SOON I WILL BE INVINCIBLE
Austin Grossman
Vintage
Fiction
Hardcover: 0375424865
Paperback: 9780307279866

Summer is here, and along with the heat and humidity come the summer blockbusters. If you want all the excitement and death-defying thrills Spider-Man 3 can offer but don't want to venture any further than your strategically-placed beach chair, then SOON I WILL BE INVINCIBLE is the perfect book for your summer reading list.

Poor Doctor Impossible. Life is not easy for evil geniuses these days. He has been incarcerated after his last bid to take over the world and is having a little trouble adjusting to life on the inside: "I'm the smartest man in the world. Once I wore a cape in public, and fought battles against men who could fly, who had metal skin, who could kill you with their eyes. I fought Corefire to a standstill, and the Super Squadron, and the Champions. Now I have to shuffle through a cafeteria line with men who tried to pass bad checks."

Such is the tongue-in-cheek humor of Austin Grossman's hilarious look at the realm of the superhero. In this world, a certain percentage of the population possesses special powers, which many use for good. But others, like Doctor Impossible and his ilk, use theirs for evil. To keep things in line, a group of superheroes called the Champions formed to put a lid on the villains. In recent times, though, these pillars of society and superhuman strength have become more enraptured with their personal appearances and fragrance lines than maintaining the peace.

When Corefire, one of the strongest of their kind, goes missing, it is presumed that his nemesis, Doctor Impossible, is behind it. Two mutated heroes question him in jail, but Impossible seizes the opportunity to make a break for it. The rest of the Champions, including newest recruit Fatale, a half-woman/half-robot creation, frantically try to track him down and bring him to justice.

The timing for Austin Grossman's ambitious and entertaining first novel couldn't be more fitting. With movie franchises like X-Men and the Spider-Man films storming the box office, and programs like "Heroes" dominating the airwaves, his funny, refreshing look at the world of heroes and villains offers the wit and charm that is sometimes lacking from the more serious side of comic book heroes: "To be a supervillain, you need to have certain things. Don't bother with a secret identity, that's a hero thing."

Fatale has been appointed recently to the Champions team. However, despite her superhuman strength, she is not immune from crippling self-doubt, not only about her appearance but about her place in the Champions lineup: "Obviously, I don't have a secret identity --- I look the same all the time. There's a rubber half mask I can fit onto the right side of my face and neck if I want to make a try at looking human (the effect is grotesque, but with a hood up it basically works). I might have looked more human if I'd wanted, but I hate the store-mannequin plastic feel prosthetics they have, the Band-Aid colored flesh. So when they showed me a whole binder full of pastel swatches, a world of browns and pinks, I finally told them to leave the metal exposed. I save the half mask for emergencies." Ah, strong, practical and not vain. Take that, Wonder Woman! 

SOON I WILL BE INVINCIBLE guides you through the intricate ins and outs of the superhero crime fighter, from his choice of uniform to his special hero moniker, and what each choice says about the individual and their powers. It is as enjoyable as it is sardonically informative. So grab a beach chair, some SPF 30 and settle in for an amusing and engaging read that will win over diehard comic superhero fans and novices alike. 

   --- Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller

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