mferrante83's review against another edition
4.0
The superhero novel is something that’s relatively new or, at the very least, a rather specific sub-genre of the greater speculative fiction world. Tom King’s A Once Crowded Sky is a meta-fictional superhero novel. It’s an original tale but one that plays within and with the conventions and tropes of the comic book world. As a result King’s novel will likely be a bit obtuse for readers who aren’t well versed in the tropes and in-jokes of the comic book world. Indeed, one of the novel the novel’s primary themes and oft-repeated phrases that heroes “always come back” is one of the biggest and most well-known tropes of the comic book world. There have been numerous real-life comic books that have addressed, avoided, lamp-shaded, acknowledged this trope. A Once Crowded Sky tackles the effects from the death of heroes and massive change enacted by the many large crossovers that occur in the comic book world and examines them in greater detail.
While King’s novel is enhanced by illustrations from Tom Fowler (Venom, Quantum and Woody) it is a story primarily told through text rather than image. There is a part of me that wonders why A Once Crowded Sky wasn’t written as an original graphic novel. However, while there are many scenes that could be beautifully conveyed through art (and Fowler would certainly have chops to convey it) the novel’s heavy focus on the interior lives of its heroes, and the need to quickly construct a familiar yet unique comic book world, is well served via prose rather than sequential art. The novel opens in the fictional city of Arcadia where all the superheroes have given up their powers to the world’s greatest superhero Ultimate so that he could defeat the mysterious threat known only as the Blue. The only hero that refused the call to action was Ultimate’s former sidekick PenUltimate who has retired from the superhero life. Now, as Arcadia’s only hero Pen finds the call back to action growing ever louder.
Part of A Once Crowded Sky deals with the ramifications of a hero losing their power. The question at hand during parts of the novel seems to be whether it is the powers or man (or woman) that defines the hero. King examines this through a variety of character’s whose responses cover all the ground between denial and acceptance. For several of the characters in the novel the notion that heroes “always come back” becomes almost a religious mantra and for others a curse. Watching the interplay between these contrary reactions is part of the novel’s fun. There is a surprising amount of depth to the examination of the notion of sacrifice and identity that belies the four-color Ben-Day dotted feel of the world of Arcadia. The primary means through which the reader experiences the inner-conflict is the character Soldier of Freedom. As perhaps the world’s oldest hero (in the story he has typically been frozen and unfrozen during times of conflict) he is perhaps the most knowledgeable as to how that notion on the cyclical nature of violence and conflict and it is through his thoughts and actions that the reader really gets to grips with the toll that cycle can inflict upon a hero.
King’s obvious major influence for A Once Crowded Sky is Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen. Whereas Watchmen lightly employed the metafiction through The Tales of the Black Freighter, A Once Crowded Sky instead ties the elements of metafiction more directly into the story itself. I don’t want to get too deeply into those elements here, lest I spoil things, but King’s use of metafiction more directly examines the role of reader within the text and how expectation shapes the comic book form. This last bit is slightly problematic as I think it might only be more apparent to readers familiar with comics. It’s the sort of examination that might be tiresome if done with a heavy hand but King’s adept characterization and deft hand at world-building smooth the edges between the various deeper elements of story to create a seamless whole.
A Once Crowded Sky is a book that seems expressly designed for comic book readers. While readers of fiction might enjoy the overall story thanks to King’s skills they will likely miss out a thought provoking examination on a form and its consumers. This is a particularly impressive debut novel from Tom King and I can’t wait to see what else he will cook up.
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While King’s novel is enhanced by illustrations from Tom Fowler (Venom, Quantum and Woody) it is a story primarily told through text rather than image. There is a part of me that wonders why A Once Crowded Sky wasn’t written as an original graphic novel. However, while there are many scenes that could be beautifully conveyed through art (and Fowler would certainly have chops to convey it) the novel’s heavy focus on the interior lives of its heroes, and the need to quickly construct a familiar yet unique comic book world, is well served via prose rather than sequential art. The novel opens in the fictional city of Arcadia where all the superheroes have given up their powers to the world’s greatest superhero Ultimate so that he could defeat the mysterious threat known only as the Blue. The only hero that refused the call to action was Ultimate’s former sidekick PenUltimate who has retired from the superhero life. Now, as Arcadia’s only hero Pen finds the call back to action growing ever louder.
