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The Superior
There are superheroes. There are super-villains. And there's the Bastard. After years in retirement, the Bastard returns to solve the murder of an old friend. With the help of a team of villainous pals, the Bastard begins to unravel a vast superhero conspiracy, starring the biggest superheroes in the world-the Superior. So prepare to garland yourselves with the guts of the righteous. Bleed from your eyes at the awesome spectacle of evil geniuses, zombies, doomsday devices, time travel, murderous maniacs, and the cannibals who love them.
144 pages, Paperback
First published October 7, 2008
19 people want to read
About the author
David W. Barbee
18 books90 followersDavid W Barbee, human about town. Check out my blog-thing: http://www.davidwbarbee.wordpress.com
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 13, 2009
Normally I’m not into superhero stuff. I used to read a lot of comics but now, not so much. I picked THE SUPERIOR up because I liked Barbee’s newest book CARNAGELAND which was a bizarro SF mini-epic.
In some ways, THE SUPERIOR is (pardon the pun) a superior book than CARNAGELAND. It has more of a plot. One of the ingenious things he does is to have every chapter be an “Issue”… so Chapter One is Issue One and so on. This really helps in visualizing the story as a comic book series. His clear and descriptive prose helps, too. I really got into it.
The plot is sort of similar to WATCHMEN and definitely gives a nod to that work as well as other comic books but it’s done in a way that isn’t really parody but also isn’t ripping them off in any way. You’ll have to read it to know what I’m saying.
The characters that he comes up with are imaginative.. sometimes funny, sometimes cool, and one even a bit scary as hell. There isn’t much character development, really, but that’s not that kind of book. I mean, there is a touch of romance but it’s a comic book romance.
One criticism is that it seems like Barbee was worried that his characters were getting two-dimensional so later in the book he had two minor characters have an epiphany of sorts and they basically ride off into the sunset. It was a sweet sentiment but just didn’t work in this book especially with minor characters that we really don’t know much about (and therefore didn’t like much). That was the only real plot-flaw that I noticed.
Overall, this is a satisfying read. The action sequences are awesome and Barbee has a way of describing battles so clearly that you'll swear that you read THE SUPERIOR comic and not the novel because it's so well described.
It’s better than most of the superhero movies out now, that’s for sure. I imagine that if you are a comic collector, you’ll love this even MORE than I did. It looks like it’s out of print right now but it’s worth tracking down.
In some ways, THE SUPERIOR is (pardon the pun) a superior book than CARNAGELAND. It has more of a plot. One of the ingenious things he does is to have every chapter be an “Issue”… so Chapter One is Issue One and so on. This really helps in visualizing the story as a comic book series. His clear and descriptive prose helps, too. I really got into it.
The plot is sort of similar to WATCHMEN and definitely gives a nod to that work as well as other comic books but it’s done in a way that isn’t really parody but also isn’t ripping them off in any way. You’ll have to read it to know what I’m saying.
The characters that he comes up with are imaginative.. sometimes funny, sometimes cool, and one even a bit scary as hell. There isn’t much character development, really, but that’s not that kind of book. I mean, there is a touch of romance but it’s a comic book romance.
One criticism is that it seems like Barbee was worried that his characters were getting two-dimensional so later in the book he had two minor characters have an epiphany of sorts and they basically ride off into the sunset. It was a sweet sentiment but just didn’t work in this book especially with minor characters that we really don’t know much about (and therefore didn’t like much). That was the only real plot-flaw that I noticed.
Overall, this is a satisfying read. The action sequences are awesome and Barbee has a way of describing battles so clearly that you'll swear that you read THE SUPERIOR comic and not the novel because it's so well described.
It’s better than most of the superhero movies out now, that’s for sure. I imagine that if you are a comic collector, you’ll love this even MORE than I did. It looks like it’s out of print right now but it’s worth tracking down.
November 18, 2008
Can I say anything objective here? Nah, so I'll just tell you that this is my book. It's a fast-paced read that flies by like a nitroglycerine-fueld dump truck riding on roller coaster tracks. Writing this book taught me not to be afraid of using genitals as plot devices.
March 13, 2009
sophomoric and raw- loads of fun...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews