The Irredeemable Champion

With great power comes great responsibility, but is that responsibility too much for one man? Being tasked with protecting the entire world has had a negative effect on Josh Matheson's personal life. He can't hold on to a real job and his absence at home pushes his family away. With nothing left of his regular life, Josh is consumed by his perceived super heroic duty and things get a little out of control. This 32 page one-shot explores what it's like to be Earth's only CHAMPION!

If you've read Mark Waid's Irredeemable comic (and I have only the first three trades), the above solicitation for the Champion one-shot, from 2011, sounds like a ripoff of that book.  After a little scrutiny however, that appears to be an unfair assessment.

Irredeemable first hit shelves in April 2009.  Meanwhile, Graphicly.com displays a release date of October 2011 for Champion, but (Canadian) writer Randy Stone included art from Champion on his deviantart page as long ago as January 2007, referring to a book he was "putting together".  So clearly the idea has been simmering for some time well before the release of Irredeemable.

It was an innovative approach at the time; The all-powerful superhero reaches a boiling point from being under appreciated and unsupported and reacts...badly.  Stone manages to display the various factors that cause his character to reach his meltdown in only 32 pages without making the story seem rushed.  But regardless of who came up with what when, I can imagine trying to pitch this book to avid comic fans in 2011 and repeatedly receiving the "Oh, like Irredeemable?" response.

If you have not read Irredeemable and want a different spin on the Superman archetype, or if you have and want another take on the concept, you can access the book from graphicly through the above link.  It is also available on comixology for $0.99 and while it is not included among their listed titles, British Columbia-based Arcana still have a page for it from which you can order a print version.