Sheldon’s visions are taking over his life, Skyfox’s son leads a botched heist and Chloe’s life is on a downward spiral.

Which such a large cast of characters, the TV adaptation of Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s superhero epic wisely focuses on key events and associated characters rather than trying to feature too much at a time.

In episode three we meet two generations of Hutchison – a 1920s George and his modern day son, Hutch. The elder statesman (in his superhero incarnation of Skyfox) has been missing from the Union for 40 years, and his son is being challenged about his own loyalty to a rather less noble cause. Hutch’s fellow crew members are planning a heist, but they don’t count on Utopian turning up, meaning they need to complete another job, with higher stakes.

George spends time with Sheldon, trying to break him out of his malaise. He can’t get over his father’s death, frequently having conversations with his deceased parent, while also having visions of an old windmill. This double time period structure works well, filling in the origins tale while progressing the contemporary problems endured by the original superheroes’ children.

One such child is Chloe, Utopian’s daughter. She’s turned her back on superheroes, instead making her mark in the world of fashion. But she’s living a life of excess, snorting coke and throwing wild parties. After a moment of madness where she throws a car across a studio, she finds herself without a sponsor or an agent. She’s struggling to be the daughter of a superhero, desperate to be her own person, while feeling guilty that she’s not fulfilling her real legacy.

But it’s the 20s road trip of Sheldon that pays the real dividends as he travels across an America that’s suffering from the Great Depression, trying to find the damaged windmill of his visions. Chance (or is it fate?) leads him to an old farm, its owner fearing that he’s there to foreclose. The farmer is played by Kurtwood Smith (RoboCop) and he begins to share some much-needed insight into the mysterious force that is taking over Sheldon’s life. And then there’s the matter of what’s in the cellar…

Verdict: At the halfway point of this first season, things are really beginning to hot up, though there’s a long way to go yet. Carefully paced and cleverly plotted, it’s an impressive juggling trick that delivers on the action and intrigue. 8/10

Nick Joy