The Good Fight

 THE GOOD FIGHT (Super Heroes)

By Various Writers

Local Hero Press

BOOKTD4UVI

Price $0.99

187 Pages

Rating 2-Stars

“A Big Disappointment.”

BEDTIME STORY by Scott Bachmann: Liza, the retired Paragon, tells her children a bedtime story of one of her early adventures. Robert Gilliam, Sci-mage’s assistant, becomes the Serpent Lord. He wears a mask made from snakeskin and robs banks, and then hypnotizes masses of people to do his bidding. The Super Defense Force is called to stop him, and Paragon leads the team. She assisted by Cinaed, whose power is fire, and Shokkuchan, who uses lightning. Paragon has tremendous strength and can fly. When the Serpent Lord blows up the bridge, and part of it collapses, she holds it up until her team can stop the super villain. Also in the story is Control and Sci-mage. Control keeps in contact with the team, while Sci-mage works out the problem, and instructs Shokkuchan and Cinaed how to stop Serpent Lord. Gee, thanks, it put me to sleep.

TWO HEARTS by Frank Byrns:  The story begins after Scott and Lindsay have already defeated The Black Rhino and his gang, and standing on a rooftop as the police arrive to take the super villain into custody. Standing on a rooftop, Lindsay tells Scott that she’s pregnant, and they discuss the problem. Evidently, they are superheroes, but we don’t see them in action. Supposedly, they just defeated the villain Black Rhino, and they’re watching the police arrive on the street below while they talk. That is the extent of the story. Story? I don’t believe there is a beginning or ending, just the middle. Or is it the ending? Darn if I know – or care, really.

OMEGA NIGHT by Marion G. Harmon:  There’s something of a story here. Verne-tech robots had clamped itself to the side of a navy nuclear sub, burned their way inside, hacked the sub’s computer systems, attached itself to one of the ballistic missiles and launched it. Now an Omega Code alert has gone out to Astra and her team of superheroes. They must intercept the missile and destroy it before it strikes the target. Off screen a Navy SEAL team has captured the villain already.

THE FIRE OF THE FLY by Michael Ivan Lowell: First Lieutenant Veronica Soto is flying at stealth, her destination the palace of Fiona Fletcher, The Fire Fly, the most powerful 18-year-old girl in the world. Her assignment is to fire a missile loaded with a bomb the size of a small nuke, killing the super-heroine and those around her. Meanwhile The Fire Fly uses teleportation to rescue a girl thousand of miles away, returning in an instant to feel the approaching danger. Will she be able to save everyone? Well, we’re missing a lot of backstory here, but maybe this at least qualifies as a story.

FIREDRAKE: A FROSTY RECEPTION by T. Mike McCurley: Detective Max Lahey calls the Department of Metahuman Response, reporting the murder of a gang member. He was froze to death, and the police suspect a Metahuman was the culprit. Colleen Hart, the Director of Metahuman assigns Agent Francis Drake, a seven-foot dragon to the case. Drake, known in Metahuman circles as Firedrake because he breaths fire. Assist Detective Lahey in speaking with the gang boos suspected of hiring the hit. Before they’re through, they discover a group known as the Brotherhood, all Metahumans. One of their members, known as Frost was the killer. In the confrontation Drake wounds Frost, but the villain escapes. End of story. Okay, we’re told there will be more.

OUT OF MIND by Drew Hayes:  DV (use any two names with those initials) is a Hero, his specialty is making people forget. It allows him to enter places, or speak with someone, or interact in anyway, then he’s completely forgotten. At the present he’s after information about a crooked politician. He has no trouble entering, accessing the computer, and obtaining what he needs, but he accidentally trips an alarm and is captured. Naturally, it doesn’t take him long to become un-captured, and they don’t remember him. Most of the story involves a certain booth in a café where always sits and talks to a certain waitress, who never remembers him. The story had possibilities, but too short.

Thankfully, I picked this Kindle book up free. I was hoping to read short prose stories of comic book super heroes. What I got was Saturday morning cartoons. These felt like pieces taken from larger works, and didn’t truly give us complete stories. Remember, a story should have a beginning, middle, and end, and a writer can do this with just 500 words or less. The result here failed, and I was very disappointed that I wasted my time. At the best, these were mere fan fiction; at the worst, they were childish and included profanity. The format was also a problem. I’m still not sure if I read each title or not. I finally just gave up and discarded the book. I can’t honestly recommend this to anyone.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE NEW PULP HEROES