The Interman

by Jeff Parker, Mark Schultz (Introduction)

The acclaimed adventure graphic novel that introduces Van Meach, world traveller and sole creation of the Interman project. The ability to adapt his genetic code makes him the world's most unique creature....and the target of its greatest hitmen!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Espionage

128 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! 5 stars for a graphic novel. That is pretty rare for me, but this book deserves it! I ran into Jeff Parker at a convention and foolishly only bought this one sample of his work. He drew a spiffy picture and signed the inside for me and I thought I was taking a chance with the purchase! What a maroon! The Interman is a first rate spy / espionage story that charges along with a fascinating narrative, wonderful characters, and "villains," that you can understand and to a point, empathize with. All this in 128 pages!

The art work is excellent and not cluttered. There is a lot of text, which I enjoyed, as this is a graphic 'novel,' after all. Jeff also manages something I have often struggled with in a marvelous way. Oft times in order to avoid the multiple panels to a page style, illustrators will go across pages or try inventive ways to spice things up. Unfortunately, this often results in my having to puzzle out which picture or piece of dialogue comes next. Well Jeff does the same thing, but in such an intuitive fashion, I did not stumble once in reading his work. This was a blessing as the story was so captivating I did not want to have anything disrupt it.

The basic plot has our hero, Van Meach, suddenly beset upon by assassins. Why? Well Mr. Meach has certain abilities that may lead back to certain organizations that may not want any of this to become known. What are those abilities? Besides being very original and very cool, you will have to read the book to find out. It is Van's journey to uncover his own mystery and the mystery of why people want to kill him that leads him into contact with a diverse cast of characters and some original and amazing action sequences. This book should be a movie!

I would be remiss if I did not thank the author for his in-joke regarding Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and it's quirky host, Marlin Perkins. (You'll know it when you see it). This is an entertaining book, one that is begging for a sequel and one that I am certain to reread.

[Keturah Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review coming to thegirlwhodoesntexist.com SOON!

Read this book because supposedly it’s about a superhero who has no social security number.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the very first comics that Parker wrote AND drew, and it’s ridiculously good for such an early attempt. Hell, it’s ridiculously good for someone at the peak of their powers.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got introduced to Jeff Parker based on his "X-Men: First Class" series at Marvel, which is still one of my favorite books, but I might have even more love for his creator-owned work, which is so original that it's hard to say exactly what else it's like. "The Interman" is a sort of super- soldier-spy story, with lots of big ideas about nature-versus-nurture. The main character, Van Meach, was created in a government lab to be the perfect human weapon, but the project was closed down and he was sent to live with a 'normal' family. He grows up to be a happy-go-lucky guy, who just happens to have some extraordinary abilities that he parlays into odd jobs and adventures. When he does work for the wrong man, though, he gets on the radar of every global intelligence agency, and suddenly finds himself traveling the world and fending off hitmen -- of course, he's preternaturally good at it, which leads to some problems of its own.

Parker has a rare ability to combine great big ideas with engaging characters. The layouts are really dynamic and the art, most of which Parker did himself, complements the story well. The publishing budget isn't what it could have been with a major press, and there are times when the finishing on the art and lettering look a little rough. But that just underlines what a labor of love this book is and I'm glad I found this at a used book store. Not sure it's still in print, unfortunately.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very satisfying little book, and Jeff Parker's art -- which I never get to see, being primarily a fan of his writing -- is lovely. I only give it four stars because its tale of espionage and intrigue is very much not my genre, and I couldn't always follow the plot. But everything else was very much five stars -- the characters were great, and I was especially impressed by how consciously multicultural the cast was. If another Interman story happens in the future, I'll be sure to tune in.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago and was impressed. I read it again last night and was blown away. I understand work with Marvel is your bread and butter, but Mr. Parker, you have too many good ideas to be limited by working with superheroes! Check out Underground as well, recently collected into TP format.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting idea, but only average execution.

[H. Givens · Rating 4 out of 5]

The science was questionable, but hey. The characters are well-developed and it's full of action that doesn't get derailed.

[Harry Connolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many terrific story elements and ideas, but I found myself oddly disengaged from it all.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked that Parker threw in a number of curveballs just when I thought I saw where the plot was headed (notably, the head of the CIA, and May).