If love is a second hand emotion then reading about it must make it third hand and if having a third hand doesn't solve all your problems then reading about me reading about love must make it fourth hand... which makes you a Thri-kreen. Congrats. You can now achieve the ultimate dork goal of being able to attack with four swords at once. Bring this petty dance of love down, little Shiva, bring it all down in flames.
Ah-hem. Where was I? Oh yes. Love. Love of superheroes. Superheroes as a springboard for actual story. Because everyone loves spandex and biceps but not everyone loves character development and plot lines.
But, give them the crime fighting do-gooder and you can probably get away with some actual writing... which is exactly what Mccloud does. He manages to write a story that third hand reminds us of our own troubled teen romances. Hilariously enough, the superhero is characteristically honest, patient, generous and blunt in his approach to love. It exposes the humanity of all those around him and somehow even makes him seem believable - in a paragon of virtue kind of way.
There are explosions, comic relief and bad guys but honestly, it's the love story that makes the book good.
No comments:
Post a Comment