Not Quite Super-Powered Fiction: Zero Cool

Just finished Zero Cool, one of the many truly awesome novels by the fine folks over at Hard Case Crime. Originally written in the sixties by an excellent writer (who I never heard of before this) by the name of John Lange, it has been updated with a modern day prologue and epilogue in the new edition.

Lange tells the story of Peter Ross (Didn’t he used to hang out with Superman?), a young doctor who travels to Europe for a conference and decides to take an extended vacation on a Spanish beach. He meets a beautiful woman named Angela Locke on the beach, but it is when a strange gangster comes to him to perform an autopsy that Peter finds his life thrown for a loop. He is soon embroiled in a conspiracy involving multiple enemies and motives which has multiple bodies falling in its wake.

I don’t want to give everything away now, but Peter finds himself in the midst of a conspiracy straight out of a comic story. With preposterous Bond-style villains and shocking turn after shocking turn, Zero Cool proves to be an exciting ride all the way through. For seven bucks this one is hard to top, and another great Hard Case Crime cover, this one by Gregory Manchess thoroughly seals the deal.

Go out and pick this one up today.

Superhero fiction review: Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

Somehow I missed this book’s debut last year, and it’s a shame. While not any kind of classic piece of literature, Soon I Will Be Invincible is definitely a capable piece of fiction that delves deep in to the psyches of megalomaniacal villain Dr. Impossible and confused cyborg heroine Fatale. Grossman does this ably with a chapter by chapter revolving first person narrative between the two characters. Both delve in to their past accomplishments and failures while Impossible secures his latest plans and Fatale teams with her companions in the New Champions in an effort to stop him. The two narrators are original and engaging, and the other characters in the book twist around the usual Justice League stand-ins.

All in all though, Soon I Will Be Invincible becomes little more than a well told superhero tale without anything to make it a deeper piece of fiction. But what a super-tale it tells! Recommended.

Superhero Fiction Review: Inside Straight - A Wild Cards Novel

In the happy, happy Nick-event of 2008, I present to you my review of Inside Straight: A Wild Cards Novel. Now in case you don’t know what the Wild Cards series is, you are looking at one of the grand-daddies of superhero fiction right here. This new book obviously hopes to capitalize off the success of George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series as evidenced by his massive name on the cover. It’s all good if it means we can now see regular updates to a great franchise.

Inside Straight does a lovely job of reintroducing the world to all the people who haven’t been around for the last seventeen books in the series. I personally have only read about ten of those books, so I appreciate the little backtracks that give any pertinent knowledge myself. Inside Straight revolves around two pertinent subjects: an upheaval of the Egyptian government that leaves the joker (freaks that the Wild Card virus left horribly disfigured) population in dire straits. Meanwhile in America, a new television show called American Hero debuts. Basically a reality show with twenty-eight aces (super-powers) competing to determine who will be the next big superhero. Much of this saga is told in stories of several new or rarely used characters: Jonathan Hive (whose narrative ties the entire book together), the Amazing Bubbles, Earth Witch, Rustbelt, etc.) Their plot suddenly ties in with the Egypt plot midway through the book and everything pretty much goes crazy from there.

A lot of Ultimate Marvel-style concepts seem to pop-up as the stories intertwine, but all in all Inside Straight is an excellent new edition to the Wild Cards franchise. Do yourself a favor, go pick this book up, and then hunt down as many of the previous books in this series as you are able. You’ll be glad you did.

Oh, and it looks like you will soon be able to enjoy both a new Wild Cards comic (hopefully better than the previous weak attempt from Epic in the late 80’s) and role-playing game (using the excellent Mutants and Masterminds system instead of the clunky GURPS system of yesteryear). Looks like it may be a renaissance year for Wild Cards, something every superhero fiction fan out there should cheer!