{"id":24989,"date":"2014-07-27T18:27:02","date_gmt":"2014-07-27T22:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=24989"},"modified":"2014-07-27T18:27:02","modified_gmt":"2014-07-27T22:27:02","slug":"review-of-the-adventures-of-superhero-girl-by-faith-erin-hicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=24989","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Adventures of Superhero Girl, by Faith Erin Hicks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"superhero_girl_large\"<\/a>The Adventures of Superhero Girl<\/em><\/p>\n

by Faith Erin Hicks
\ncolors by Cris Peter
\nintroduction by Kurt Busiek<\/p>\n

Dark Horse Books, 2013. 106 pages.
\n2014 Eisner Award Winner<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t expect to enjoy this graphic novel as thoroughly as I did. It\u2019s made up of strips from a webcomic about a girl who\u2019s a superhero. She can lift heavy objects and leap over tall buildings, but she can\u2019t fly.<\/p>\n

In her ordinary life? She\u2019s pretty ordinary. She\u2019s a young adult in a small town that doesn\u2019t have much crime. She\u2019s got a roommate, and she has trouble paying the rent, because she really needs a day job. She has no tragic catalyst in her life that made her a superhero, and she\u2019s always been in the shadow of her superhero brother, Kevin, who is everybody\u2019s favorite and can<\/em> fly and has corporate sponsorship and looks like a proper superhero.<\/p>\n

Superhero girl has some issues. She forgets to take off her mask sometimes when she\u2019s trying to be an ordinary citizen. She goes to a party with her roommate, trying to set her work aside, and gets caught in the thrall of a supervillain who has the power to make everyone think he\u2019s awesome. Then there\u2019s the skeptic, who\u2019s convinced she can\u2019t be a superhero without a tragic back story or a fancier costume. And don\u2019t get started on the time she washes her cape in the Laundromat and it shrinks.<\/p>\n

I like what Kurt Busiek says in the Introduction:<\/p>\n

Superhero Girl<\/em> is about life. It\u2019s about being a younger sister, about being a broke roommate, about needing a job, being underappreciated, getting sick, feeling out of place at parties, being annoyed by people carping when you\u2019re doing your best \u2013 all wrapped up in the package of being a young superhero in a small-market city where you\u2019re pursuing your dreams but don\u2019t seem to be getting anywhere.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not parody. There may be elements of parody on the surface, but really, that\u2019s rich, human storytelling. It\u2019s telling the truth through humor, and using the trappings of the superhero genre to universalize it, to turn it into something symbolic, so we can all identify with it, maybe more than we could if SG was a paralegal or a barista or a surgical intern. The superhero stuff is the context, the package, and the humanity and emotion and the humor found in it are the content. The story.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a story about a young adult starting out in life, pursuing her dream, and struggling to do so. It\u2019s reading that will make you smile.<\/p>\n

superherogirladventures.blogspot.com<\/a>
\ndarkhorse.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/superhero_girl.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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