There is another source of entertainment that doesn’t have funny pictures, is not the theatre of the mind, doesn’t require you to buy an $11 ticket to get kicked in the back of the head, while some moron talks loudly on their phone. I’m talking about books, and this year I want to make it a habit of reading more prose instead of my over abundance of four color fun. Each month, I’ll be picking up a new book, reading it, and then devoting a special episode of the Major Spoilers Podcast to it. Think of it as a Book of the Month event, without calling it a Book of the Month, because there are plenty of people who will get pissy if I use that phrase.
I hope you will be a part of this as I get closer to the show.
January’s Book:
Soon I Will Be Invincible
by Austin Grossman
Doctor Impossible – evil genius, diabolical scientist, wannabe world dominator – languishes in a federal detention facility. He’s lost his freedom, his girlfriend, and his hidden island fortress.Over the years he’s tried to take over the world in every way imaginable: doomsday devices of all varieties (nuclear, thermonuclear, nanotechnological) and mass mind-control. He’s traveled backward in time to change history, forward in time to escape it. He’s commanded robot armies, insect armies, and dinosaur armies. Fungus army. Army of fish. Or rodents. Alien invasions. All failures. But not this time. This time it’s going to be different.
Fatale is a rookie superhero on her first day with the Champions, the world’s most famous superteam. She’s a patchwork woman of skin and chrome, a gleaming technological marvel built to be the next generation of warfare. Filling the void left by a slain former member, Fatale joins a team struggling with a damaged past, having to come together in the face of unthinkable evil.
There’s plenty of time for you to pick up the book and get it read before January 31, 2010.
21 Comments
OOooo I’ve read this!
Same here!
Wow… Can I have a copy?
Sure, head on down to the local B. Dalton and pick yourself up a copy. If you aren’t one for going to the bookstore, Amazon has them for sale as well.
Great idea. There is actually a good deal of “super hero” prose stories out there. I’ll see if I can hunt down a copy of this to read as well.
That is such a good book. I loved it.
can’t remember anything about the plot except I quite enjoyed it though.
The plot itself was kind of forgettable, but i loved the look into the minds of the characters in the book. Not the most original idea, but the way he presented the villain and heroes i really enjoyed, and something a book does well.
I am currently reading this. I’m in the first third right now and I’m loving it so far.
Awesome book – I’ve read it a few times since I got it last summer. Good to hear that so many other people enjoy it, too.
I read it a couple years back and remember liking it. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking–at least to someone who has been reading comics for over 30 years, but still entertaining.
I’m surprised it hasn’t been optioned for a movie.
The book to get is Superfolks by Robert Meyer. It has been credited as influencing works like Watchmen, Miraclemen and Whatever Happened to the Man of Steel.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The evil bastard perspective and the rookie hero meanderings were surprisingly realistic when you consider that you’re reading fantasy. I thought of it as sort of an Authority/Ultimates/Modern Hero tone mixed with a nefarious scientific mind. You will enjoy this book if you appreciate modern storytelling in “Capes” comic books.
Are we going to be covering the adaptions of Knightfall? Crisis? Death of Supes? etc?
This is one of my favorite super-hero book books ever!
Will you be sticking to the superhero genre in your selections?
Depends. There are a lot of books that I have purchased over the last two years that I have not had a chance to sit down and read, so those will be on the list first.
Excellent book, thanks for giving me a reason to re-read it.
Hero! Pick Hero next!
February’s has already been decided upon.
Pick Hero next after that!
I loved reading this book when I picked it up from the library a few years ago.
As the others said, it’s not groundbreaking or anything really new, but how many comics are. It’s quite enjoyable.