Cred Forums related prose novels

It is kind of like the Canadian hip hop version of Kick-Ass

>Minister Faust

Is this from the universe where Lauren Faust takes the Brony fandom too far?

I really hoped the cyborg girl would have a more dramatic role considering she was built by the big bad.
The book itself was a nice spin on the Death of Superman, though.

Cool little book

The She Hulk one sucked.

I really love this book but like, every part that's not Doctor Impossible is almost a waste of time. It only helps thanks to the contrast.

>She-Hulk
>sucked

Go on...

Seconding this, and you'll learn a lot about the birth of the comic industry. There's even a tiny Stan Lee cameo!

I only read part of the Shulk one.
I love romance books. I write some from time to time. I'm talking "her bare skin burned with the pink flush of arousal as her body arched to meet his."

I'm slowly making my way through the Wild Cards books as they get re-released.

I thought the chapters focusing on the superhero were pretty weak. The villain chapters were way more entertaining. Shame about the predictable "twist" at the end.

Speaking of other superhero novels, Wearing The Cape is decent enough, though the YA flavoring becomes obvious after a while.

It's Superman! is a phenomenal read, especially if you're interested in period pieces involving heroes.

Morrisons supergods is great if your a fan

I read that after King came on the comics scenes. I wasn't too impressed by it. Speaking of, has anyone read Nuklear Age? I could barely make it through the fist chapters, the humor felt like a dime store knock off of Giffen.

Are you talking about the book where the teen sidekick gets a crush on the Superman expy? Because that was the worst superhero story I ever read. I don't remember the details but I vividly remember hating almost everything about the book.
Why did you like it?

it's so great

Mostly how superheroes were presented, with an equal mix of emergency and civil services, and celebrity culture, without descending too much into "yea superheroes are totally secretly terrible people who are crazy sex driven lunatics". Like I said, the Young Adult stuff becomes apparent after a while; like you mentioned, the main character falls in love with the dashing handsome Superman expy, who is also just nice enough to not rail her night and day until they decide to get married. I'll agree it drags the book down, but for what I essentially read for free, it wasn't the worst thing I ever came across.

I had an old anthology of Batman stories that was edited by Max Allen Collins, there was some really good stuff in there and it ran the gamut of genres--you had yer detective, Sherlock Holmes-type stuff, locked room murder type of thing, kidnap/chase, martial arts and even horror. Can't remember the name I'll see what google turns up.

It was his greatest heist: stealing the interesting narrative

They're patchy as fuck though.
Ashamed to say I still haven't read this.

I did buy it (I like buying random books for good surprises) so that might be why it pissed me off so bad. I just think it was really unoriginal and bland. Comparing it to books like Steelheart or Worm it just didn't add anything new or do anything interesting with the genre. The powers were cookie cutter, the main character was too strong and 'normal' to sympathize with, and the only thing I think came close to interesting were the villains, of which I vaguely remember a time travel bomb?

They're still good overall, so far.

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Well to be completely honest I've only read, I think, four or five? There are some good ideas and cool characters but depending on the writer you either get some rollicking good fun entertainment or fanfic-tier bullshit. Have you read quite a few of them, user? Any ones really stand out? I got the first (?) 3 because I was a rabid Bolland fan at one time and they all had covers by him-y'know Aces High, Jokers Wild and the other one which I've forgotten the name of. I enjoyed Jokers Wild the most, on the whole.
youtu.be/m0GUbAImHuw

>Steelheart

By Sanderson? I'm vaguely aware of that book, but reading Mistborn kinda burned me on wanting to check out anything else by him. Is it worth checking out?

He's gotten a lot better since the first Mistborn trilogy, but he's still the same kind of writer. Dialogue isn't great but the plot and concept are really good. Basically the conceit is that getting superpowers turns you into a sociopath, with almost no exceptions. Instead of focusing on a newly powered kid or superhuman society the heroes are assassins/terrorists who have, in a world where superheroes have overthrown the government and carved out their own mini-kingdoms, decided to mete out justice to people who are basically beyond the laws of nature. If that interests you I'd say it's worth checking out.

Regarding Sanderson I think his newer books are better (Stormlight Archive and the Western Mistborn series being my favorite works of his) but his concepts and world building are by far his greatest strengths.

Guy accidentally gets Marty McFlyed out of existence but cogito ergo sum and he becomes an invisible superhero.

Read this.
Some of these.
Been meaning to.

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I just recently read it, and I really liked how it was set-up like an actual comics crossover.

