Men of Steel

Qui Nguyen

"Qui Nguyen's Men of Steel ... introduces audiences to Captain Justice, a crusader for the Iraq war era. A dead ringer for Captain America, including the tights and shield, he was created by the United States military and has dispensed with all kinds of villains, but he still has his critics ... The plot centers on the friendship between Captain Justice and Maelstrom, a wealthy playboy with a collection of gadgets and a sexual secret. He's an angrier version of Batman. There are other superheroes as well, including Bryant, a drag queen whose power is that he doesn't feel pain, and Captain Justice's sidekick, Liberty Lady, who some suspect is merely a P R gimmick. Mr. Nguyen has an appealingly clean style that mixes colloquial slang and hard-boiled detective fiction. ("Hope is only good for prisoners and bums playing the lotto.") Some of his comic ideas are truly inspired, like the mad...