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

PREVIOUSLY: The Greatest American Hero #1

Okay, so now I’ve read the second issue. Still a lot of things going on, but not much actually happened.

So as we saw in the first issue, Ralph still has the super suit, but it doesn’t always work properly. You think he’d be an expert after all of this time that’s passed. But he tried to use his super strength and failed, although he inadvertently teleported a short distance (which I don’t recall him ever doing on the TV show). But his invulnerability saved Maya’s life, as he was hit by a truck that was headed in her direction and survived, only to then pass out.

He’s revived in this issue, where’s he reacquaints with his former student Tony, who has a connection to Ralph’s son Kevin. Now, in this issue it’s said that Ralph disappeared 30 years ago. Through exposition we learn Kevin’s ex, Maya’s mom got sick (presumably Cancer) and since Kevin was broke, he borrowed $50k from the Russian Mafia, which only kept her alive a few extra months, which he’s been struggling to replay ever since. Hence, his illegal selling last issue. Tony knows about this, and has been helping out Kevin and Maya, but he doesn’t have a high opinion of Ralph, whom he refers to as a deadbeat.

After ending up back on his own, Ralph goes to see Pam. I’ll note that he’s still wearing his super suit the whole time, but again his powers aren’t working properly. He’s denied entry to see Pam in her office, so he tries to fly up to the top of the building to see her. It doesn’t go well, but he does make it to see her, she mentions watching him die 30 years earlier, but Ralph just says that the aliens brought him back. With heavy sadness, Pam asks him for help with a terrorist situation that she’s investigating but Ralph’s powers continue to be erratic. This ends with another cliffhanger.

Joshua Malkin cowrites the script with Don Hanfield, with Tawnia McKiernan once again co-credited with story, but once again it’s proving to be a real slow-burn. There are still so many questions about what Ralph has been up to since the TV show ended and, most importantly, what’s wrong with his super suit and why aren’t his powers working like before? This story is 25 pages long, with a 4-page preview of the 3rd issue.

I’m still not really impressed with Alper Gecgel’s artwork, but it’s easy enough to follow along with the story, I guess. So this isn’t a huge recommend for me but when that next issue debuts, I’ll likely track it down too.