The Super Review 

SIWBI - Cover & Title

 

 

A chapter by chapter review might seem like overkill, but I honestly think I could do it without ever becoming repetitive. Soon I Will Be Invincible seems to have intentionally gone out of its way to replicate the mistakes of comics. There are continuity errors, unfinished sub-plots, multiple characters using the same code-name, and pointless villains (and heroes) so ridiculous they need to be written out of continuity.

 

But let’s start on a high, which requires starting on the outside, with what you can see on the cover.

 

The most positive note is, without a doubt, the artwork. Invocative of everything you might expect inside, the English cover, showing Dr. Impossible and the ‘New Champions’, is probably the best cover out there. Others have commented that the artwork is unnecessary and contradictory in a prose novel, as opposed to a graphic medium. Personally, I don't feel like we ever 'see' the characters in the novel and the images are a welcome addition. 

 

The less striking cover, just showing Impossible’s helmet and gloves, is more par for the course, but equally representative. There are also various other pieces of artwork, each well worth seeing – but commenting on imagery is outside of my expertise.

 

I only wish they’d spent as much time on the story itself.

 

Straight away, I was grabbed by the title. Soon I Will Be Invicible is quite a lengthy name, which is usually discouraged, but I immediately felt like it worked and set it apart from the other, less imaginative names, like Superfolk and Superpowered. And yet, paired with either cover, it doesn’t sacrifice the obvious categorisation those titles offer. Something about Soon I Will Be Invincible lets you know exactly what it’s about, and implies that you’ll be following the supervillain’s journey, which was another plus.

 

But there the praise ends. Firstly, the novel doesn’t only follow the villain, which to me is hedging your bets. If you’re not confident with carrying a book on the merits of your supervillain, don’t do it. And certainly don’t lead with his point of view.

 

I felt an immediate disappointment when we switched to Fatale’s perspective. That wasn’t what I’d picked the book up for. Maybe it’s just me being picky, but when I see a title that says ‘I’, the expectation is to see the story from that view point. Not to have it diluted. Irritatingly, I can’t think of any examples that aren’t autobiographies and I haven’t read I, the Jury. But for me, the title is misleading. Like I said, nit-picky.

 

It also fails to live up to that claim. Dr. Impossible doesn’t even attempt to become invincible within the book – he tries not to lose, but it’s hardly the same thing. I expected a race to complete – or for the heroes, to stop – a plan that, once put in motion, would make Dr. Impossible completely unbeatable. Instead, the devious scheme is taken right out of the golden age comics. Not the Batman comics either. Something obscure and ridiculous that only lasted a few issues.

 

When we finally reach the text itself, after pages upon pages of contents and pointless images etc, there yet another clue to Grossman’s/his publisher’s confidence in the writing: the two main characters have little icons at the start of their chapters to show which perspective the reader is in now.

 

First of all, the icons aren’t very good. There’s a hand-held ray-gun, which isn’t used at any point, and a robotic eye (at least that’s how other reviewers have identified it. I couldn’t tell.) In actual fact, I didn’t even notice them the first time I read through. But it instantly tells you something about the book: either the voices weren’t distinct enough to indicate the change in narrator, or the plot is too confusing.

 

Some have commented that both are true, but through events alone, I found the change of narrator quite easy to follow, for the most part. But what really made it easy was, they take turns. It doesn’t switch randomly, or move between multiple perspectives. There’s an arbitrary order which makes it easy to follow.

 

The other thing that needs to be questioned, which actually comes before the symbols, is the chapter heading: “Foiled Again”. Our first encounter with the primary villain paints him as a loser. Why on earth would you ever make your antagonist a loser from the very first chapter, particularly in a story about his confrontation with heroes? Of course, we’re prepared for him to lose in the end because he’s evil, but I want to think that he has a chance. I want it to be a close-run thing. “Foiled Again” is not a promising start, and that’s before we learn he’s been incarcerated twelve times.

 

Amazing how much can go wrong before the story has even begun.