MOORE, P: Hero

Thom Creed, son of a disowned superhero, finds that he, too, has special powers and is asked to join the very League that rejected his father, and it is there that Thom finds other misfits whom he can finally trust.

Superman had kryptonite, and Thom, the teenaged basketball star and son of the now-retired Major Might, tries hard to keep his own Achilles heel—being gay—under the radar. His powers of healing seem to bring him nothing but bad press, however, especially when he decides to go out for a superhero-like boot camp headed up by the League, the sworn protectors of Moore's Metropolis-like city. At first, Thom seemingly botches every one of his team's missions, but when a series of hero-murders threaten world destruction, a cigarette-smoking, foul-mouthed seer assures him that soon enough his strength, powers and sexuality will play a role in saving humankind. Despite the near-ridiculous superhero theme running through this first novel, the interpersonal relationships between Thom and his likable, equally tortured compadres keep the plot's feet on the ground. Capes, X-ray vision, tights and cheesy superhero spoofs run amuck. Despite a few half-hearted attempts at realism, the book reads like a complicated yet quick-moving adult novel. Disappointingly, Moore doesn't dig deeper into Thom's newly found gay world past his coming out, and no doubt readers will be curious as to how he survives in his new skin.

Review: Nick Street, Religion Dispatches: