Any notion you may have about a comic called ‘Kerpow!’ being in any way light hearted are dismissed almost immediately in this first issue. The Batman-esque, costumed vigilante of this comic’s universe (Midknight) is brutally murdered in the opening scene, with the killer’s son, Jacob, witnessing the death of the hero he was reading about in his comic book, right before the incident occurs.

Until the classic 80s story A Death in the Family, I hadn’t thought about just how reckless and stupid it was of Batman to take a child onto the streets of Gotham to beat up criminals; when his second Robin, Jason Todd, is viciously murdered by The Joker in that story, it really hit home. Especially as I was roughly the same age as Todd at the time.

That hits home here too, as Midknight’s child sidekick, Starling, is also killed shortly after the older superhero.

Jacob’s father rises from low level gangster to being a made man in the city’s organised crime scene, thanks to being the guy who took care of Midknight and Starling, a thorn in the side of the city’s criminal factions.

Almost a decade later, Jacob is doing his best to forget what happened and carve out a respectable, legitimate life for himself. However, as the saying goes, he may be done with the past, but the past isn’t done with him.

Right from that shocker of an opening sequence, Kerpow! #1 is a comic that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and doesn’t let go for the duration.

It’s brilliantly written by creator and writer Tom Fyans; despite the presence of costumed heroes, the tone is grounded and believable throughout. Julio Brilha’s art is phenomenal too, again helping to sell the realistic tone required of Fyans’s script. Likewise the colours, by Rod Fernandes, while not overly muted, aren’t so bold as to take readers into the realm that more fantastical superhero comics often veer into.

Then again, is this really a superhero comic? At most, it’s a costumed vigilante tale, but really it’s a story centered around a character trying his best to deal with his past, despite it coming back to haunt him in more ways than one. It’s an excellent start and, despite its grounded nature, does go to some unforeseen places (and there are definitely ways to speculate as to why, or even how, it takes a bit of a turn), with an excellent cliffhanger that leaves me very keen for issue 2.

Kerpow! #1 is available now directly from Scout Comics.

Many thanks to Tom Fyans for providing me with a digital copy of Kerpow! #1 for review purposes.