2 out of 5

2016 was a while ago at this point, but not so long ago that I don’t think Startup wouldn’t have been flagged as a little problematic. While Darin Henry’s SitComics imprint has, I think, a solid idea of balancing sort of a classic Silver Age style of comics (a more generally all-ages tone; standlone storylines) with some modern awareness, but done without direct kitsch, one of the initial outings – Startup – is pretty faceless in its execution, perhaps self-sabotaging by choosing a potentially rich concept and presenting it with a chuckle and a shrug. While I’m a big proponent of normalizing diversity by… normalizing it – by not calling it out – you can sort of over-correct and make it completely unrealistic by not discussing it at all. And in Startup, where a 300 pound woman gains a super power that makes her skinny and fast, we get the briefest blurbs about how being fat often makes you the center of negative attention, but sincerely zero conversation – not even blurbs – about how Renee Garcia-Gibson’s life becomes essentially easier with her new, slim body. I suppose there’s the argument that the moralizing here is at the level of the sitcoms this comic imprint is somewhat indebted to – just be yourself! – but by the same token, that’s like putting blinders on. To be clear, Henry doesn’t go the opposite direction and joke about Garcia-Gibson’s weight, trying to give us a (relative to the light tone of the book) realistic depiction of the hassles she deals with, but the book doesn’t have the guts to really confront any of the implications of its concept beyond the very tippy-top of the surface, and the “resolution” for this first story arc essentially doubles down on that: this is, again, a premise borne of a different time, and it would’ve been interesting to see that modernized, but we hardly get close. The cascading effect is the no one in the book is allowed to be all that interesting – we have to play it safe with Garcia-Gibson, and so as to not outshine her, that goes for every other character in the book as well.

…Including the supervillains of which Garcia-Gibson runs afoul, as she deems herself Startup and uses her super-speed to stop dem crooks: the baddies are barely one-dimensional, and present zero threat. Most of the book exists in justification of itself (i.e. here’s the premise, and we have to give Startup a reason to not be skinny all the time…).

Craig Rousseu’s art is effective, but its cartoonishness doesn’t have enough story pizzazz to really be put to use, and Glenn Whitmore’s color work is probably too “normal” to affect this either – I can imagine a more stylized look could’ve livened up the pages, or giving Rousseu more room for outlandishness, but it’s ultimately pretty tame stuff. (Ron Frenz’s hero / villain designs are ace, though, and if Rousseu assissted on those unique to this book – kudos there as well.)

As a last “good idea, but…” criticism, the Sitcomics concept as a riff on TV presumably encouraged the idea to have “commercials” – one or two-page joke ads – in the book, and those are worth some giggles, though they’re also a tonal mismatch: parodies belonging to a much more outlandishly toned story.

Startup has a baseline of competency in the art and writing that carries it through, and I like the imprint’s general vibe. But this was an odd choice for a premiere character, given that Henry both chose a setup that potentially required some care, but then also pretty much ignored exploring that setup except at the most shallow level.