Superhero Novels

[Expletive Deleted]

This isn't exactly a super hero book, but Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis gave off a comic book vibe.

Yeah, the Nazi superhumans are basically X-Men types and there's a strong Mignola feel to the proceedings.

It was good, although I thought the precognitive character was a little too much of a plot device. I'm looking forward to the sequel, which is finally coming out this summer.

[MichaelPaytonMZ]

Not superheroes in the sense that they have super powers, but the Spider and Shadow pulps from the 1930s and 40s are being reprinted still. Ebook fans can grab a copy of the Spider for a penny from RadioArchives.com to try it out. (PDF/epub/mobi formats). The rest of the pulps are only $2.99. Sadly they don't include the original illustrations, but the trade paperbacks do.

The Spider is a lot more action-packed than the Shadow and other hero pulps, which is why they have remained in print off and on since the 1960s paperbacks. He started out as a Shadow knock-off, but by his third issue Norvell Page took over the series and he went from a simple bland masked detective to a raging crimebuster, who probably killed more criminals and would-be dictators in one issue that the rest did in a year. If you've read Robert E Howard, imagine him writing Batman mixed with the Punisher. And then crank it up about 20 times. On a calm day. There was a three-parter from 1938 that was an allegory to a Nazi take over of New York state that's been collected as The Spider vs the Black Empire. The Spider never went after bank robbers or kittens in trees. Every book had some desperate life and death struggle that almost always started on page one and never let up til the end.

Page even changed the character's appearance, tho it was rarely reflected on the covers, since Page's description made the Spider too horrific to be a hero according to the publishers, with a hunchback, wild white hair jutting out from underneath hit hat and fangs. Page would get so into his writing that he would run around his office in the cape and hat and try to channel the character's manic nature. This actually led to Page leaving for a while after he had a nervous breakdown. (Like REH, the best pulp writers were often a bit nuts.)

Edit to add CBR's own review of the Black Empire book.

[dupersuper]

Not superheroes in the sense that they have super powers, but the Spider and Shadow pulps from the 1930s and 40s are being reprinted still.

Can't Shadow "cloud mens minds"? Or is that just the movie version?

[The Black Guardian]

Can't Shadow "cloud mens minds"? Or is that just the movie version?

The psychic powers came from the radio show. In the original stories, he was pretty much like Batman... only not so many toys. And the movie added telekinesis.

[MichaelPaytonMZ]

the Doc Savage books are still in print as well, if you want a little proto-Superman.

[IntellectualAl]

Captain Freedom: A Superhero's Quest for Truth, Justice, and the Celebrity He So Richly Deserves
is pretty entertaining.

[Expletive Deleted]

Paul Tobin's written a new superhero novel, Prepare to Die!, coming out this week or next.

Nine years ago, Steve Clarke was just a teenage boy in love with the girl of his dreams. Then a freak chemical spill transformed him into Reaver, the man whose super-powerful fists can literally take a year off a bad guy’s life. Days ago, he found himself at the mercy of his arch-nemesis Octagon and a whole crew of fiendish super-villains, who gave him two weeks to settle his affairs–and prepare to die. Now, after years of extraordinary adventures and crushing tragedies, the world’s greatest hero is returning to where it all began in search of the boy he once was . . . and the girl he never forgot.