Superheroes seem to be big business these days. Movie blockbusters, such as the recently released Ghostrider, or X-Men, Spiderman, and Superman Returns, bring in huge amounts of money. We have the NBC show Heroes as well.
I'll admit I've always been a fan of all-things super. From the time I was six years-old, I've been living in the fantasy world of superheroes. There is something appealing with the idea of being able to do something that no one else can, to experience flying or creating fireballs out of thin air or any other myriad of powers superheroes have these days.
But one thing I never got into was the comic book. Superheroism was either something within my own imagination, or fulfilled on the big screen. To this day, I'm not much into comic books. And so I was thinking recently about how there seem to be so few books out that involve superheroes. I mean real books (oh, don't bug me about comic books being "real"...you know what I mean...books that aren't graphic in nature, but rely exclusively on the written word).
My book, Mindburst, would certainly fall under that category. I'd certainly define it as being part of the superhero genre. Except that there are no pictures. Same with my recently published story, The Dreammaker, and another story I'm shopping around at the moment.
But I wonder why that is. I want to read about superheroes, not just write about them. I've stumbled across a few. The Charlie Bone series is somewhat superheroish in nature. And Midnighters, by Scott Westerfeld. (Granted, I haven't yet had the pleasure to read that one, but I've read other Westerfeld books and loved them, so look forward to experiencing Midnighters.)
I don't want to read a superhero novelization of a movie. I want to read original superhero books. So, tell me. Do you know of any? I'd really like to know. But if reading the story involves pictures, don't bother.
Note: I have absolutely nothing against the graphic novel or comic book. Nothing whatsoever. I have great respect for the graphic artists and authors who conceive of these kinds of stories. Marvel and DC Comics have both offered me plenty of pleasing stories ultimately made into movies. But I'm just not a comic-book-reading kind of guy, is all!
