The Backlot Gay Book Forum discussion

It's long past time for us to have a thread for this book up in here.

I'm not really sure this qualifies as YA, but I can't make myself call it sci fi and we don't have a superhero section....

I seem to always be stuck in the middle with this book. There are some who see it as an outstanding work of gay youth literature and there are those who see it as total drivel. Depending who I'm with, I either wind up defending it or taking it apart.

The most important thing for me is that I really liked Thom Creed, the main character. He was flawed, but not hopeless, not super-bright but not an imbecile. He was very much your average guy--with super powers. And he happens to be gay.

The relationship with his father is positive, but strained. That created an interesting bit of dramatic tension. I also liked his love interest, who I thought was a good foil for Thom.

But I'm afraid the book stumbles badly. The relationship with Thom and his BF just comes out of nowhere. The suddenness with which they decide they are interested in each other romantically would have been okay if the romantic sub plot wasn't then immediately tossed aside.

I will echo what others have said--the plagiaristic feel of the world's main super heroes was off-putting. We have grown to accept certain common super powers--strength, flight, invisibility, etc. But Moore wasn't content to just borrow the powers of DC's Justice League, he took their origins too. That made the book read like a piece of fanfiction which I found distracting.

***spoilers ahead****

His mother's character makes no sense at all, including her inexplicable death. And the way Thom is orphaned but that doesn't seem to be a big deal to him really ruined the ending for me.

In the end, I did enjoy the book, but I thought it could have been worlds better.

Overall I share your viewpoint. I've read this book twice, and while I do think there's a lot to like about it, on the other hand I thought it had some problems. Let me see....here's what I had to say about it shortly after I read it:

Thom Creed is used to being on his own. Even as a high school basketball star, he has to keep his distance because of his father. Hal Creed had once been one of the greatest and most beloved superheroes of The League, until the Wilson Towers incident. After that Thom's mother disappeared and his proud father became an outcast.

The last thing in the world Thom would ever want is to disappoint his father. So Thom keeps two secrets from him: First is that he's gay. The second is that he has the power to heal people. Initially, Thom had trouble controlling his powers. But with trail and error he improves, until he gets so good that he catches the attention of the League and is asked to join. Even though he knows it would kill his dad, Thom can't resist.

When he joins the League, he meets a motley crew of other heroes, including tough-talking Scarlett, who has the power of fire from growing up near a nuclear power plant; Typhoid Larry, who makes everyone sick by touching them, but is actually a really sweet guy; and wise Ruth, who has the power to see the future. Together these unlikely heroes become friends and begin to uncover a plot to kill the superheroes. Along the way, Thom falls in love, and discovers the difficult truth about his parents' past.

I should probably begin by saying that I'm not really part of the target demographic for this novel. I never read comic books as a kid (well, apart from a couple of horror comics that ended up scaring the crap out of me!), and throughout the years I've never been able to become much interested in the superhero subculture. The numerous books, comics, movies---it's all a foreign world to me in which I honestly have little interest. (Which is a bit odd, perhaps, since as a rule I love fantasy and science fiction.) I could go even further and say, in addition to not being particularly interested in this genre, it all seems kind of silly to me---I just don't "get" it at all.

So, it's a testament to this book that I enjoyed it as much as I did. It certainly drew me in on an emotional level, and when a story does that I'm able to overlook some imperfections. And I'm sorry to say that the book does have a few shortcomings. I really did want to know a bit of background about this alternate reality in which superheroes are real---even a paragraph or two, to set the stage, would have been nice. While Thom's dysfunctional relationship with his father was nicely detailed, I wished for much more character development---a better sense of the growing relationships---between Thom and Goran, and between Thom and his fellow team-mates.

And the huge action piece that forms the conclusion is certainly exciting enough, but I had a lot of logistical questions about it all; there were a multitude of details didn't quite make sense to me.

So, I had problems with some of the plotting, but on an emotional level I did enjoy this novel, and on that basis I'll recommend it.

I'm very sorry that we (presumably) won't be hearing any more stories about Thom and his friends, because there's a whole world of stories that could be written about this group; I wanted to know what happens next. I believe Moore did plan to continue the story with multiple sequels, but I have no idea if he's left behind any manuscripts that are anywhere near completion, or whether he's even left any story outlines showing where he intended this series to go. I suppose it is possible that the story could be continued by another writer. (This is what happened after the death of author John Bellairs, for example---several books were written by another based on incomplete writings that were found among his papers.) I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but I will say that I wouldn't mind someone taking up the torch with these characters, if done in the proper fashion.

I enjoyed Hero. While I was distracted a bit by some plot improbabilities mentioned above, I thought the story redeemed itself through its earnest and sweet portrayal of gay teen heroism, and love.