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The Cuckoo Cage: New Origin Stories
The superhero of comic books and blockbuster movies may be a quintessentially American invention, forever saving the world in skin-tight spandex. But the cultural DNA of the superhero can arguably be traced to a much older, more progressive, British the larger-than-life folk heroes of historical protests – General Ludd, Captain Swing, Lady Skimmington, and others; semi-fictional identities that ordinary protestors adopted, often dressing up in the process. In this unique experiment, twelve authors have been tasked with resurrecting that to spawn a new generation of present-day British superheroes, willing to bring the fight back to British shores and to more progressive causes. From the dimension-jumping statue-toppler, to the shape-shifting single mum raiding supermarkets to stock local food banks... these figures offer unlikely new insights into shared, centuries-old political causes, and usher in a new league of proud, British (social justice) warriors...
333 pages, Paperback
First published January 11, 2022
19 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 15, 2022
The Cuckoo Cage is a collection that reimagines British folk heroes into new everyday superheroes, fighting against modern evils with the spirit of older community action. The short stories from a range of writers take the idea of the superhero and combine it with direct action and some of the mot pressing issues in Britain today, like food poverty, racism, and inequality. Each story is followed by an afterword that goes into the historical figures that inspired each story, offering context to the stories but also introductory history to some of the key action taken in the past against injustice and tyranny.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the collection, but its distinctive conceit drew me in, and I liked the near-future setting of the stories, which all seem to be set in the same universe (adding to the comparisons with more traditional superhero comics and films). There's a lot of creativity in the kinds of powers the new superheroes have and the ways in which the original folk figure comes through, particularly through ideas like being able to topple statues using portals or create political memes through mind reading politicians, and the stories are gripping and fun, showing the heroes in action rather than just describing what they might do.
One of the real highlights of the book is the sense of timeless protest that comes from the conversation between the short stories and the afterwords, giving readers the chance to think about how history is told and how we might view figures that the establishment didn't want to give credit to, whether real people or folk figures symbolic of a larger movement. The only one of the figures I already knew about was Martin Marprelate, and I enjoyed the way that the pamphlet culture of the 16th century was turned into online memes of the modern day in the story 'The M & Ms', showing how there's always more ephemeral forms that can move faster than the pace of established stories and news.
Unlike a lot of superhero stories, which feel like an attempt to tell you that the world is okay and will be saved without action, The Cuckoo Cage reimagines superheroes as direct action whilst paying tribute to the history of this action in Britain. I think its combination of history and social realism with fantasy will appeal to a lot of people, and I liked the way that it felt like the stories came together by the end, as people might expect from superhero narratives these days that are part of the same universe. Clever and insightful, this book might inspire people to look deeper into alternative narratives and think about how, even without superpowers, action can be taken.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the collection, but its distinctive conceit drew me in, and I liked the near-future setting of the stories, which all seem to be set in the same universe (adding to the comparisons with more traditional superhero comics and films). There's a lot of creativity in the kinds of powers the new superheroes have and the ways in which the original folk figure comes through, particularly through ideas like being able to topple statues using portals or create political memes through mind reading politicians, and the stories are gripping and fun, showing the heroes in action rather than just describing what they might do.
One of the real highlights of the book is the sense of timeless protest that comes from the conversation between the short stories and the afterwords, giving readers the chance to think about how history is told and how we might view figures that the establishment didn't want to give credit to, whether real people or folk figures symbolic of a larger movement. The only one of the figures I already knew about was Martin Marprelate, and I enjoyed the way that the pamphlet culture of the 16th century was turned into online memes of the modern day in the story 'The M & Ms', showing how there's always more ephemeral forms that can move faster than the pace of established stories and news.
Unlike a lot of superhero stories, which feel like an attempt to tell you that the world is okay and will be saved without action, The Cuckoo Cage reimagines superheroes as direct action whilst paying tribute to the history of this action in Britain. I think its combination of history and social realism with fantasy will appeal to a lot of people, and I liked the way that it felt like the stories came together by the end, as people might expect from superhero narratives these days that are part of the same universe. Clever and insightful, this book might inspire people to look deeper into alternative narratives and think about how, even without superpowers, action can be taken.
June 28, 2022
Why should world-saving superheroes with superpowers be the exclusive property of American comic books and films? (Sorry, not films - movies. In this context I’m supposed to forget that I’m British.) Ra Page has edited a collection of stories by twelve authors who don’t believe it should. Instead, they’ve resurrected a healthy sample of the revolutionary spirits who led protests in Britain in times gone by against the factories, against mechanisation, against toll-gates. They grant each of them a suitable superpower and then turn them loose against the cynical developers, bureaucrats, corrupt politicians and exploiters of our own age.
What results is a book unlike any other. It comprises twelve short stories, each protesting against one of the evils of the modern world, each centring on a superpower-inspired hero (more often female than male) whose focus is on that evil. Some are a delight. I loved the fire-starting woman who destroys exploiting factories, and the single mother who uses her shape-shifting power to steal food and other goods from supermarkets to supply foodbanks. Each story is followed by an afterword written by a historian with expert knowledge of the historical original from which the idea was taken: General Ludd, Captain Swing, the Servants of the Queen of the Fairies, and others.
Not all the stories work particularly well, but some are excellent, and the overall idea of the book is strong enough and distinctive enough to persuade me to recommend it to our local literature group. Congratulations to Comma Press for giving us this celebration of the long British tradition of communal protest, which our present government wishes to terminate.
What results is a book unlike any other. It comprises twelve short stories, each protesting against one of the evils of the modern world, each centring on a superpower-inspired hero (more often female than male) whose focus is on that evil. Some are a delight. I loved the fire-starting woman who destroys exploiting factories, and the single mother who uses her shape-shifting power to steal food and other goods from supermarkets to supply foodbanks. Each story is followed by an afterword written by a historian with expert knowledge of the historical original from which the idea was taken: General Ludd, Captain Swing, the Servants of the Queen of the Fairies, and others.
Not all the stories work particularly well, but some are excellent, and the overall idea of the book is strong enough and distinctive enough to persuade me to recommend it to our local literature group. Congratulations to Comma Press for giving us this celebration of the long British tradition of communal protest, which our present government wishes to terminate.
September 30, 2024
Superheroes reimagined as social justice warriors this could have been just horrible...I don't mind woke..I am pretty woke but a super them kind of thing I dunno.
However this was great..it didn't overegg the politics and took the stance of fiction followed by a essay of real life protests that inspired the fiction.
It is very left leaning I guess but I'm OK with that and the heroic deeds are at times ..less than super ..however this is a great premise to introduce protest as a means of change to those who readily dismiss protest as senseless rioting.
However this was great..it didn't overegg the politics and took the stance of fiction followed by a essay of real life protests that inspired the fiction.
It is very left leaning I guess but I'm OK with that and the heroic deeds are at times ..less than super ..however this is a great premise to introduce protest as a means of change to those who readily dismiss protest as senseless rioting.
September 11, 2023
Pause: 3
After That Is This: 4
Absence: 3.5
Hermione: 4
Lady Swing: 4
Unloved Flowers: 3.5
Mothers Need Mothers: 3
For The Ache Of It: 3
The M & Ms: 3.5
The Captain: 3.5
The Seed: 3
Post-Credit: 3
After That Is This: 4
Absence: 3.5
Hermione: 4
Lady Swing: 4
Unloved Flowers: 3.5
Mothers Need Mothers: 3
For The Ache Of It: 3
The M & Ms: 3.5
The Captain: 3.5
The Seed: 3
Post-Credit: 3
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews