Working-Class Superheroes

By: Chad Descoteaux

Narrated by: BJ Whimpey

Two superheroes become suspicious of their city's most powerful hero, the seemingly-invulnerable Magma Man, when something he says during a poker game doesn't add up. Why would he lie? Was he trying to protect someone? Was he drunk? Okay, he was probably drunk. But, is he in league with the villain? Is he the villain? And if he is, how can he be stopped?

Follow Speed Chicken and Cambio as they pursue the answers to these questions, putting them in cahoots with a powerless wannabe superhero named Wombat, and realize that the fate of an entire planet weighs in the balance. A comedic sci-fi adventure and the author's personal love letter to the superhero genre as a whole.

©2016 Chad Descoteaux (P)2020 Chad Descoteaux

Story: Not too shabby. Performance: On Point

A quick listen on a subtle tribute to some of my favorite superheroes. Though the characters were familiar, it was pleasing to have some unexpected plot twists to throw off my preconceived expectations. I did find it a bit unappealing to have a fictional place and other fantasy world scenarios mixed in with random mentions of real life current affairs. Throwing in conversations on bin Laden, Sarah Palin and Jay-Z really took away from the charm and potential timelessness of the story. More explanation on how Wombat all of a sudden became such a bad-a would be ideal. The narration was face paced and enjoyable. I appreciated how the characters were brought to life without being over bearing or vocally annoying. I look forward to seeing what happens next and I hope to hear the same voice over performer moving forward.

Good story

This was a different take on the most powerful alien and how he would behave toward the planet that adopted him.

I enjoyed the story and the performance.

Enjoyable story of countless allusions

If you read my stories and my tweets, you may get the sense that I enjoy superhero stories. That is true. When I saw a promo for this audiobook, I immediately took action and I'm happy with that. I enjoyed this book as I listened at night before sleep. That enjoyment is how I rate and so my rating is 4 out of 5. Please keep in mind that is my rating as you may otherwise think differently based upon my analysis.

This book is a hard one for me to review. While I enjoyed it, it's hard to describe why. The first reason is the lack of identity this book has due to two parts.

One, there are many stories that parody or play on the DC heroes, even from DC and Amazon. I have not consumed any of those stories besides the Flashpoint animated movie so I am not bored of that subject. However, I could expect others who have may not care for another one.

Second, the references and allusions to the DC heroes are constant that if you know the DC universe, it's hard to ignore. That being said, that's part of the fun of the story. There's even a reference of the potential romance of Batman and Wonder Woman from the Justice League cartoons. In addition, I'd posit the epilogue shows great potential for carving an identity and that makes me excited for a sequel.

There are a few choices the author made that I like. One is to name the chapters issues. It's cosmetic but I liked it. Another thing was the shift from Kryptonite to Uranium. While it doesn't fix all of the issues I have with Kryptonite, it's a nice usage of real-world. Of course, it's also a setup for some jokes that become more obvious when listening to the audiobook. If I was reading, I might have missed it.

The performance is actually another reason why we are constantly reminded about the DC universe. The reader emulates the voices of famous performances. It's actually pretty good for a few. It did take me a while to get into the performance, but I don't know if it's due to my lack of experience with audiobooks, the actual performance, or the text. I believe though that it was solid after that.

For the plot, while it's not original to see how our would be if Superman was corrupt, I was impressed by how the plot worked overall, even if there were a few scenes that did not make sense to me. In terms of execution, I would say it counts as original enough, especially with the couple of Marvel influences that were thrown in. Again, I enjoyed it.

In terms of characters, they are certainly reasonable takes on people who bear their respective powers. My main dislike is Zeke as Wombat since he goes a bit overboard on his fight on crime, but until then I enjoyed his sections. The Flash-equivalent may not be the most loveable take, but at least he gets better towards the end. And his unknowing relationship with Zeke can be interesting material for a sequel.

There is action, as you may expect in a comic-inspired book, but I felt more compelled by the other scenes such as the infiltration, poker night, etc. There were a few cases where I felt like I missed something critical in the action sequences but due to the format of the audiobook, felt less compelled to backtrack.

So to whom would I recommend this to? That is tough to say. My guess would be people who don't mind a light-heart take on the DC heroes. I don't think the book takes itself too seriously so those who are able to hold that mindset and like superhero stories would enjoy this. Now, if you would excuse me, I need to get to the sequel.

An enjoyable superhero story

To start, I really liked listening to this story, enough to start up part 2!

That said, as one critic mentioned, DC superhero fans will find the characters all quite familiar, but Descoteaux threw in some really enjoyable twists that I appreciated, and the writing is pretty good for a self-published storyteller. I think one of the only things that I find a little strange about all Descoteaux works (and yes, I'm a fan) is that they seem geared towards the middle or YA crowd, but have some adult moments that feel a little out of place.

Regardless of any criticisms, this is a fun listen that I would recommend to my superhero loving friends. 4/5!

Just awful...

There is nothing endearing about this book at all. The story is tired and played out. The characters are hardly original as they are very obviously supposed to be the DC line up of super heroes.

The writing is amateurish and no cliche is too awful to be excluded.

Avoid at all costs...