Sunday 22 July 2012

J2: Geek Tank

I've been reading J2's first and to-date, only collection and as I've been neglecting my blog of late, I figure this is as good place to start as any. Besides, I love Juggy!



So, J2 is Zane Yama, a geeky kid in the same mold as Peter Parker with the major difference being he is the son of former X-villain Cain Marko, aka The Unstoppable Juggernaut. Of the three original MC2 titles, J2's would have to be the most distinct in tone. It's fast paced and funny, quickly establishing the protagonist followed by the school jock, our antagonist. Admittedly the characters are sketchy, broadly created to get the point across.

That said, a personal favorite moment for Zane's character (and a great piece of comedy writing) is the initial transformation into a juggernaut. In a good example of the unreliable narrator, Zane tells us, the reader, how he handled the transformation with enthusiasm and maturity...only to run through the school naked screaming for his mother.



Over the course of his too-short series Zane becomes a fun, offbeat hero who means well but often screws up or lets his impulses get the better of him, but always come through in the end. Over in the Avengers Next series, J2 became a mainstay of the team, one of the few members to stick with the Avengers throughout every incarnation.

Amongst the legacy heroes of the MC2, J2 sits near the top of my list for not being your typical hero.

No comments:

Post a Comment