Plus the only character actually with powers merely having heightened human strength/speed got over some of the more ridiculousness you see when writers try and explain superpowers/magic/whatever in general prose.

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I read this, and there was something about the way it was written that bothered me for the msot part.

I did really like the accounts of the villain's time at college, particularly the sense of time really passing, but him not moving on, and him being surprised by how young the other students seemed over time

Hey, tard ass. By definition, prose novels are not Cred Forums related. Fuck off and die.

I've only read the first five as well, since those are the only ones Tor has re-released so far. And while some stories/characters and their authors can drag horribly, I think overall the stories can be entertaining. My favorite is still the first Wild Cards book since it covers several decades instead of being stuck in the 80s like all the other books.

Oh, okay. I agree they're good when they're at their best and "drag" was the right word to use about the bad ones! They really do DRAG in places...oh, Aces Abroad was pretty interesting, a bunch of Wild Cards get sent by the W.H.O to other countries and shit, it's pretty dope.
That's like saying capeshit films aren't Cred Forums related.

>That's like saying capeshit films aren't Cred Forums related.
The ones that aren't based on comics or cartoons aren't Cred Forums-related.

Just having superheroes inside doesn't make it Cred Forums-related.

Aces Abroad is a good example of how it can be a mixed bag. The Cuba story sucked, the Central America story sucked, the Egypt story was alright, the France story was alright, the Berlin story was good, the Prague story was good.

It does if the superhero is from a comic, though.
Heh I actually quite liked the Cuba story! You're right about the Central America story though, it was pretty awful. I might re-read it soon, I think.

It's a web serial, but go read Wildbow's Worm right now if you haven't. It is hands down the greatest superhero story ever told.

found this dissapointing. hate there arent cool superhero novels that are clever like worm out there.

Anybody else read this? What did you think?

be honest with me. how are they?

its good. basically a bunch of nonsupers take down powerful supers in an abstract post-apocalyptic setting.

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I listened to the Graphic Audio version. It was okay.

Yes, Zod does have sex in it.

This is a good series

I read this. It was interesting. Not great though. I guess even Denny has off days.

Fucking Stan Lee and his cameos.
I remember after this book I was on some weird trip and kept reading books about Jewish guys making money.

Wild Cards are based on RPG he created, right?

I enjoyed this

villain protagonist btw

There's couple of books but I only read one and little part of second. It's OK read, I guess but I got salty my favorite characters didn't get enough page time and main guy and female Batman were literally ugh Sues.

Seconding this. Varies in quality quite a bit throughout each of the books, but I found the overall premise solid.

>normal kid in superhero family develops mind reading, then more mental powers
>set in a superhero school where the supes pick on the sidekick tier people

I read this and the Powereds

they're ok

I read this back in middle school and liked it.

Kid gets cucked though so be warned.

The Further Adventures of Batman - it's got a story by Isaac Asimov, of all people. They had a few more, including one all about The Joker.
I have that on my shelf, along with The Forensic Files of Batman, It's Superman!, Trail of Time and Last Sons. I still need to read all of those... along with about a hundred other books I own. I wish I were kidding.
I've heard some of his other Batman books were kinda shit.

This reminds me, does anyone have that old meme of a lesbian couple getting married and there's this scowling kid in the background and the image is captioned "ORIGIN OF A SUPERVILLAIN" or something like that?

Is that the one? Has like a pseudo-Sienkiewicz style cover?

Has anyone read Renegade X? A friend of mine vouched for it and it seems to be a more dramatic take on the premise of El Tigre.

I like it

Once upon a time, GRRM and a ton of other writers, when they met up at cons and award shors, played on again of again superhero games with rotating casts of characters based on who turned up. Some longer and more established, some basically one shots, some arranged games where they actually met up several times at someones house.

Eventually they decide to take the characters and lore they had made and make short stories out of them, then they decided to try and publish those. Thus was Wildcards born.

Its pretty variable in quality and often VERY depressing, though usually on purpose. Many of the short stories suffer from trying to be too "realistic" over actually telling an enjoyable/good story (not to say all stories have to be enjoyable to be good but you get what i mean).

Its definitely worth picking up used from amazon if nothing else.

ANYONE can do that!

ITS CALLED PERSPECTIVE?

fuck

I don't know what to make of Soon I Will Be Invincible now. I read it a couple of years back and thoroughly enjoyed it at the time. There are very few works of fiction with bona fide villain protagonists who aren't ultimately just heroes with a little wiggle room, morally speaking, or outright edgy psychopaths. Professor Impossible scratched that urgent itch of mine for a proper supervillain protagonist in a most gratifying way, and I couldn't put the book down.

