Super Hero Books

[Asperion]

I would like to get a list of books that involve the presence of superbeings. In the past I have found books that involve nearly every other geners including scifi, western, fantasy, modern, historical, etc but involving supers is hard to find and when they do they are based around a popular comic. What I would like to find are good books that use supers that is not based on some popular comic (no X-Men, Avengers, Justice League, Superman, Flash, etc). Many thanks in advance for your assistance.

[Al_Beddow]

I read one along the lines you are talking once, I'll have to do some serious digging (if I even still have it).

 

The problem is the whole thing was more of a "spoof" of current super hero's. The premise was:

 

The hero's secret identity was a TV new reporter.

He flew by thinking 'happy thoughts"

His home planet was called "Cronk"

The radioactive substance that drained his powers was called "Cronkite." (Get it, Walter Cronkite?)

Over the decades, the bad guys had been putting tiny amounts of Cronkite in everything, bricks, cement, glass, etc. so when the super hero when to resume his career, his powers were significantly reduced.

[Archon]

Aces

 

The Wildcards anthology series was the best one of these I've read. Unfortunately, they came out in the late 80's originally and are hard to find now.

 

I've never really run into a book based story without the major groups except for that one.

[Hermit]

Yeah, same here. Except for a few parodies, Wildcards are the only serious super hero novels that I've seen that didn't include big names.

 

There are some online sites that have some good fiction though.

[ShinDangaioh]

Superheroes edited by John Varley(& Rica Mainhardt)

 

ISBN 0-441-00307-9

 

The heroes are a bit odd in a couple stories.

 

'Theme Music Man' for instance.

 

Peer Review does have a Justice League/Avengers knockoff, but they have their own quirks.

 

 

In July, Guardians of Order will be releasing the 'Paths of the Just' anthologhy of stories.

[Lord Liaden]

It can be hard to find nowadays, since it's been out of print for years, but I'd recommend Philip Wylie's novel The Gladiator. The lead character is widely considered one of Siegel and Shuster's primary inspirations for Superman. Although far removed from the contemporary era (the super-character fought in WW I!), and IMO with a streak of mysogyny which I find distasteful, this is still the most thoughtful study I've seen in what it would really be like to be born immensely physically superior to everyone else in the world.

[mildmildwest]

Well, he isn't a hero in the Traditional sense of the word, but he's got the superpowers......how about The Destroyer series of books. You just gotta love Remo, but Chiun rocks.

[Archon]

I forgot about Superheroes. Actually, I think that the Alliance of Superheroes story in there is based on an old Champions campaign.

 

My personal favorite inspiration for Superman was Doc Savage. The Man of Bronze and the Man of Steel who both have a Fortress of Solitude.

[Arthur]

Saw a book series called _Rising Stars_ with this theme. Have not picked it up yet, but it's on my "oneathesedays" list.

[Armitage]

Originally posted by Arthur

Saw a book series called _Rising Stars_ with this theme. Have not picked it up yet, but it's on my "oneathesedays" list.

 

I have the first two books. I haven't read them yet, but they seem to be direct adaptions of the comic book series. The third book is no doubt waiting for J. Michael Straczynski to finish the comic storyline.

[urbwar]

Re: Aces

 

Originally posted by Archon

The Wildcards anthology series was the best one of these I've read. Unfortunately, they came out in the late 80's originally and are hard to find now.

 

I've never really run into a book based story without the major groups except for that one.

 

Wildcards seems to have been reissued. About 2-3 weeks ago, I was in the local B&N, and I saw these oversized paperbacks that said Wilcards, and seemed to be collections of 2-3 books from the series. There were at least 2 volumes that I saw in the bookstore.

[DocSubtlety]

I was always a sucker for the Perry Rhodan series, which was German pulp sci fi that included a wide range of supers. Earth's finest were all gathered into Perry's Mutant Corps.

 

(My personal favorite, themewise, was Ivan Ivanovich, a two headed mutant whose gaze could set off nuclear reactions at line of sight.)

[ShinDangaioh]

Originally posted by Archon

I forgot about Superheroes. Actually, I think that the Alliance of Superheroes story in there is based on an old Champions campaign.

 

Peer Review. Justice Commision is the name of the group. Michael Stackpole is the author and one of the characters(Revenant) was used as an example in Champions II or Champoins III and all of the charcters and people who played them were listed as credits in the front of the Champions books.

 

So if you want a Champions based story to read, get that book.

 

I do wonder if Steve Long and and any of the others working for DoJ sent a story to GoO for Paths of the Just.

