288 pages
English language
Published June 5, 2007 by Pantheon.
Doctor Impossible--evil genius, diabolical scientist, wannabe world dominator--languishes in a federal detention facility. He's lost his freedom, his girlfriend, and his hidden island fortress. Over the years he's tried to take over the world in every way imaginable: doomsday devices of all varieties (nuclear, thermonuclear, nanotechnological) and mass mind control. He's traveled backwards in time to change history, forward in time to escape it. He's commanded robot armies, insect armies, and dinosaur armies. Fungus army. Army of fish. Of rodents. Alien invasions. All failures. But not this time. This time it's going to be different... Fatale is a rookie superhero on her first day with the Champions, the world's most famous superteam. She's a patchwork woman of skin and chrome, a gleaming technological marvel built to be the next generation of warfare. Filling the void left by a slain former member, we watch as Fatale joins a team struggling with …
Doctor Impossible--evil genius, diabolical scientist, wannabe world dominator--languishes in a federal detention facility. He's lost his freedom, his girlfriend, and his hidden island fortress. Over the years he's tried to take over the world in every way imaginable: doomsday devices of all varieties (nuclear, thermonuclear, nanotechnological) and mass mind control. He's traveled backwards in time to change history, forward in time to escape it. He's commanded robot armies, insect armies, and dinosaur armies. Fungus army. Army of fish. Of rodents. Alien invasions. All failures. But not this time. This time it's going to be different... Fatale is a rookie superhero on her first day with the Champions, the world's most famous superteam. She's a patchwork woman of skin and chrome, a gleaming technological marvel built to be the next generation of warfare. Filling the void left by a slain former member, we watch as Fatale joins a team struggling with a damaged past, having to come together in the face of unthinkable evil. Soon I Will Be Invincible is a thrilling first novel; a fantastical adventure that gives new meaning to the notions of power, glory, responsibility, and (of course) good and evil.From the Hardcover edition.
Skip this one, Grossman's You is a much better book... Not without flaws. Feel like he's maturing. I'll be willing to read his next book.
Entertaining and a fast read/listen.
This is a comic book novel; it could have been published by DC and just had a number of names and costumes changed to fit into the at times rather obvious figures the characters were based on.
My impression is that Grossman wanted to explore the psychology of the hero and villain archetypes while staying within the framework of the super hero comic book tales. It's a good idea, however a number of comic books have already explored these ideas for some time now, so at times it feels like a rehash of already used concepts rather than a breath of fresh air.
Some of the villain monologues got a bit long-winded and tangential; it matches the archetype and is in character so to speak. But what works on a comic book page can become too much without the support of the visuals, or the …
Entertaining and a fast read/listen.
This is a comic book novel; it could have been published by DC and just had a number of names and costumes changed to fit into the at times rather obvious figures the characters were based on.
My impression is that Grossman wanted to explore the psychology of the hero and villain archetypes while staying within the framework of the super hero comic book tales. It's a good idea, however a number of comic books have already explored these ideas for some time now, so at times it feels like a rehash of already used concepts rather than a breath of fresh air.
Some of the villain monologues got a bit long-winded and tangential; it matches the archetype and is in character so to speak. But what works on a comic book page can become too much without the support of the visuals, or the fact that many times the comic books use visual shorthand to indicate a much longer monologue than what is actually shown.
I understand there's a sequel in the works, and I'll be sure to grab that as well once it's out.
