3 out of 5

An eager little indie book – seemingly funded by Kickstarter and then, I’m supposing re-released by Devil’s Due – that’s not going to have enough room to fulfill its promise.  The premise of ‘Solitary’ is basic but appealing enough: a superhero in jail.  Of course, a moment’s thought might make one question the logistics of locking up someone, we’ll suppose, with powers, but plenty of comics have tackled that, and ‘Solitary’s bleak and jagged art style can lead us to imagine that this particular hero is de-powered in some way or another.  After all, Eric M. Esquivel of Boom! Studios is quoted on the back of issue 2 as comparing to Watchmen, so we know that means mind-blowing reality all up in this biz.  …We also know that Watchmen comparisons are catch-alls just to get fanboys to pay attention, so here’s some grains of salt as well.

But Cooke, artist Souzamotta and colorists Greg + Fake do some core things right from the start: they keep it sane.  Even though Souzamotta’s figures are all gnarled and casting evil looks everywhere, even though the colors employ these liberal splashes of the bleakest black all around, the story is fairly moderate and… there’s no swearing.  Which was honestly a big surprise, given the “we’re so gritty” setup.  Sure, you’ve got some guys uttering some icons for expletives, but our narrative is mostly in the lead’s head, and thankfully not littered with @#@!’s that ring of amateur / Bendis writing.  The writing is a bit roughshod, Cooke getting a bit too poetic or not quite arranging things in the most effective manner, but still – our main dude on the way to the electric chair opens the book and despite the unevenness and hurried characterizations, it’s interesting.  So that’s a good sign.

Spoilers ahead.

The pacing hiccups begin to setup some animosity between the Warden and our death-rowmate, and some flashbacks – yes, he was a superhero – leading up to some event which presumably landed him in jail.  And then he’s dead.  Whoops.  And then he wakes up.  And the Warden smiles, realizing he gets to kill him yet again.  This is issue one, and again, it’s a valid start.  If it’s four issues plumbing the depths of human vs. hero with hatred as the motivator – like Lex Luthor’s wish fulfillment regarding Superman – that’s a fine basis for a mini-series.

Unfortunately, that’s not the basis.  Because we have to explain why our hero woke up, and continues to wake up, death after death, and oh, there’s also some conspiracy with the Warden, and it’s wrapped up with your family’s history and…  And I lost interest.  The hook is no longer the premise, it’s just the hook, covered up by suddenly bloating plotlines that the writing and art can’t quite wrangle, and that I can’t imagine will be smoothly effected and concluded over the next two issues.  So I’m out.  But the validity of the comparatively low-key first issue is worth quite a bit – and worth giving CW and crew another shot down the road – so I’m also sort of quitting early so that the book can maintain its 3-star rating.  HOW GENEROUS.