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Let's discuss novels about superheroes and/or supervillains here.
Personally I prefer to keep graphic novels out of the discussion because they are more comic book than novel, but I'm just starting the thread, not ruling it. The X-Men graphic novel, God Loves, Man Kills, was fantastic and I'm glad I read it, but it isn't the same thing as a novel to me and I'd rather see that brought up in the comic book discussion. I also don't really consider a book like American Gods to fall into this category, even though many do. So let's try to keep this to novels that are fairly clearly "super-powered beings" that aren't gods in the traditional sense. Obviously there is always some line-blurring in a superhero universe (Thor, Hercules, etc.), but hopefully everyone understands what I'm trying to get at. Of course if the thread takes us elsewhere for awhile, someone can always post about superheroes again to bring us back on track.
Novels specifically about existing comics would be acceptable, because I know that there are plenty of people that would love to read a Batman novel, for example. I don't have much interest at present, but to be honest if Brandon Sanderson said he wanted to write a book about Aquaman, I'd read the fuck out of it.
Many ideas can be found on these two lists that Grimmlokk linked in another thread.
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...erhero_Fiction
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...Graphic_Novels
Just at a quick glance you can see that there are a ton of books on those lists that don't just jump out and say, "Read me!" And many more that aren't really superhero-ish. This is where our reviews and recommendations can help weed out the junk.
I am trying to think of the first true superhero novel that I ever read but I'm drawing a blank because I can only think of two that I've even read. I'm sure I've read others, but I'm not seeing them on the lists anywhere, so maybe not. I'll just list off some recent ones I've read or want to read. I don't want to spoiler stuff so I'll just give my overall feelings and some stuff I did/did not enjoy about it.
Soon I Will Be InvincibleI liked this book a lot because it just threw you into a comic book world without any apologies. The main character is a supervillain, and he reminisces about the days when he almost conquered the world multiple times using tactics like alien invasions, powerful artifacts, etc. There is no explanation of how he went to another universe, became their ruler, and led them to Earth to enslave everyone, it just happened in the past and we accept it. Like picking up a comic book on issue #200, you just have to accept that all that shit happened. The main character is also fairly interesting and the writing is good. It could have been a bit deeper, but I liked it. Using Goodreads rating system I gave it 4/5 stars, but it really deserves a 3.5, I just wanted to get more recommendations like it. (P.S. They really need to change to a 10-star system, way too many in-between books for me.)
Wearing the CapeI was skeptical at first because it is about a teenage girl that has an overpass dropped on her while driving, which triggers her "breakthrough." That's what they call it when someone suddenly gains their powers. Her best friend had killed herself a few years earlier trying to trigger her own breakthrough by jumping off a building or something (I forget exactly). Immediately when I read teenage girl I thought Twilight. Except that a lot faster than I expected I was actually sort of liking the book and there was very little teen angst or relationship issues to deter me. Until about 3/4 of the book I was feeling pretty good about it, because even though it was about a teenage girl it was doing a pretty good job of things like showing how a new member has to adapt to being integrated into an existing team, particularly a team that has had their powers for a lot longer than she has. And then the relationship drama hit
It quite literally sucked the air right out of me with how sudden and how terrible it was, and I had a hard time finishing. Now, to be completely fair, the relationship stuff pretty much resolved itself before the book ended and I was actually feeling a bit better about the whole thing, but the way it was resolved seemed pretty heavy-handed all the same. I am still considering reading the subsequent books in the series because it was pretty good other than the relationship stuff, but I'm scared that it will come back, and possibly be handled just as badly or even worse. I'd love to hear feedback from anyone that read further. I'd have given the book a solid 3.5 if not for the Twilight detour, so that drops it to a 3.
These have been on my radar but I have not read them. Grimmlokk mentioned and reviewed a couple of them previously.
HeroGay superhero, everything turned out much better than expected according to Grimmlokk.
Confessions of a D-List SupervillainI could swear I read this one, but now I'm unsure if I've just read the synopsis so many times that I feel like I have. I definitely intend to at some point.
In Hero Years...I'm DeadOlder superhero thrust back into a world of younger heroes, trying to fit in. Supposedly more of a noir feel to it. Stackpole is awesome so I will definitely read it at some point.
There are also theWildcardsbooks that get mentioned every time, but I've never read a single one of them.
Ex-Heroeslooked interesting, since it is essentially superheroes vs. zombies, but many of the reviews make me want to stay away from it. Apparently there are 3 books in the series.
West Pacific Supers: Rising Tideis the first of three books where super teams are sort of like sports teams, every major city has one, paparazzi follow them around, etc.
