Jupiter's Legacy Requiem #5

Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem #5

Image Comics 2021

Written by Mark Millar

Illustrated by Matthew Dow Smith

Coloured by Giovanna Niro

Lettered by John Workman

The aliens Lady Liberty found in space come to Earth and explain that their origins are identical to our world’s heroes. Is there someone out there seeding the universe with superheroes? And for what purpose? Meanwhile, Skyfox is back doing what he does best, and that’s fighting superheroes. But will his family ever forgive him?

It’s been a couple issues since I’ve reviewed this series and thought it’s high time I got back to it. I really enjoy this series as it has the right blend of night time soap opera, classic superheroes and unapologetic in its approach to life. From my point of view this isn’t Millar writing for the masses this is him writing this for himself and if we like it great, if not well it's no sweat of his teeth. This is part of what makes this appealing to me is that I read this and think this is kind of ballsy and I like it. Of course this is big on family right?, and family is ninety percent grief, disappointment and judgement oriented, there’s some unconditional love but not a lot and it’s a source of anxiety for so many and this is captured within these pages exceptionally well. Everything we see encompasses the good and the bad that comes with family and like the proverbial train-wreck we can’t look away.

I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job keeping their distinct personalities at the forefront. The pacing is excellent and takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more of this we want to see.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is extremely well handled. How we see the layers opening up new avenues to be explored and this is where we get some great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. The way we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceedingly well.

Matthew does some really nice work on the interiors here. The linework varies and the gamut of weights creates some really strong interesting moments. I do wish we’d see more backgrounds being utilised, however, how we see the composition within the panels brings out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an extremely talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works. The creativity and imagination that we see is fantastic and that two-page spread of the planet Shoboth with the columns and the carvings yeah this is what I want to see more of.

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The drama, the background personal machinations that we see and the blatant disregard for life that permeates the story is gripping. While I’m waiting to see a gay couple in all this, men not women, just a random thought I was having. Right now I am thrilled with this because while it seems that the number of super-powered beings increases so does the scope to the story. I like this franchise and that it doesn’t “sleep” and I do mean each arc is set in a future from the last which keeps things interesting and lively. With usual superb writing and strong characterisation alongside these epically interesting interiors it keeps showing why the Millarverse is a sensational place to visit.