interest into a superhero story. I appreciated that it was one of the few superhero romances that really seemed to understand that the romance should have some depth to it and have normal challenges as well as super ones. The series also excels at giving little nods to superhero comics in the characters, plot lines and the way it makes fun of tropes you always see in those kinds of stories. It’s funny and very sweet. Unfortunately for me….a bit too sweet. I’m not now nor have I ever been a fan of sit coms. I don’t like the set-up, I think the jokes tend to be lame and mostly the format just makes it impossible for me to care about the characters. While I really enjoyed the way that Zahler handled the romance and the fact that it felt so much more realistic and better written than 99% of love stories involving superheroes, I just couldn’t get into the sit com set-up. I found myself getting annoyed with that element a lot over the course of the series. To give Love and Capes credit however, I think it’s mostly an issue of “it’s not you, it’s me.” Love and Capes handles the relationship between Mark and Abby spectacularly well, enough that even with my dislike of sit coms, I still enjoyed it.
Due to its strong reliance on the sit com theme, Love and Capes isn’t for everyone. It’s a very sweet, funny story about two people in love with each other and trying to figure out how to balance not only work and home life but the ups and downs of a being a superhero as well. It never feels like a token romance inserted to check off a box and will have plenty to please any fan of superhero stories. If you dislike sit coms as I do, this may be a more difficult read but it’s still a good one. Overall, I’d recommend Love and Capes to anyone wanting a fun romantic comedy with capes and enjoys (or at least doesn’t mind) the jokes and background of a sit com. Have you read Love and Capes or have thoughts on this rom com sit com (there’s a mouthful)?
On the website for the comic, Thom Zahler mentions that it was a love of the cancelled “Lois and Clark” television show that inspired him to write Love and Capes. And it’s easy to see that influence in the series. One of the things that the series does very, very well is the treatment of the relationship between Mark and Abby. Oftentimes with romances involving superheroes, the romance takes a backseat or is used for plot devices like creating a weakness for the superhero or forcing them to have to save their significant other. Love and Capes is a story about the relationship first and superheroes second. The issues that Mark and Abby run into are standard relationship trouble, with the added twist of having to deal with fantastical elements as well. This focus on the relationship rather than crime fighting (which largely happens off-camera) makes the relationship feel more like an actual relationship and less like someone forcing a love interest into a superhero story. I appreciated that it was one of the few superhero romances that really seemed to understand that the romance should have some depth to it and have normal challenges as well as super ones. The series also excels at giving little nods to superhero comics in the characters, plot lines and the way it makes fun of tropes you always see in those kinds of stories. It’s funny and very sweet. Unfortunately for me….a bit too sweet. I’m not now nor have I ever been a fan of sit coms. I don’t like the set-up, I think the jokes tend to be lame and mostly the format just makes it impossible for me to care about the characters. While I really enjoyed the way that Zahler handled the romance and the fact that it felt so much more realistic and better written than 99% of love stories involving superheroes, I just couldn’t get into the sit com set-up. I found myself getting annoyed with that element a lot over the course of the series. To give Love and Capes credit however, I think it’s mostly an issue of “it’s not you, it’s me.” Love and Capes handles the relationship between Mark and Abby spectacularly well, enough that even with my dislike of sit coms, I still enjoyed it.
Due to its strong reliance on the sit com theme, Love and Capes isn’t for everyone. It’s a very sweet, funny story about two people in love with each other and trying to figure out how to balance not only work and home life but the ups and downs of a being a superhero as well. It never feels like a token romance inserted to check off a box and will have plenty to please any fan of superhero stories. If you dislike sit coms as I do, this may be a more difficult read but it’s still a good one. Overall, I’d recommend Love and Capes to anyone wanting a fun romantic comedy with capes and enjoys (or at least doesn’t mind) the jokes and background of a sit com. Have you read Love and Capes or have thoughts on this rom com sit com (there’s a mouthful)?
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