Talking Trades: Foot Soldiers by Jim Krueger and Michael Oeming

The Foot Soldiers is a story of what happens when all the worlds heroes are gone, who takes their place. How does the world operate without protection. In the world of comics one thing reigns true, the world needs heroes. This book is a retelling of a common trope where we see the birth of a new generation of heroes through the worlds need.

The story is solid and may have been the best take on the dystopian super hero future I’ve read yet.
There is quite a lot going on within the main story which consists of four issues. The team assembles and sets forth to become “The greatest heroes to ever walk the earth.”

Krueger’s story is well done, and while superhero comics have become tired of late this series seems to be an exception. It is certainly a hero story for adults, and a more mature youth audience. This is a “no hold bars” world where mistakes count and the choices are real.

One of my favorite parts of the book was the art, a lot of expression went into every page. The choice of palate was a nice surprise, where the subject matter is a little gritty it would have been easy to go darker, but Allred the colorist chose to go with the traditional route. It is paired nicely with Oeming’s pencils. The story and art seem to be paired nicely even if it isn’t what you’d expect.

With so many superhero comics being written today not a lot of people are getting it right. I do understand that the audience is wide and tastes vary but a lot of what is being sold today is so contrived and almost a complete retelling of past stories. The genre hasn’t taken many risks, they tend to feed their readers giant events with little risk or progression. I feel like the four issues within this collected edition of “The Foot Soldiers” was more progressive than 90% of the hero comics being produced today and it was originally published in 1996.

With the extras included I would say this trade is one any superhero fan should read. I can not say it will be for everyone but I certainly wish I had known about it a lot sooner.

I am proud to have it in my collection and can recommend it without doubt to almost any of my comic reading pals. with the interesting take on the concept, clever writing, and enjoyable art “The Foot Soldiers” is a worthy addition to any collection.