Looking back on it, though, I don't think the other half of the book was especially engaging or well-written. The cyborg heroine was a good concept, but I didn't really appreciate having another POV character chewing into Professor Impossible's book. Having characters clearly meant to stand in for the likes of Batman and Superman is simply uninspired unless you're going to do something with them that DC never would do with them, and there was nothing new there. The Superman stand-in also got way too much focus for a character who wasn't even an active part of the narrative for the most part. I'm hesitant to revisit the book and have my good memories further sullied after having read Worm.

Are there better stories with supervillain protagonists? I'll take suggestions from any medium and do intend to look into

Vicious
by V.E. Schwab

Sounds quite promising, thanks.

np

They're more good than bad.

"Goodbat Nightman"

God bless all policemen
and fighters of crime,
May thieves go to jail
for a very long time.

They've had a hard day
helping clean up the town,
Now they hang from the mantelpiece
both upside down.

A glass of warm blood
and then straight up the stairs,
Batman and Robin
are saying their prayers.

They've locked all the doors
and they've put out the bat,
Put on their batjamas
(They like doing that)

They've filled their batwater-bottles
made their batbeds,
With two springy battresses
for sleepy batheads.

They're closing red eyes
and they're counting black sheep,
Batman and Robin
are falling asleep.

~Roger McGough

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I thoroughly enjoyed pic related the three or four times I read it.

The content is not Cred Forums but its by gaiman and it is fantastic.

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came here to post this

just read this...alan moore did

comicsbeat.com/alan-moore-and-superfolks-part-2-the-case-for-the-defence/

Reminds me of that extremely boring Disney direct-to-TV movie Sky High.

>Soon I will be invincible
These are in the same general direction:
Confessions of a D-List Supervillain
Origins of a D-List Supervillain
Secrets of a D-List Supervillain

I can suggest some Graphic Audios.

The Flash: Stop motion. If you thought youve seen the limits of how broken speed force can be, check this out. Wally is investigating murders that seem to committed by a speed force user.

Last Sons: A collector of rare specimens attempts to add Superman, The Martian Manhunter and Lobo to his collection.

Setting is a world in which there are no superheroes, only supervillains, and the protagonist is unpowered. Pretty entertaining books.

Stop now while it's still good, user. Stop before you get to the part where the space alien is body swapped into a tween girl and then raped daily by his own son so he can become pregnant and give birth.

Those books get fucked up.

>Shadow Ops by Myke Cole

What if X-men were operators operating in fantasy!Afghanistan ?
What if not!Cyclops was wrong and spends his time making up for clusterfuck he caused ?
What if not!Magneto was a decent person that was abused by everybody and just wanted revenge ?
What if not!Taliban was desperately surviving against an invasion of soulless abominations from outer dimensions ?

On general series are good with everything vastly improving with second book and only getting better and better.
Also Gemini Cell is pretty much non-retarded spawn

I never finished this. Got half way through and was amazing, but my backpack was stolen and I haven't found it since. I'm pretty sure it's out of print

That sounds perfect.

Who wrote this Worm I keep seeing being mentioned? I wanna check this out.

>nobody has posted hero
damn y'all niggas slipping

Yeah, I found my copy in a thrift store. The bad guy makes plastic guns that can pass through metal detectors, and then Question meets the bad guys mom or something? It's been so long since I've read it.

What book is this. Please tell me more

I think he's talking about the Wild Cards series.

I don't remember, I think it's like book 9 or 10. When the character gets introduced that's a giant fat guy with psychic powers, that's when the storyline starts. It's been like a decade since I read the series.

The WIldcards collaborative novels have characters that are genuinely bad people/are basically considered super villains. Both as honest to god main focuses of stories, and as smaller segments.

One of the longest running characters (he was one of the ORIGINAL meta humans, for instance, the Sleeper, who's been around since 1946 (the current stories are roughly contemporary or slightly behind real life) has been spending a lot of time avoiding going to sleep, because he changes, and he's afraid he'll mutate bad and stay that way, or die. So he begs, borrows, and steals Speed, Meth, and Cocaine, and any other upper to stay awake. He'll do anything for drugs, he's highly wanted because he's done a lot of bad things to do them, and you know, he's highly volatile because he gets strung out on drugs, stays awake for weeks, and has a shitty personality anyway.

