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I just finished the book Soon I Will Be Invincable. A story of your classic villans and heros, complete with altered timelines, aliens, evil geniuses, fairies, cyborgs, and magic.
What's interesting is the insight of the villan, Dr. Impossible. Like so many, he gained his power through a freak accident, and became nearly invincable.
And like so many, he's faced with a choice. Good or Evil? The winning side or the losing?
What I find rather realistic is what influences his choice. He is a clinical genius, and has suffered the usual isolation/social abuse that accompanies that. But he doesn't become a villan because he hates all of humanity (but there is no love lost) or because he lost the girl to his archnemesis. I'm not sure he cares about that, really.
He becomes a villan because it was the losing side.
The book is narrated from two points of veiw, that of Dr. Impossible and that of Fatale, the newbie cyborg on the superhero side. The SuperFriends, or whatever, is run by your usual aloof invincables. Basically think the Justice Leauge, without The Flash, because a sense of humor is a sign of weakness. Complete with a non-superpowered guy who can still kick everyone's ass.
Fatale is the new guy after the team's last cyborg blew herself up to save the team and the world. Awkward. But she had a similar veiw of being a superhero to that of Dr. Impossible. There was no sense of bettering the planet or saving lives or even making yourself feel better. They were all superheros and supervillans because it was what you did.
Theres a line that really brought the whole idea into focus for me.
'I decided it was time to talk some trash. I grabbed the microphone and shouted, "You have no hope of saving the world this time, CoreFire! For I, Dr. Impossible, have finally defeated your team, and will soon do the same to you!"
"You'll never get away with this!"
It passed the time.'
He doesn't waste time questioning his lot in life, or why he got his powers, or brooding over past failures. He doesn't even really hate too many people, other than CoreFire, but they have a history. His basic philosophy is, to quote another great man:
"I say hang the sense of it and try to keep yourself busy."
The book ends with Dr. Impossible's 13th capture, and him plotting his emminent escape, silently acknowledging the fact that until he is killed, or just runs out of battery, his battle is endless. He can never win, and therefore he can never be out of something to do.
A good book, even with the dim, real-life cast that you don't usually get from supers. Because they are smug media hogs, and villans are just abused, misunderstood unfortunates with too much time on their hands.
What's interesting is the insight of the villan, Dr. Impossible. Like so many, he gained his power through a freak accident, and became nearly invincable.
And like so many, he's faced with a choice. Good or Evil? The winning side or the losing?
What I find rather realistic is what influences his choice. He is a clinical genius, and has suffered the usual isolation/social abuse that accompanies that. But he doesn't become a villan because he hates all of humanity (but there is no love lost) or because he lost the girl to his archnemesis. I'm not sure he cares about that, really.
He becomes a villan because it was the losing side.
The book is narrated from two points of veiw, that of Dr. Impossible and that of Fatale, the newbie cyborg on the superhero side. The SuperFriends, or whatever, is run by your usual aloof invincables. Basically think the Justice Leauge, without The Flash, because a sense of humor is a sign of weakness. Complete with a non-superpowered guy who can still kick everyone's ass.
Fatale is the new guy after the team's last cyborg blew herself up to save the team and the world. Awkward. But she had a similar veiw of being a superhero to that of Dr. Impossible. There was no sense of bettering the planet or saving lives or even making yourself feel better. They were all superheros and supervillans because it was what you did.
Theres a line that really brought the whole idea into focus for me.
'I decided it was time to talk some trash. I grabbed the microphone and shouted, "You have no hope of saving the world this time, CoreFire! For I, Dr. Impossible, have finally defeated your team, and will soon do the same to you!"
"You'll never get away with this!"
It passed the time.'
He doesn't waste time questioning his lot in life, or why he got his powers, or brooding over past failures. He doesn't even really hate too many people, other than CoreFire, but they have a history. His basic philosophy is, to quote another great man:
"I say hang the sense of it and try to keep yourself busy."
The book ends with Dr. Impossible's 13th capture, and him plotting his emminent escape, silently acknowledging the fact that until he is killed, or just runs out of battery, his battle is endless. He can never win, and therefore he can never be out of something to do.
A good book, even with the dim, real-life cast that you don't usually get from supers. Because they are smug media hogs, and villans are just abused, misunderstood unfortunates with too much time on their hands.
