Speakeasy went solid gold when it released the much anticipated, and Alex Ross becovered Atomika earlier this year. Now, they have done it again with Hero@Large. This book is a heartfelt spoof with muscle. Eric Hogan has put together a hilarious world in which the superheroes are celebrities with sponsors and television shows. Here we find our protagonist, Alpha Major, at the end of his prime, being dropped by his sponsors and replaced by a new, more trendy hip-hop hero, named Diesel. (I think Hogan is here inserting a certain amount of pining for the days of Classic Rock…hell I’m with him.) Destitute and dirty, Alpha Major, lives his days in squalid tenements, boozing and sitting around crying about his inability to be a real hero – I know, I know, that has got to sound so familiar to all of you. What will it take to bring him out of his smelly retirement. It’s all in there. You just got to read it to find out.

-Peblee