We Could Be Heroes

Chen (Here and Now and Then) delivers a fun, fast-moving superhero adventure that sees supervillain Mind Robber (aka Jamie Sorenson) continually running into vigilante Throwing Star (aka Zoe Wong) at inconvenient moments—first when he’s mid–bank robbery, and later at the San Delgado Memory Loss & Dementia Support Group. There they discover they share an uncommon backstory: both lost their memories two years ago, waking in strange apartments to find a one-year lease from 2D Industries and a note detailing their superpowers. Zoe’s desperate to know who she was before as proof that she’s “more than just a weapon,” while Jamie’s focused on committing enough robberies to realize his dream of an early retirement. Zoe offers to help Jamie pull off his biggest heist yet if he’ll use his mind manipulation powers to restore her memories. But when Jamie sees himself in Zoe’s mind, he’s sucked into an investigation of his own past and how it intersected with Zoe’s. Chen’s creative spin on the standard hero/villain origin story zips along—and unfortunately speeds past an enormous plot hole, offering a less than satisfactory explanation for the motivations and operations of 2D Industries. Still, fans of the genre will enjoy how thoroughly and gleefully Chen ticks off the checklist of superhero tropes. [em]Agent: Eric Smith, P.S. Literary. (Jan.) [/em]