Review: Welcome to the Comic Book
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 13, 2014
First, I should note that until now I've resisted the spate of superhero books that have come out recently, as the genre really doesn't interest me that much.  However, I've read most everything Teasdale's written--that are available on Amazon, at least--and thought I'd give it a try.The story is about an alternate world where a mysterious, poorly understood energy (some handwaving, here) causes a small percentage of humans to develop various "super" powers, with the divergence from what we think of as reality occurring in the 1950s.  In effect, this is like the mutant-rich world of X-Men.  Penny, a mousy young woman, is struck one night by something like a meteorite and gains super powers as well as the ability to change from an "ugly duckling", as she puts it, to her superhero alter ego, Cygnus (a Swan.  Get it?)  Driven by a personal tragedy, she decides that she will put her powers to use protecting humanity and enters the world of superheroes and supervillains.  She gets caught up in a simple fight against a mob as well as a more shadowy conflict with another crime group led by a supervillain, complete with German mad scientist minion.  Occasional appearances by what may be government agents having sophisticated equipment and unknown, but probably inimical, intentions round out the cast.The setup was about what you'd expect from a series startup novel, though Teasdale does a good job of getting the backstory and introductions out of the way without boring self-narratives and reminiscences.  I thought he missed an opportunity to paint a more varied picture of superpowers, and the main characters other than Penny and the superhero partner she teams up with could have been given more depth.  (It is a comic book novel, though, so maybe I'm being too picky here.  I'm used to some wonderful characters from Teasdale's other series, though.)The plot has some twists and turns, but isn't overly complex.  We get multiple viewpoints, including the criminals', that push the action and create a sustained level of tension, as well as providing exposition where needed.  There were a few threads left open at the end for subsequent books to tie to, but the story wrapped up in a satisfactory way.  As with most of Teasdale's books, there are lesbian situations; in this case, though, they're worked into the plot in integral ways.The location will be a bit of a surprise to Teasdale fans:  the action takes place in Millenium City, a new city in Maryland, USA founded after New York was destroyed by a superhero/supervillain battle some years earlier.  To my knowledge, this is the first time he's placed a story outside England.Overall, a fast, interesting read that kept me up finishing it.  I'm looking forward to the next installment in the series.