Comic Book Review: SMASH: Trial by Fire by Chris A. Bolton & Kyle Bolton
Disclosure: I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway, on the premise that I would review it.
Life is hard for Andrew Ryan, short, wimpy fifth-grader in the city of Seatown. Divorced parents, troubled older brother, bullies…and he has to settle for a homemade Defender costume sewn with love, instead of a cool storebought Defender costume like the other kids. He dreams of becoming Sparrowhawk, a powered sidekick for Defender.
Life is good for Defender, Seatown’s greatest (and since Wraith retired, only) superhero. Cool powers, a job he loves, the adoration of the people and a costume that kids want to wear for Halloween. But he does have enemies, and he hasn’t realized quite how many.
The day comes when Defender’s archenemy Magus attempts to steal his powers. Magus doesn’t get the powers, but in the explosion, Defender apparently dies, and somehow Andrew finds himself with most of Defender’s super-abilities. Emboldened by the loss of Defender, the criminal element becomes active in Seatowh. Andrew decides he’s going to have to step up as the superhero Sparrowh–SMASH!
Andrew Ryan reminds me of early Peter Parker in that his superpowers don’t make his life any easier. He doesn’t have a good grasp of how to use them–he gets his super-name from the property damage caused by his poor flying skills. He doesn’t trust his older brother or the adults in his life, so keeps his identity secret, which means he still has to put up with the bullies (who are really persistent, and their leader Gareth clearly has a future in the financial industry given his fondness for fees and penalties.)
The police aren’t too thrilled with SMASH either, wanting to arrest him for his own good…or worse. Plus Magus wants to retry that “steal the hero’s powers” thing, without the pesky not getting the powers himself thing.
The art is pretty good, and the writing is okay. This book should be suitable for children of about nine and up, though parents may want to read it with younger ones and discuss when it is and isn’t appropriate to keep secrets from adults. The production quality is high, so the book is good value for money.
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