Or Deadhead. He eats peoples brains to steal their memories. Or the Astronomer. Does nasty psychic type abilities. Involve bloody, ritualistic trappings. Likes to use his powers to tear people apart, melt them, or just mindfuck them.

And a lot of the people who regularly work for the government are often doing creepy, frequently morally dubious things. The local Superman equivalent is about as much of an asshat as Superman is in the Dark Knight Returns, and for similar reasons. One of his colleagues, Carnifex, is what you would get if you took the Comedian, and gave him Deadpoolesque healing powers. (The healing doesn't give him cancer, he just doesn't heal "right". So while he was once handsome aside from being creepy and evil looking, his face is a misshapen mess.) He enjoys beating people like rented mules, living the high life, and being an asshole, generally.

The local Dr. Who equivalent, who is mixed up with the Virus being around at all, and is very snobby and high handed, and also a sloppy pile of useless and contemptible drunk.

i wish

What I've read:

>Soon I will be invincible
Pretty good specially the parts by Victor Von Luthor, I mean, Doctor Impossible.

>Ex-Heroes
Superheroes surviving the zombie apocalypse. Pretty cool series, but it is a zombie story, so expect cool characters you like to die.

>Sensation
The Kid Sensation series is about a OP hero specialized in infiltration. It has a really hard time creating tension, but if you want to see a Martian Manhunter expy being badass it's pretty good. Good action scenes and fights.

>Kingdom of Heroes
Apparently it's got good reviews, but I hated it, I found it boring the character I liked died, the POV hero was annoying. Blergh.

>Devil's Cape
Really, really good origin story. I really hope the author writes more.

If you can stand YA, Michael Carroll's books were pretty alright, IIRC. I think there was one main trilogy and then a couple others.

there's a super great tg smut story called Of Heroes and Villains that is way better than it has any right to be.

Link?

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Worm's author goes by Wildbow. He's just someone who writes a lot of serialized fiction and posts it online for free. I know how it sounds, but trust me, Worm is amazing. Granted, the first chapter or two won't grab you in any way, but the story picks up very quickly and it never stops.

I can confirm this, since I happen to own a copy of this.

Also, in looking for an image of the cover, I found out their are two more volumes featuring Penguin and Catwoman stories, plus spin-offs centered on Superman and Wonder Woman. Might have to do some shopping on Amazon later...

Nevermind, it's the first result when you google the title, shockingly enough.

It's not my fetish so I'm distraught.

Anybody pick up this anthology? Some of the stories range from great to abysmal, and the very first story is an utterly lackluster take on the relationship between cynical pastiches of Lois Lane and Superman, but a few of the stories were quite memorable. Or at least amusing.

The highlights being:
The Quick Stop 5
Remains of the Night
The Meerkat
Man Oh Man-It's Manna Man
My Interview With the Avenger
League of Justice (Philidelphia Division)
The Lives of Ordinary Superheroes

shit

I read that and Playing For Keeps this year. pretty entertaining. I liked some of the more crrative applications of minor superpowers in the latter.

took me a second then I spat out my drink

The argentinian novel not-JLA elsworld Kryptonita by Leonardo Oyola

This book is really quite good, and I fucking love how powerful their Martian Manhunter analog is.

One of the only books with a gay protagonist where I could actually see where he was coming from. Also, some definite shades of My Hero Academia years before it would become a thing.

is that the keepsie book?

I'm not going to read your post, because I don't want to read spoilers.

I remember the Penguin one, especially the woman who became a bat themed superhero and Penguin reinventing himself as some kind of cannibal. It was an interesting collection of short stories I should reread.

yeah, the bar owner whose superpower is that no one can steal from her, who gets given a McGuffin by an old acquaintance who knew that being owned by her was the single safest vault in existence

I would second a recommendation to try Worm, but be warned that it's incredibly polarizing; either you'll love it, like the user above, or you'll hate it.

That's the little bastard, alright! Thought it was edited by Max Allan Collins for some reason. Gonna have to try and find it, I actually bought mine during the wave of Bat-hype for the first Tim Burton film. At that time they also cashed in with these paperback-sized digests of old Bats comics, I had the one where Bats goes a bit mental and it shows Thomas Wayne as the "first" Batman, with that ridiculous costume which Robin dons to snap Brucieboy out of it. Was it called The Death of Bruce Wayne, or something? I remember it was John Byrne inking Jim Aparo or vice versa, can't remember who wrote it, though. Thinking Len Wein, for some reason. But then I think every old DC book of which I can't remember the writer was written by Len Wein, kek.