Humanity facing its expiration date.

Two books about people who are something more than human.



Humanity is dying and it sure as hell ain't pretty. A new race is rising; the Wraeththu, psychically gifted hermaphrodites who are feared, loathed, and admired, often all at once.

We follow Pellaz, a farm boy who's a lot less knowing and sophisticated than he thinks he is, as he meets his first Wraethuthu friend-- and later lover-- Cal, a sharp, clever, angry young person who brings him into the race. (Becoming a Wraeththu involves blood transfusion, and can only be done to human males, but Wraeththu can also reproduce among themselves.) The book loses a lot of life and energy when Pellaz is separated from Cal, but that doesn't happen until the last third of the book, and by then you're pretty well engrossed. (I do admit I kept reading mostly for more glimpses of Cal.)

It's intriguing enough for me to want to read the second book, especially as it promises more Cal-- the world is interesting, dark and layered, and the Wraeththu are fascinatingly arrogant and violent (you wonder if this is how Cro-Magnons dealt with the Neanderthals). The style is a little old-fashioned and stilted, but not enough to impede readability, and while Pellaz is a little flat as a POV character, he has a strong, consistent voice. There is a good deal of sex, and a little rape, but it's all described in the vaugest of flowery (literally!) metaphors. The premise, which on many, many levels is just ludicrous (vampire hermaphrodites try to take over the world!), is always grounded within the reality of the book and it's not difficult to suspend disbelief.


The author's website. Apparently she's a dear.





I'm not always satisfied with Alex Ross's style-- it's beautiful but it can be too realistic, so pretty that it starts impeding rather than enhancing my suspension of disbelief. His style works well for Kingdom Come, however, a son or great-grandson of Alan Moore's Watchmen.

In the not-too-distant future, Superman has retired, and 'metahumans' are taking their fights to the streets, all but uncontrolled.

But a terrible tragedy spurs Superman to come back and reform a Justice League of sorts, with his old friend Wonder Woman at his side. Not all of the metahumans sign on. And Lex Luthor has a plot of his own...

This is a very solid comic book, and I don't just say that because there's a copy of Under the Hood by Hollis Mason on a bookstore shelf (though that actually contradicts the continuity, I love the reference, so all is forgiven). Well-plotted and smart, it takes a fairly heavy-handed message and treats it reasonably well.

The 'real world' feel of the storyline matches Ross's style perfectly. Best of all, I could recognize just about everyone I should recognize (I'm not great with DC continuity!), and some people I didn't-- Starfire's half-human daughter kept catching my eye but I couldn't figure out why until I read the notes in the back of the book.

The back of the graphic novel is wonderful-- it's got production sketches, a key to who's who in the wraparound covers, and more goodies. Skip the preface though; it's pretentious and a snooze.