Austin Grossman

As much as I wanted to, I didn't make it through this. The first few chapters narrated by Dr. Impossible were captivating. I loved his voice - both the actual voice actor on the audiobook and the tone and attitude of the character himself. But then the super heroine spoke. While the voice actor for this heroine was creditable, the attitude and role of the character were insufferable. All she did was dump information about herself and the rest of the super hero camp. Then I noticed that Dr. Impossible was starting to do the same thing. Both of them were doing a lot of telling with only a little showing and both first-person narrators were dumping more information than they could have possibly been privy to. The author was simply showing off. In my mind, the author also didn't help things by writing in the present tense, rather than past. I'm sure this was a stylistic choice, and it worked for some scenes, but really felt wrong for most. Other reviewers have pointed out similar takes on superheroes that were done better. I may have to give one of those a try.… (more)

An entertaining novel about superheroes and supervillains. Not especially profound, but the author clearly has a love for silver age superhero stuff (and a respect for and understanding of the genre that The Incredibles did not). It's reasonably effective at getting into the heads of the two narrating characters (a young hero and an experienced villain). The most fun bits involve the glimpses into the histories of the other characters, their full stories being held tantalizingly out of reach (something that today's superhero comics cannot resist diving into ad nauseous). As a serious examination or deconstruction of the genre (which I always feel mainstream fiction about superheroes is striving to be), it feels simplistic compared to, say, almost anything Alan Moore has written, but on its own terms it's entirely entertaining.… (more)