Written by Don Hanfield (with story help from Tawnia McKiernan)
Drawn by Alper Geçgel
Published by AMP Comics

I’ve written before about as a very wee lad I loved the TV series The Greatest American Hero. Sadly, neither of a couple of proposed remakes have ever come to pass. Years ago, Arcana Studios published a comic-book miniseries, written by TV star William Katt himself, which rebooted the series in the modern day. But I didn’t particularly enjoy it. At the beginning of this year, I read about how a new independent published, called AMP Comics, was planning on producing a new comic-book about the character, and I made a mental note to check it out when it debuted.

Then I eventually forgot about it.

It recently propped back into my memory, and when I looked it up, I was surprised to see that the first two issues have since been published. But when I searched Amazon I could not find any digital versions available for purchase, which is a shame as that is my preferred reading format for comic-books these day. Well, curiosity got the better of me, so I looked up and bought copies of each issue on eBay, both of which have arrived. This was all written before I read them, which I am now going to do and then I will come back and review them.

Okay, I read it, and I’m not exactly sure what to think, so far

I’m not familiar with the work of writer Don Hanfield, but this first issue is pretty decompressed, which I don’t think is the best style for a title like this. I guess it’s a safe bet that the majority of readers who would pick up a book like this would be, like myself, fans of the original TV series, who are coming to the book with certain knowledge of the background, but it still doesn’t tell much.

It’s a full 28-page story, but it’s light on details and dialog. In the middle of the desert, we see an alien spaceship, and Ralph appears, wearing a suit and tie, and carrying a briefcase, which has his super suit inside. He gets into a car and drives into a nearby town where he meets a man named Kevin, who is selling antiques (although there’s a hint of a darker purpose) with his 9-year-old daughter Maya. It turns out that Kevin is Ralph’s son (and Maya Ralph’s granddaughter), although Kevin doesn’t recognize him at first.

From their stilted conversation we learn that Ralph disappeared 43 years prior, and wasn’t a great father to Kevin before that anyway. Kevin has some knowledge of Ralph’s story about the super suit but thinks it’s made up and that Ralph is just insane. We don’t learn the identity of the mother, or what’s happened to her, but we get a clue that it’s not Pam, as we see her picture on a billboard which states she’s the mayor and running for reelection, which surprises Ralph.

The issue ends on a dramatic cliffhanger, which shows that Ralph’s power are not working like they should.

I hope I haven’t given away too much but, like I said, there’s not much story at this point. It’s hard to see how it took three different writers to craft this story. If it were any other property, I likely wouldn’t have continues, but I did already buy the 2nd issue.

The art is serviceable, not that it stands out much. Despite his likeness on the cover, the character of Ralph is not drawn to resemble William Katt, although he is recognizable to regular viewers. I’m also not sure how old he is supposed to look. He’s older than the character was on the TV show, but not as old as he should since the books says he’s been missing for 43 years (which is the amount of time that’s passed since the TV show ended in 1983).

Speaking of which, the co-credited author of the story, Tawnia McKiernan, is the daughter of series producer Stephen J. Cannell, which is interesting, but I’m not seeing what she brought to the story just yet.

I’ll also note that the artist is credited as Alper Gelcel in the book although when I looked him up online he’s named Alper Gecgel, so that’s a silly screwup.

In conclusion I’m obviously not blown away by this issue, but if, like myself, you have a nostalgic pull for the TV show, you may want to check it out for yourself to see what you think.