Vanguard vol's 1 - 3

It's been a long time coming but finally we have reached this point.

I have finally read volumes one through three of Dan Butcher's Superhero thriller we comic, Vanguard!!

I had always planned on reading this series ever since I had heard about it thanks to Dan's position on the Awesome Comic Podcast which had made me aware of it. However, even after buying all three volumes at True Believers back in February of this year, Vanguard still managed to slide further and further down my reading pile as other priorities came across my desk.

However, even when I finally broke into Vanguard's three trades, I had not anticipated it taking a month to read them all as further disruptions reared their ugly heads.

Fortunately, as the saying goes, all good things come to those who wait.

Set in the not too distant future, Vanguard tells the story of the eponymous super hero team, Great Britain's own Justice League consisting of Superman-like Kingsword, Merlin-esque Woden, the telepathic Godiva, Wolf-man Gradlion, telekinetic Ophelia, newbie Spitfire and Captain America analog leader, Pendragon. When the team is sent on a simple rescue mission, little do they know that the secrets they will stumble upon are only the beginning of a intricate plan by mysterious factions intent on using the chaos they support for a push to take over the world. With enemies both without and within, it falls to Britain's greatest heroes to make a stand for their country in a battle of good versus evil that will take place over years, as two generations of super powered patriots fight to ensure freedom within the British Isles.

Now, I've written that basic breakdown of the series to sound as epic as my limited skills can achieve and that is for good reason. In truth, I found Vanguard to be such an epic story that the best compliment I can give it is to say that it is the Super-hero equivalent of Star Wars. By the time I'd reached the end, I found Vanguard was a truly fantastic read as it felt like Dan Butcher had created such a captivating story and set it in such an engrossing world that I found myself cursing every time I had to set the book(s) down in order to sleep/work/be an adult.

These first three volumes are broken down into two distinct stories. The first two volumes are a prelude to the main event and tell a story of a more familiar world set fifteen years in the narrative past as the Vanguard battle to get to the truth of the mysterious conspiracy they've stumbled across and attempt to ensure the good guys win. Meanwhile, the third volume takes place after the dust has settled as a new selection of super-heroes pick up the mantle in order to undo the damage caused from that opening story.

Of these three volumes, I felt that the strongest by far was the second title (which also had the most awesome cover, although the other two were close second/third) because, while one and three were used to set up two different status quo's, volume 2 felt incredibly intricate, deep and heavily designed in both it's list of characters and the complexity of the story. In fact, it was this complex political, almost Manchurian Candidate-esque, thriller of a plot that most appealed to me as I really felt Dan's story went from one that had started rather simply to something which had so many working parts as hidden characters, turncoats and unknown quantities were just putting the screws on the heroes. However, the fact that these same heroes still pushed back against these ever increasing odds only made the series so much more engaging to me.

Speaking of the characters, there is such a broad selection of personality types included that it really helps feel like this could have been an almost autobiographical story given just how varied I thought they were. Of course, this is both something of a blessing and a curse as not only does it add depth to this already heavily layered world but, due to there being so many people, I found it a struggle to keep up with who exactly was who (especially given that only volume 2 contained a previously in Vanguard recap page). That said, despite the struggle to keep up with all the new character intro's, very few (if any) have come across to me as superfluous as even the dead continue to have a purpose in the overall narrative. Besides that, I do think it also opens up a well of spin offs once Dan has finished his main story; the beginnings of Vanguard, the Origin of Xian, where Cates got that armour, the fall of McPhaidon (who by the way, looks the spit of the actor who played Provero in the V for Vendetta movie).

As for Dan's art in Vanguard, well, what can I say beyond how gorgeous it is!! I'm a big fan of his Dan's work in Awesome Comics (go pledge to his Vyper kickstarter to see what I mean) as well as his input into an issue of comichaus (I think it was). In Vanguard, however, his standard digital, Clayton Crain-esque pencils and inks look to just be ramped up to 11 as every panel seems to just be made to look bigger and more outlandish, otherwise known as perfectly in keeping with the story. I did feel that this was let down in the third volume as the darker atmosphere (also known as night time) muted it's eye popping aspect a little. However, that volume felt like one of those 'night is darkest just before the dawn' moments in the story and I'm confident that the next volume will blow up again with no problem.

I also have to say how much I felt that Dan was satirizing a lot about regular life in this series, with ideas of corporate sponsored superheroes, puppet prime ministers and soldiers doing their jobs as if it were a video game. It has made me wonder if Dan is much of a fan of Black Mirror because this would be perfect as that kind of TV production (which might happen given Dan's recent 'Netflix' banner). Nonetheless, given all that has happened in 2020 (pandemics, unemployment, BLM, police brutality corrupt Governments, etc) so much of this series seems to draw on, or be influenced by similar events, making the whole run (so far) so much more compelling to me as a result.

I previously purchased Vanguard's first volume through Comixology some years ago and, while I enjoyed it, I maybe didn't find it all that memorable. However, checking it out again with the additional bonus of more issues and advancing age (and maybe wisdom) has helped me realise that I was wrong to dismiss it on the first read.

I'm going to try and catch up at the webcomic now, because it's criminal that I've left it this long. However, even if I don't, I know I'm going to have to make the funds available whenever volume 4 comes out.