Part of A Once Crowded Sky deals with the ramifications of a hero losing their power. The question at hand during parts of the novel seems to be whether it is the powers or man (or woman) that defines the hero. King examines this through a variety of character’s whose responses cover all the ground between denial and acceptance. For several of the characters in the novel the notion that heroes “always come back” becomes almost a religious mantra and for others a curse. Watching the interplay between these contrary reactions is part of the novel’s fun. There is a surprising amount of depth to the examination of the notion of sacrifice and identity that belies the four-color Ben-Day dotted feel of the world of Arcadia. The primary means through which the reader experiences the inner-conflict is the character Soldier of Freedom. As perhaps the world’s oldest hero (in the story he has typically been frozen and unfrozen during times of conflict) he is perhaps the most knowledgeable as to how that notion on the cyclical nature of violence and conflict and it is through his thoughts and actions that the reader really gets to grips with the toll that cycle can inflict upon a hero.
King’s obvious major influence for A Once Crowded Sky is Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen. Whereas Watchmen lightly employed the metafiction through The Tales of the Black Freighter, A Once Crowded Sky instead ties the elements of metafiction more directly into the story itself. I don’t want to get too deeply into those elements here, lest I spoil things, but King’s use of metafiction more directly examines the role of reader within the text and how expectation shapes the comic book form. This last bit is slightly problematic as I think it might only be more apparent to readers familiar with comics. It’s the sort of examination that might be tiresome if done with a heavy hand but King’s adept characterization and deft hand at world-building smooth the edges between the various deeper elements of story to create a seamless whole.
A Once Crowded Sky is a book that seems expressly designed for comic book readers. While readers of fiction might enjoy the overall story thanks to King’s skills they will likely miss out a thought provoking examination on a form and its consumers. This is a particularly impressive debut novel from Tom King and I can’t wait to see what else he will cook up.
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jonmhansen's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this quite a bit, but it definitely aimed for a more literary feel with the prose than most such novels. Which is all well and good, but the stylings got in the way a bit. May just be me. Still excellent, however.
michalski19's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
3.0
The story had a lot of possibility, but it’s bogged down with King’s attempt to novelize a graphic novel. It’s too wordy and too descriptive. There’s a reason why novels and graphic novels have distinct styles. Not terrible but probably not worth the time involved.
apageinthestacks's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
So I do just have to say initially that I love Tom King. I loved the first issues of Vision and Sheriff of Babylon and Grayson and The Omega Men (unfortunately I still have to read the rest of what's come so far, as I've been waiting for trades to continue the series), and the current Batman series he's been putting out has been great. I'm a huge fan and I'll probably buy any comic he does.
As such, I picked this up expecting to love it. And for the last third-ish, I kinda did. Unfortunately, though, for about the first two thirds it just never really grabbed me and it was hard to get into for a long time, as I wasn't the biggest fan of the writing style.
Maybe when I go back and re-read it I'll like it better as I'll be used to it (and I'll know that I'll really enjoy parts of it), but as of right now it was just a good read--but unfortunately not a great one as his comics have been.
So I do just have to say initially that I love Tom King. I loved the first issues of Vision and Sheriff of Babylon and Grayson and The Omega Men (unfortunately I still have to read the rest of what's come so far, as I've been waiting for trades to continue the series), and the current Batman series he's been putting out has been great. I'm a huge fan and I'll probably buy any comic he does.
As such, I picked this up expecting to love it. And for the last third-ish, I kinda did. Unfortunately, though, for about the first two thirds it just never really grabbed me and it was hard to get into for a long time, as I wasn't the biggest fan of the writing style.
Maybe when I go back and re-read it I'll like it better as I'll be used to it (and I'll know that I'll really enjoy parts of it), but as of right now it was just a good read--but unfortunately not a great one as his comics have been.
reillykid7's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
pjammaz's review against another edition
3.0
"A Once Crowded Sky" is not much of a superhero novel. While the premise is interesting, it leaves only one character with powers, while all of the other characters are mostly just angsty. The author also really likes to kill his characters.
chukg's review against another edition
3.0
This book was okay. I think I might be getting burned out on prose super-hero universes that start a whole new setting for themselves and then play out some kind of similar-to-the-comics saga. This one is a little more literary than most of them, sometimes a little too much so. There are a dozen or so pages of black and white comic art that look nice, and the central plot works pretty well, but comics readers probably will recognize it. A couple of the characters are neat -- most of them are obviously based on some kind of DC or Marvel hero but the twists in them are often original (oh, and Devil Girl wasn't really based on any one else I recognized).
Good book if you like supers stories and don't think you've already read too many.
Good book if you like supers stories and don't think you've already read too many.
tdwightdavis's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best sci-fi novels I've read. Really beautifully written and well plotted. Turns out that King can write a novel just as well as he can write comics.
seak's review against another edition
4.0
Superheroes seem to be the new thing these days, not that they've ever not been the thing, it's just that they seem to be more of a thing now. Not only are they in the movies but now they're even combined with zombies.
