So, what would happen if people mad at the world (for good reasons) get powers and become heroes, then become villains? Would they take over the nation? Or would they…settle down and hide from public view? That is the premise behind The Antagonists, a family of supers that hides their powers and tries to raise their powered children right. Which as any parent can tell you, it ain’t easy, even with superpowers.

The art improved dramatically from issue 1 to 3, and while these frames are from issue 1, the placement of the characters really sells the scene. Art doesn’t have to be perfect to make a scene great and the sequence of frames here really captures the tension. It also helps that the story works with the audience’s knowledge of stereotypical scenes we’ve all seen or heard about. You’ve got the back-talking asshole boss, the racist board members, and the good ole’ boy club of business conspiring against the immensely talented black businesswoman to hold her back.

I would’ve liked to continue this sideline story for a bit longer, but it leads to the A-plot when she kills him. Did I mention this is a superhero story? The art on the death scene really comes alive. You can feel the heat roasting off the page.

The creative time does a really good job of juxtaposition of character growth. In the first scene we see the characters getting what they want. Destructus wants social change and governmental change, and Ultima the Nubian wants payback. But… they change. Maybe when seeing themselves as parents changed them? You’ll have to tune in and see.

The only two things I disliked in the series were the ending to issue 1 because it felt cut-off or forced. The other I didn’t like were the kids. They seem like stereotypes, but I’ll probably withdraw that opinion as the story shift more to them in issues 4 and 5. We’ll talk about it next week.

You can get your own copies at Godhoodcomics.com

The Antagonists are back with a thrilling sequel! Ultima killed her boss but that led to the authorities tracking her down and attacking the family home. There was a bit dancing around in the first episodes as to how well the kids understood their powers. It turns out that they understand pretty well, but they never knew their parents past. They’re going to the need to learn quickly as their parents face the might of the vengeful government and its superpowered agents. They might be a bit salty about the death of The American Hero when Destructo and Ultima took out the President. Our ‘heroes?’ if you wanna call them that, left behind a trail of carnage and bloodshed that they ran from to have kids. So, a bit of this arc is about the consequences of their actions and their unfinished business.

The art was top-notch with some really good framing and the action reflected the writing philosophy really well. It’s not a rare thing in comics but when you spot it, it makes the comic a joy to read.

In issue #6, the heroes? or our heroes anyway, created a villain team to pursue their geopolitical goals but lost touch when they disappeared from the world stage. Some of those villains are on the cover here for #6.  As you can see, Destructo didn’t exactly pick the brightest of the bunch for his villain team. Wonder if they’ll appear in future issues? Anyway, I found all their covers to be really good and showcase a bit of what the story is about. I’m not the biggest fan of vague covers so I found their covers for episodes 4 to 6 to be quite impressive and gives me quite the leadup to the story.

Overall, I think the kid characters and antagonists are coming into their own. I don’t know how much the author wants to release of the main plot since the comic is optioned to a network for a live action version. But I hope to keep reading it. 4.5 out of 5 stars.