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A review by celadon
The Pride Omnibus by Joe Glass
4.0
Having a queer superhero team sounds cool, and it mostly was.
Despite its faults I entirely enjoyed myself.
I think what made this book stand out to me was how it presented allyship. Rather than a couple of words being said, being an ally is a constant fight alongside those in the community. Being united on a front against a common enemy (or villain) brings people together. It shows that anger can unite people rather than pity. The examination of privilege in this book leads the characters to ground themselves in what they do have going for them while knowing that their experiences are not to be compared, but only a background from which they can plant and grow empathy. Only then are we able to connect to each other's humanity in different ways.
In the beginning, I was so close to putting down this novel. The Pride only fought homophobic crimes and therefore there was copious amounts of hate speech, hate crimes, and homophobia. Why should a queer superhero team only respond to LGBTQ crimes? That does get better later on.
The other thing that was severely lacking was the types of representation. The main group has at least five white, cis, gay guys. None of them made huge efforts to be accepting unless Honey (drag queen) puts them in their places. Later on, there’s more varied queer representation but still little BIPOC and no disability rep. I want the whole book to start halfway in. When they recruit allies and other superheroes. It introduces more perspectives and, well, a much better storyline.
Lastly, the art constantly changed and was distracting. This wasn’t as much of a big deal for me but I thought it was worth mentioning.
I don’t feel like this book was bad. You could see the author’s journey through the plot and character development as it turned itself around. I will be repetitive and continue to highlight the amazing allyship representation. As much as it is important to have people like you that you can see yourself in, it is just as important for that safety to become a phenomenon that occurs outside that space, room, or closet. We can all get there, we just need to make the first step.
Despite its faults I entirely enjoyed myself.
I think what made this book stand out to me was how it presented allyship. Rather than a couple of words being said, being an ally is a constant fight alongside those in the community. Being united on a front against a common enemy (or villain) brings people together. It shows that anger can unite people rather than pity. The examination of privilege in this book leads the characters to ground themselves in what they do have going for them while knowing that their experiences are not to be compared, but only a background from which they can plant and grow empathy. Only then are we able to connect to each other's humanity in different ways.
In the beginning, I was so close to putting down this novel. The Pride only fought homophobic crimes and therefore there was copious amounts of hate speech, hate crimes, and homophobia. Why should a queer superhero team only respond to LGBTQ crimes? That does get better later on.
The other thing that was severely lacking was the types of representation. The main group has at least five white, cis, gay guys. None of them made huge efforts to be accepting unless Honey (drag queen) puts them in their places. Later on, there’s more varied queer representation but still little BIPOC and no disability rep. I want the whole book to start halfway in. When they recruit allies and other superheroes. It introduces more perspectives and, well, a much better storyline.
Lastly, the art constantly changed and was distracting. This wasn’t as much of a big deal for me but I thought it was worth mentioning.
I don’t feel like this book was bad. You could see the author’s journey through the plot and character development as it turned itself around. I will be repetitive and continue to highlight the amazing allyship representation. As much as it is important to have people like you that you can see yourself in, it is just as important for that safety to become a phenomenon that occurs outside that space, room, or closet. We can all get there, we just need to make the first step.