As you can see from looking at the lists linked above, there are tons of books fitting the description, but just about every one of them beside the few listed here make me cringe at the thought of even reading them. The vast majority seem to be Young Adult or Teen Girl focused. Or just dumb. None of that interests me at all. Soon I Will Be Invincible was fairly mature, and despite the main character actually being a teen girl the Astra book wasn't half bad, but I haven't succeeded in finding a truly great superhero book. I mean, I'm not expecting Game of Thrones intricacy here, but how about Dresden Files great? You'd think with all the superhero movies becoming blockbusters there wold be an audience for something like that, right?
Anyway, your thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Personally I prefer to keep graphic novels out of the discussion because they are more comic book than novel, but I'm just starting the thread, not ruling it. The X-Men graphic novel, God Loves, Man Kills, was fantastic and I'm glad I read it, but it isn't the same thing as a novel to me and I'd rather see that brought up in the comic book discussion. I also don't really consider a book like American Gods to fall into this category, even though many do. So let's try to keep this to novels that are fairly clearly "super-powered beings" that aren't gods in the traditional sense. Obviously there is always some line-blurring in a superhero universe (Thor, Hercules, etc.), but hopefully everyone understands what I'm trying to get at. Of course if the thread takes us elsewhere for awhile, someone can always post about superheroes again to bring us back on track.
Novels specifically about existing comics would be acceptable, because I know that there are plenty of people that would love to read a Batman novel, for example. I don't have much interest at present, but to be honest if Brandon Sanderson said he wanted to write a book about Aquaman, I'd read the fuck out of it.
Many ideas can be found on these two lists that Grimmlokk linked in another thread.
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...erhero_Fiction
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...Graphic_Novels
Just at a quick glance you can see that there are a ton of books on those lists that don't just jump out and say, "Read me!" And many more that aren't really superhero-ish. This is where our reviews and recommendations can help weed out the junk.
I am trying to think of the first true superhero novel that I ever read but I'm drawing a blank because I can only think of two that I've even read. I'm sure I've read others, but I'm not seeing them on the lists anywhere, so maybe not. I'll just list off some recent ones I've read or want to read. I don't want to spoiler stuff so I'll just give my overall feelings and some stuff I did/did not enjoy about it.
Soon I Will Be InvincibleI liked this book a lot because it just threw you into a comic book world without any apologies. The main character is a supervillain, and he reminisces about the days when he almost conquered the world multiple times using tactics like alien invasions, powerful artifacts, etc. There is no explanation of how he went to another universe, became their ruler, and led them to Earth to enslave everyone, it just happened in the past and we accept it. Like picking up a comic book on issue #200, you just have to accept that all that shit happened. The main character is also fairly interesting and the writing is good. It could have been a bit deeper, but I liked it. Using Goodreads rating system I gave it 4/5 stars, but it really deserves a 3.5, I just wanted to get more recommendations like it. (P.S. They really need to change to a 10-star system, way too many in-between books for me.)
Wearing the CapeI was skeptical at first because it is about a teenage girl that has an overpass dropped on her while driving, which triggers her "breakthrough." That's what they call it when someone suddenly gains their powers. Her best friend had killed herself a few years earlier trying to trigger her own breakthrough by jumping off a building or something (I forget exactly). Immediately when I read teenage girl I thought Twilight. Except that a lot faster than I expected I was actually sort of liking the book and there was very little teen angst or relationship issues to deter me. Until about 3/4 of the book I was feeling pretty good about it, because even though it was about a teenage girl it was doing a pretty good job of things like showing how a new member has to adapt to being integrated into an existing team, particularly a team that has had their powers for a lot longer than she has. And then the relationship drama hit
These have been on my radar but I have not read them. Grimmlokk mentioned and reviewed a couple of them previously.
HeroGay superhero, everything turned out much better than expected according to Grimmlokk.
Confessions of a D-List SupervillainI could swear I read this one, but now I'm unsure if I've just read the synopsis so many times that I feel like I have. I definitely intend to at some point.
In Hero Years...I'm DeadOlder superhero thrust back into a world of younger heroes, trying to fit in. Supposedly more of a noir feel to it. Stackpole is awesome so I will definitely read it at some point.
There are also theWildcardsbooks that get mentioned every time, but I've never read a single one of them.
Ex-Heroeslooked interesting, since it is essentially superheroes vs. zombies, but many of the reviews make me want to stay away from it. Apparently there are 3 books in the series.
West Pacific Supers: Rising Tideis the first of three books where super teams are sort of like sports teams, every major city has one, paparazzi follow them around, etc.
As you can see from looking at the lists linked above, there are tons of books fitting the description, but just about every one of them beside the few listed here make me cringe at the thought of even reading them. The vast majority seem to be Young Adult or Teen Girl focused. Or just dumb. None of that interests me at all. Soon I Will Be Invincible was fairly mature, and despite the main character actually being a teen girl the Astra book wasn't half bad, but I haven't succeeded in finding a truly great superhero book. I mean, I'm not expecting Game of Thrones intricacy here, but how about Dresden Files great? You'd think with all the superhero movies becoming blockbusters there wold be an audience for something like that, right?
Anyway, your thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
