woensdag 15 november 2017

Caped (The Omega Superhero # 1) by Darius Brasher

In this novel we are introduced to farmboy Theodore Conley who turns out to be one of the more powerful metahumans in the little universe Darius Brasher created (he also has a series called The Superhero Detective). He's a nerdy, scrawny kid with a great guy for a father. He kinda reminded me of Peter Parker growing up with Jonathan Kent (you know, Superman's stepdad).
Anyway, superheroes here need to be licensed. To become that they need to go to superhero school and Theodore, becoming the hero Kinetic does that. When he faces his new moral enemy he's ready to break some rules though.
This is a fun book with just a tad of darkness every now and then. Theodore is a great character you can really identify with and root for. One of his friends, Myth, has the power to become mythical creatures which I thought was an awesome power! His friendship with his fellow teen heroes is written as good as the best Avengers Academy scenes and the fights move fast.
Great first book, have already bought the second one in this series.

woensdag 8 november 2017

Argo 5 # 24 (Argo Comics)

Do you remember those cool old comics where the Justice League teamed up with the Justice Society? Those days when team ups were still fun and cool instead of long boring stories that take a year to tell? This comic is clearly a homage to that as Argo 5 teams up with that other superteam in the Argo Comics Universe, Impact International. Just like in those old comics they split up in small groups. In this case to track down the offspring of some aliens. The stakes are pretty high if they fail too!
The artwork by Alex Garcia is great, it looks a lot like George Perez which is pretty high praise. The story by Dan Sehn is great fun to read and the Argo Comics characters are always fun and timeless.

woensdag 1 november 2017

Swan Song (Permafrost / The Swan) by Frank Fradella

I used to love the stories on the old Cyberage Adventures website. They were a very Astro City like take on superheroes, combining very human characters with cool powers. Until now I never read a novel by Cyberage creator Frank Fradella. With the big new plans he has for his characters I picked this one up and loved it.
The book is called Swan Song after a superhero appearing in the book, but the focus is more on the heroin called Permafrost. Through her eyes we meet the hero The Swan. He is a very popular kind of everyman superhero who helps Permafrost in tracking down her father's killer.
There's a nice couple of superheroes here such as kung-fu master Jade Tiger, language expert Lexicon and the Superman / Captain America mix called The Minuteman. There's also a very cool and dangerous villain with an interesting premise. The fight scenes are pretty exciting.
What makes this such a good book though is the very in-depth look behind the masks of the main heroes Permafrost and The Swan who become very real human beings throughout the novel.