Superheroes with no powers, well all except one of them, reflect on the meaning of being a hero. No this isn't The Watchmen silly, it's not even a graphic novel.
But seriously, it's hard not to compare to The Watchmen when you start reading. And after a while you realize it's actually quite a bit different.
A Once Crowded Sky is a novel that starts with and is interspersed with comic pages in each "part," of which there are nine. It's really a very clever novel, from the slow reveal of the mysteries of the plot to the set up of novel/comic to the commentary it's making.
The novel starts with all the superheroes gathered around while their powers are voluntarily stripped from them so that The Man With the Metal Face, Ultimate, can use them to destroy the "blue" that is threatening to destroy everything. Each superhero gives up their power for the sake of the entire world, never to be able to use those powers again and Ultimate is completely incinerated in the process.
We slowly come to find out that Ultimate's sidekick, PenUltimate, actually never showed to the gathering to save the world and thus has kept his powers and simultaneously the ire of all his former friends who think he is a coward.
So, instead of being regular people who never had powers to begin with, these superheroes are going through some really hard times coming down down from the high and having to be normal people again, if they ever were. As you can imagine, not everyone deals with it well and some, one in particular, actually need saving over and over again.
In this superhero world, the superheroes we know about also exist in the form of comics, so the story ends up working as a post-modern/meta look at how we view superheroes and then how they view themselves. Some can no longer deal with the fact that they're useless, some continue to look for fights, and others have given up completely.
The commentary it makes really only works in novel form as well. It's looking at what comics do and how they effect people and what superheroes are to people. At first I wondered why the entire story wasn't in comic form, but as it progresses, it starts to make sense especially with one of the main reveals that's hard to hold back right now, but terribly clever as I mentioned earlier.
One thing I have to mention that bugged me was in the writing itself. There were a lot of odd contractions such as, "There're shots in the air," throughout the novel. The worst part is, I've been known to write like this, but suffice it to say, I will stop because it gets annoying and it's not smooth reading.
In the end, it's not The Watchmen at all, but a clever story that makes you think. The themes in A Once Crowded Sky are a bit lighter, but no less interesting, especially to a comic fan. I would love to read a comic with all these superheroes in it and maybe that will happen one day because I think King did a great job thinking these ones up from powers to personality they're excellently crafted.
4 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended)
Superheroes with no powers, well all except one of them, reflect on the meaning of being a hero. No this isn't The Watchmen silly, it's not even a graphic novel.
But seriously, it's hard not to compare to The Watchmen when you start reading. And after a while you realize it's actually quite a bit different.
A Once Crowded Sky is a novel that starts with and is interspersed with comic pages in each "part," of which there are nine. It's really a very clever novel, from the slow reveal of the mysteries of the plot to the set up of novel/comic to the commentary it's making.
The novel starts with all the superheroes gathered around while their powers are voluntarily stripped from them so that The Man With the Metal Face, Ultimate, can use them to destroy the "blue" that is threatening to destroy everything. Each superhero gives up their power for the sake of the entire world, never to be able to use those powers again and Ultimate is completely incinerated in the process.
We slowly come to find out that Ultimate's sidekick, PenUltimate, actually never showed to the gathering to save the world and thus has kept his powers and simultaneously the ire of all his former friends who think he is a coward.
So, instead of being regular people who never had powers to begin with, these superheroes are going through some really hard times coming down down from the high and having to be normal people again, if they ever were. As you can imagine, not everyone deals with it well and some, one in particular, actually need saving over and over again.
In this superhero world, the superheroes we know about also exist in the form of comics, so the story ends up working as a post-modern/meta look at how we view superheroes and then how they view themselves. Some can no longer deal with the fact that they're useless, some continue to look for fights, and others have given up completely.
The commentary it makes really only works in novel form as well. It's looking at what comics do and how they effect people and what superheroes are to people. At first I wondered why the entire story wasn't in comic form, but as it progresses, it starts to make sense especially with one of the main reveals that's hard to hold back right now, but terribly clever as I mentioned earlier.
One thing I have to mention that bugged me was in the writing itself. There were a lot of odd contractions such as, "There're shots in the air," throughout the novel. The worst part is, I've been known to write like this, but suffice it to say, I will stop because it gets annoying and it's not smooth reading.
In the end, it's not The Watchmen at all, but a clever story that makes you think. The themes in A Once Crowded Sky are a bit lighter, but no less interesting, especially to a comic fan. I would love to read a comic with all these superheroes in it and maybe that will happen one day because I think King did a great job thinking these ones up from powers to personality they're excellently crafted.
4 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended)