What if the world of superheroes was run by a private corporation? Forget ‘great power’ and ‘great responsibility’ in Hero Hourly, all our heroes care about is not getting screwed out of their benefits or losing out on overtime.

Publisher: 21 Pulp
Writer: James Patrick
Artist: Carlo Trigo (Pencils, Inks) Alex Sollazo (Colours) David Dumeer (Cover)
Price: £2.49 from ComiXology

Our rating: [star rating=”4″]

When the financial crisis hits, financial whizkid Saul is no longer able to fulfil his dream of becoming the next Wolf of Wall Street. Instead of selling his soul to the world of telemarketing, he takes some words of wisdom from his Uncle Doug and ends up joining Hero Hourly – a private superhero business set up by a ‘science nerd who discovered a super serum in his mom’ basement, patented it and got a bank loan”. Instead of worrying about ‘great power’ and ‘great responsibility’, Saul and his co-workers are glorified rent-a-cops who do their hero-ing for $8.50 an hour plus benefits in matching yellow spandex outfits.

By mixing the world of superheroes with the drudgery of the service industry, writer James Patrick has creating a snarky sit-com style book that makes the most of it’s really strong central premise.

From the bickering workmates, to the hero manual to the cavalcade of goofy villains, Hero Hourly is packed full of sharp and witty asides at the cliches of superhero-dom, as well as quite a few masturbation jokes which should keep you chuckling away page after page. (The running joke about Saul’s family words of wisdom is also particularly hilarious!)

Carlos Trigo’s lively cartoonish visuals keep the tone light, without becoming too cheesy and the cover from David Dummer has a really nice Frank Quiteley feel to it which it helps it stand out from the crowd. So if you’re after a bit of humour with your heroes then clock in with Hero Hourly!