[Asperion]

Thanks everyone for all of your great suggestions. All of these books sound as though they should be some exciting reading should I ever get the opportunity to start reading again (getting married). It might even be possible that someone else might see these books here and decide to get and read them. If anyone can come up with more books along this theme I would like to hear about them. I appreciate the effort and suggestions from everyone.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by ShinDangaioh

Peer Review. Justice Commision is the name of the group. Michael Stackpole is the author and one of the characters(Revenant) was used as an example in Champions II or Champoins III and all of the charcters and people who played them were listed as credits in the front of the Champions books.

 

So if you want a Champions based story to read, get that book.

 

I do wonder if Steve Long and and any of the others working for DoJ sent a story to GoO for Paths of the Just.

 

The name of the book is Peer Review? Ive never heard of this before, any additional info?

 

Wild Cards is a good series, especially the begining of the series, and it is in print again and has been for about a year now in oversized (and overpriced) paperbound format. I would suggest cruising used books stores for the originals.

 

Here's my review of the 1st books reprint from Amazon.com:

 

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

A golden oldie February 6, 2002

I read this series when it was originally released. I wasnt happy with where the series eventually ended up late in the series, but the earlier works are fond favorites.

 

People buying this book (or others in the series) because they are fans of GRRMartins Song of Ice and Fire series are likely to be disapointed due to misaligned expectations.

 

The only thing this series has in common with the Song of Ice and Fire is a gritty certainty that favorite characters will get killed....or worse, and the use of widely scattered often disconnected characters and plotlines that sometimes may cross but also might never. Further, as this is a 'mosaic' novel, GRRMartin isnt the sole proprietor of the stories.

 

Treated as a seperate entity from GRRMartin's more recent series, the Wild Cards series is a fairly unique and often brilliant body of work. Due to its nature, not all of the short stories will appeal to everyone; to be sure there are stories and story arcs that dont appeal to me either.

 

Regardless, taken as a whole the series is really something special. Its similar to a massive wall mural which cant be appreciated from up close; you have to pull back abit and look at it in its entirety to fully appreciate the overall effect.

 

The strength of the series lays in its deft characterizations. Some of my favorite fictional characters are from this series; the Turtle, Croyd Crenson (the Sleeper), Golden Boy, Mackie Messer, Carnifex, Mr Nobody, Jumpin Jack Flash (et al), Kid Dinosaur.....the list goes on and on.

 

The series really picks up in the second book, but the 1st is where all of the necessary background resides.

 

Unfortunately, the books are being released in a grossly overpriced large softbound edition; my advice it to find the original paperbacks in a used book store.

 

 

[lemming]

Wildcards: The first six or seven are worth reading. I'm trying to remember exactly where I dropped the series, but yeah, ou should be able to find the original printings in used book stores.

 

Superheroes: Great book. The Cleaning superhero story was my favorite.

[ShinDangaioh]

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

The name of the book is Peer Review? Ive never heard of this before, any additional info?

 

No. Superheroes is the name of the book. Peer Review is the name of the story in the book.

 

I should have made that a little more clear.

 

There is also the Maximum Boy series of books that can be picked up. It starts off with the title 'How I Became a Superhero.'

 

Just go to http://www.amazon.com and type in 'Maximum Boy' in the search engine.

[Arthur]

Originally posted by lemming

Wildcards: The first six or seven are worth reading. I'm trying to remember exactly where

 

The first six are great - they dropped off rapidly after that. I read them all, but some were almost a chore.

 

Book 9 or 10 (Dealer's Choice) was a standout - it almost (but not quite) had the quality of the early books.

 

Card Sharks (the three books in the second cycle) was quite intriguing as well. Same comment as for Dealer's Choice.

[Doug McCrae]

Robert Mayer's Super-Folks, published in 1977. I've never read it, but apparently it was very influential.

 

I've just realised this was the book Al_Beddow was referring too, the one with the 'Cronkite'.

[PhantomGM2602]

Originally posted by Al_Beddow

I read one along the lines you are talking once, I'll have to do some serious digging (if I even still have it).

 

The problem is the whole thing was more of a "spoof" of current super hero's. The premise was:

 

The hero's secret identity was a TV new reporter.

He flew by thinking 'happy thoughts"

His home planet was called "Cronk"

The radioactive substance that drained his powers was called "Cronkite." (Get it, Walter Cronkite?)

Over the decades, the bad guys had been putting tiny amounts of Cronkite in everything, bricks, cement, glass, etc. so when the super hero when to resume his career, his powers were significantly reduced.

That Would be "SUPER PEOPLE" and it included some out anout spoofing of the most popular heroes like:

Indigo[sUPERMAN}

Captian Mantra[Captain Marvel]

Mary Mantra{Mary Marvel,she was shown in flashbacks]

Demoniac{captain Marvel Jr,Mary and cap's illegitimate son]

it also contains mentions of the popular heroes like Wonder woman giving up her crime fighting for women's empowerment,

Snoopy still persuing the Red Baron[never got him by the way].

all in all you'd get a total laugh out of it.