Writer/Creator: Matt Kyme
Artist: Arthur Strickland
Lettering: Brendan Halyday

That Bulletproof Kid serves as a love letter to the tried and tested ‘teenage-hero-trying-to-balance-his-real-life-with-his-superheroics’ approach that made comics like The Amazing Spider-Man such a runaway hit. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel however, this is a book that seemingly revels in the clichés and tropes that have made the approach so appealing over the years, as well as fully acknowledging the over saturation of the genre in the gloriously self-aware opening line of dialogue “Not another teenage superhero! That’s just what this world needs!”

The story introduces us to Anth, a fairly regular (aside from being, y’know, Bulletproof) kid trying to deal with the usual pitfalls of school life. Bullies, friend issues, girls, too much homework… that kind of thing. His character is reasonably well defined, and we get a strong sense that he’s a decent enough kid, even if the characterisation in this first issue doesn’t really dig much deeper than that. While the school portion is serviceable enough, the two main storyline beats of this issue come from an early scene featuring a blue-skinned super-villain breaking his brother out of a maximum security prison and the dramatic final pages where we see Anth finally out ‘in the field’ in his role as a superhero sidekick. Both of these segments promise a lot for the series moving forward, and give hope that the groundwork is being laid for a far more involving tale than the one we’re presented with in this first issue.

Arthur Strickland’s artwork is solid enough throughout, and while it occasionally contains some questionable anatomy or the odd wonky facial expression, it definitely does more than enough to keep the story moving forwards at a respectable pace while still keeping things interesting. His character designs are impressive too, and he does a great job of creating some visually distinctive superheroes and villains. The colouring on the other hand can be a little harsh in places; giving the book an occasionally garish appearance and making several of the panels appear more cluttered than they need to be.

There’s definitely a lot of charm to this title though, and it’s clear the creative team are passionate fans of classic teen heroes such as Spider-Man. However, this also leads to the glaring problem with this book; namely, the lack of any real ‘hook’ to distinguish itself from the swarm of other similar titles out there. Don’t get me wrong, That Bulletproof Kid isn’t a title without its own merits, but is instead a book that doesn’t quite do enough to make it stand out from crowd. At least not yet, anyway. There’s a lot of potential here for sure, but sadly, it seems to be potential that hasn’t been quite realised just yet.

You can read the first issue of That Bulletproof Kid in its entirety at thatbulletproofkid.com, and I have to say, the colour tones on the webcomic look significantly less garish than in the review copy I received.

The writer of this piece was: Craig Neilson (aka Ceej)
Article Archive: Ceej Says