THUG #1

by James Wymore, John Christian Perkins (Illustrator)

Superheroes and villains constantly battle for control of Denver, Colorado, so somebody has to do the heavy lifting. CJ Cruz found his niche working for whichever super-flavor-of-the-day happens to be running the show at the time. Since most of the self-labeled heroes claiming to be on the side of justice don't hire henchmen, he usually winds up doing the street-level work for supers operating outside the law. His family and priest just think he's a gangster, but CJ knows his motivation is pure. He keeps on the windy side of law enforcement by following a few simple rules, the first of which is keep your head down and never be the boss's right-hand man. People tell him he should get a new job, but he likes working around supers. Besides, except for intimidation and roughing-people-up he doesn't have any other skills necessary to make rent and pay child support.

303 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 12, 2019

About the author

James Wymore grew up on a heavy diet of movies and books that morphed his real life adventures into imaginary worlds. His published works span the fiction spectrum, including many different genres in the best-selling Actuator series. He’s an acquisitions editor, running games with hundreds of players at conventions. http://jameswymore.wordpress.com

Reviews

[Staci Olsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I liked this book. Wymore writes well, kept me engaged in the story, and presented a unique package with a novel/comic book combination.

CJ works for superheroes/villains as a thug. He feels like he doesn't have a choice even though he doesn't enjoy his work and the morality of it is questionable. However, in the end he realizes that his choice is critical and he must decide whether he wants to be a hero or a villain.

The text is riddled with sound effect speech bubbles and illustrations, which I loved. I felt that the illustration style was sometimes too juvenile for the target audience, but they were drawn well.

The main reason I didn't give it five stars was because it reads like fan fiction of Brandon Sanderson's Reckoner series. I would have liked a little more originality.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read.

[Susan May]

This was a story about hero's & Villains. It was quite different from what I usually read. The characters were great & quite a bit of action, I enjoyed all the different superpowers. CJ works for the superhero's/villains. That is how he supports his ex-wife and daughter. As he came into his powers, he had to decided what he really wanted. All in all, an enjoyable read.