Irredeemable, Vol. 4 Paperback – November 9, 2010

"Irredeemable, v.4"Written by Mark Waid(Boom! Studios, 2010)-----------------------------------Fun stuff! The fourth collected volume in this taut series about a Superman-like character named the Plutonian, who's gone off the deep end and become a genocidal god-gone-wrong. In this volume, we get more backstory about the Justice League-ish group that he was part of, and it becomes apparent that this series may be more about the disintegration of that group than it is of the homicidal mega-man. In order to keep things going, Mark Waid has to write around the omnipotence of the Plutonian, and to a certain degree must disregard the meta-level powers that we've already been shown he possesses, so that he doesn't just kill all the other characters immediately and then sit on an asteroid somewhere with nothing left to do. Indeed, the Plutonian seems remarkably ineffectual in this volume - he's clearly capable of annihilating the remnants of this world's super-population, but hardly gets in any licks this time around. Still, the various origin-stories and expositions are engaging, and the plotline is still exciting: this book may be the best since Volume One. You'll definitely be ready for Volume Five as soon as you burn through this slim paperback... Really, the only complaint to be made it that this book only collects four issues and includes a bunch of the now-standard "bonus" materials that clutter up the back of modern graphic novels: maybe somebody out there in fandom really deeply cares about all the alternate covers and sketchbook stuff, but a lot of us just see it as filler. Anyway, that's just a little rant - if you've enjoyed this series so far, this installment will keep you hooked. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

This series just gets better with each volume. Again, I love the flashbacks that reveal what happened to cause the Plutonian to crack.

A very intriguing story. I would recommend for any superhero comic lovers, especially if you want an alternative style story.

Terrific artwork and a great concept this title is moving in a fantastic direction...the story is fresh...great artwork and pulls off a very dark concept in a way that tells a survivial story in a traditional hero comic. Fantastic read

if youre this far in, youre invested. the story continues without much deviation from the formula created previously

I AM WRITING THIS REVIEW IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE I AM YELLING ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS BOOK. YOU SHOULD READ IT AFTER VOLUME THREE BUT BEFORE VOLUME 5!

Excellent book! So much easier than wading through several comics.

Irredeemable suffers from two major problems based on what's currently available (1-4). This review is more directed towards the series as a whole rather than this volume and I'm placing it here as this is the last volume released at the time of this review.The first problem is what I'll call the Gilligan's Island problem. It introduces at the start of the series the major conflict (Superman goes bad) and from that point it must continually struggle to NOT resolve it. Every book is like an episode of Gilligan's Island where they almost make it but something last minute stops them and then the issues are resolved a second after they are introduced but its too late and you are back to where you started.The second major problem is the fact that 90% of the story is told in flashbacks. This causes several issues in that characters do not grow, learn, change, and character motivations are not understood until the second before or after something unexplained occurs. When you present the reader all the information character's have (and sometimes more) it is vastly preferable experience so the readers can predict and ponder what will happen next. Where everything is unknown you can ask they question of what will happen next but you have no data to make guesses with.With the Gilligan's Island syndrome and flashbacks it feels like there is no planned story and the writer simply making up random events or back story issue to issue with no goal in sight. I do like the question of "What if Superman went bad" and the art is pretty decent but with how poorly the story is executed I can't see myself continuing the series.

Raised on a diet of superman an wonder woman being so perfect an if they had a bad event it would always be fine an sweetly tied up with only the minimal of damage ...Well this ain't dat kinda story,an if your looking for that stop reading now. Because this will pull away from your comfort zone an burn it down in the best way possible, it's a refreshing change I have read Comics for over 35years , yep a part of me never grew up. And this book is for the part me that did

A fantastic new series, Mark Waid is THE man for writing this classic series, utterly brilliant.