Mara by Wood & Doyle

New creator-owned work from Brian Wood!  From Image too!  That should make this story awesome, right?  Yeah, that’s what I thought too.  Though it has those things going for it, along with some very nice art from Ming Doyle, “Mara” ultimately comes off feeling like a warmed-over rehash of the writer’s earlier anti-authoritarian books.  The title character is a volleyball player who is also the biggest athletic star in the world.  She has everything going for her — until she manifests superpowers in the middle of a match.  Then Mara’s world crumbles around her while the woman becomes something more than humanity has ever seen.

What really sunk this title for me was near-unilateral rejection humanity foists upon her when her powers show up.  Yeah, some people would call this sports hero a cheater, others would fear her, a good chunk would likely talk about how awesome her powers are and just as many would likely revere her as a god.  We don’t see any humans resembling those last two groups as with two exceptions, all of humanity is either out to get Mara or manipulate her in some way.  It also bears mentioning that “Mara” is a very serious comic as well with no variance in its tone or anything to lighten the mood.  Some good stories have been written with these conditions, but they all involve the reader being able to completely buy into the world being created on the page.  Wood never managed to get me to do that here and reading the book felt like one long slog.  If you want better youthful rebellion stories from the writer, go check out the complete edition of “Channel Zero” or “The Couriers” and leave this on the shelf.