“The Situation” comic book, WTF
November 8, 2012
Produced by Wizard World, Inc. and written by Eisner winning author Paul Jenkins, “The Situation” comic book had potential. A book produced by a nimble small company and respected author? Sounds promising. Throw in the tan and muscled element that is Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and you could practically hear the collective cringing of a million geeks as they discovered the news.
A lot of questions popped into my mind as I read “The Situation.” Why create a comic book based on an individual with such a limited appeal among comic book readers? It’s the equivalent of Newt Gingrich releasing a line of tampons in Mexico.
There is no actual storyline in the first issue of “The Situation.” In simplest terms, the pages are one massive exposition dump that is not worth the price tag.
We are introduced to the protagonist, his brothers and their super powered feud that dates back to their childhood. The brothers, while they may have been raised together, took very different paths in life and only remain courteous to one another during their regular Sunday dinners at their mother’s house.
The women who appear in the book are no Susan B. Anthony’s. They are placed in the stereotypical roles of “eye-candy #1,” passive sister and Matronly Mother Superior. As with anything containing The Situation, a gratuitous female ass shot is strategically drawn in one of its pages, the USDA seal of approval literally tattooed on the right ass cheek.
Did I mention that The Situation is a world-famous reality show star also? And managed to save the world a few times? Yes, those details are thrown at us several times throughout the book but never given a panel of super-heroic proof.
Instead you get a book that limits it’s storytelling to what Mr. Sorrentino knows best, his world of fictional problems.
Pass the book if you’re in search of an epic. Buy it if you want to vicariously live through a reality star with limited comic book potential.
