The flaws in a fictional character are what make a story relatable. While you don’t want a character who’s milk toast, you also don’t want him so perfect that he’s a turn-off.
Nobody likes the office pet and while some may dream of either being the captain of the football team or dating one, there’s also an emotional barrier around such people, a feeling of animosity toward those who are superior. Flawlessness is anathema to readers so aware of their own petty sins.
The Geiger Universe and Human Failings
That’s why Image Comic’s Geiger that Geoff Johns helped create was such a smash hit, selling out and ordering a second printing before it even hit the shelves. Geiger tells the story of Tariq Geiger, a devoted husband and father of Arabic descent who sacrifices his safety to protect those he loves. He gains superpowers after being exposed to massive radiation and is forced to live as a loner, protective of a family he is distanced from but still loves.
Tariq is the survivor of a nuclear blast started by a bloc of elites known as the Great Evil waging an Unknown War on what remains of humanity. A host of unlikely heroes called the Unnamed will step forward in the Geiger Universe with plenty of relatable flaws and strengths of their own. Now that the Geiger series has been completed, two new series are about to come out: The Redcoat and Junkyard Joe.
The Redcoat Featuring a Redeemed Assassin
The Redcoat is a former British Assassin who fought in the Revolutionary War. He becomes immortal and goes on to fight in other battles, including the Unnamed War. He finds Tariq’s two-headed dog, and he’s bound to save many others in the Geiger Universe now that he has his own series.
Junkyard Joe and the Frustrations of Military Life
Would-be cartoonist Morris “Muddy” Davis is serving during the Vietnam War when he runs into a mechanical soldier. His higher-ups convince Muddy that what he saw wasn’t real, but Muddy can’t get that soldier out of his head and goes on the create the Junkyard Joe comic strip about a robotic soldier that outshines all the other trainees at boot camp.
How Davis and that all too real robotic soldier will face off remains to be seen, but The Redcoat and Junkyard Joe are sure to be just as popular as the Geiger series.
