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A review by antonblender
A Once Crowded Sky by Tom King
4.0
“A Once Crowded Sky” is a comic book in novel form. Like many comic stories, it centers around a huge crisis event that brings all of the worlds superheroes together to fight a great evil. But this time, winning the battle means losing their greatest champion — and all of their powers.
The story beings six months after all of the heroes of Arcadia gave their powers to Ultimate, the superhero robot that inspired them all, so that he could fly off to defeat the threat known as The Blue (and die in the process). The heroes left behind are adjusting to normal lives. All except PenUltimate, former sidekick who quit the game and didn’t show up when the rest of the heroes did. Now Pen is the last super powered being in the world, and when The Blue returns it’s up to him (and a few former heroes) to stop it.
“A Once Crowded Sky” reads like “Watchmen” written by Jack Kirby. It’s another postmodern look at the four colour world of superheroes, but instead of critiquing the genre it celebrates it. While Alan Moore’s view was that only damaged and borderline psychotic people would choose to dress up and fight crime, Tom King’s heroes do it with a Silver Age enthusiasm (in fact, they call themselves “players” and refer to the business of being a superhero as “the game”). They understand and accept the cyclical nature of their never ending battle, which makes it that much harder to live in a world where there are no more superheroes and criminal masterminds.
I enjoyed the story, but thought the book dragged a bit in the middle (which ironically was the most action packed part). Where King really excels is telling the backstories of the heroes that populate his world — characters like Soldier of Freedom and Star Knight and Doctor Speed. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of these characters, and the chapter titles have comic book names like “Ultimate, The Man With The Metal Face #572” and “Solider of Freedom Team Up Special #1”.
If you’re a comic book fan, chances are you’ll enjoy this novel. Tom King has created an interesting group of heroes that owe much to the characters of the Marvel and DC Universes without reading like carbon copies, and he’s placed them in a grown up story that raises questions about what it means to be a hero. As debut novels go it’s very strong, and I’m looking forward to what he writes next.
The story beings six months after all of the heroes of Arcadia gave their powers to Ultimate, the superhero robot that inspired them all, so that he could fly off to defeat the threat known as The Blue (and die in the process). The heroes left behind are adjusting to normal lives. All except PenUltimate, former sidekick who quit the game and didn’t show up when the rest of the heroes did. Now Pen is the last super powered being in the world, and when The Blue returns it’s up to him (and a few former heroes) to stop it.
“A Once Crowded Sky” reads like “Watchmen” written by Jack Kirby. It’s another postmodern look at the four colour world of superheroes, but instead of critiquing the genre it celebrates it. While Alan Moore’s view was that only damaged and borderline psychotic people would choose to dress up and fight crime, Tom King’s heroes do it with a Silver Age enthusiasm (in fact, they call themselves “players” and refer to the business of being a superhero as “the game”). They understand and accept the cyclical nature of their never ending battle, which makes it that much harder to live in a world where there are no more superheroes and criminal masterminds.
I enjoyed the story, but thought the book dragged a bit in the middle (which ironically was the most action packed part). Where King really excels is telling the backstories of the heroes that populate his world — characters like Soldier of Freedom and Star Knight and Doctor Speed. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of these characters, and the chapter titles have comic book names like “Ultimate, The Man With The Metal Face #572” and “Solider of Freedom Team Up Special #1”.
If you’re a comic book fan, chances are you’ll enjoy this novel. Tom King has created an interesting group of heroes that owe much to the characters of the Marvel and DC Universes without reading like carbon copies, and he’s placed them in a grown up story that raises questions about what it means to be a hero. As debut novels go it’s very strong, and I’m looking forward to what he writes next.