I enjoyed <em>Wearing the Cape</em>, which feels like it does a realistic job of integrating heroes into modern society. Prior to reading Worm I'd have put this forward as the most realistic superpowered media I'd read/watched.
Some minor examples:
All the costumes (other than PR-appearance only costumes) include body armor, and even though she's a classic "flying brick" the protagonist has a costume with heavy defensive plates.
Planes have clearly marked points to indicate where someone with superflight should lift them, should the need arise.
heroes have no special legal powers, but will regularly assist police. No-knock warrants against supervillains are raising legal concerns, and the "I was mind controlled by the real villian" defense is causing chaos in the legal system.
One of the more important things a superhero team does is remain visible and build positive press to prevent public opinion turning on supers when villains cause problems. Rescuing cats stuck in trees is actually a pretty important duty, and having someone with excellent PR skills (either superpowered or otherwise) is essential to every team.
Superstrong is good. Superstrong with an oversized tungsten maul is better.
BTW, if you liked either of these and also like to read, I highly recommend Wearing the Cape. This genre is a little difficult to find decent writing for, and this is one of the better ones.
Wearing the Cape, by Marion G. Harmon
Full disclosure, I haven't actually read it yet, but I was browsing amazon last night, discovered it (and the rest of the series) and was super into what I was reading about it.
The science ficiton classic Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore, is sort of this, though the main character only works out exactly what the intent was right at the end.
This is the driving force in Wearing the Cape While the main character does not herself travel through time, she does eventually play a curcial role in the time war (basically you have two sides trying to shape the futrue in different directions).
The Ancient Future Trilogy by Traci Harding, Again the main character is not initially aware of what is going on, but she does travel back in time.
My favorite self published author is Marion G. Harmon, author of the Wearing the Cape Series. Based on his blog he is making enough of his books to live off of, which is a good job if you can get it.
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Wearing the Cape https://www.amazon.com/Wearing-Cape-Book-ebook/dp/B004XRCC1G
TLDR version;
(1) worm is one of the best things i've read in any genre
(2) don't tell my parent's i'm a supervillain is fun, age appropriate for kids but good enough for adult
(3) Dire, Powereds (and corpies spinoff) are excellent - don't miss these
(4) the rest listed are the best of what i've found in the genre
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Each book or series has the following information
ranking:
age:
rating:
Strengths:
Genre Detail:
Comments:
Cons:
link to book/series
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Each of the above catagories is rated, ranked, or noted using the following (obviously opinion based)
ranking:
n/10 (range for series)
: books improve over time (often new author or genre for author, learning on the go)
: books get worse over time (often first book is excellent, whatever made it enjoyable decreases in future books, the first book is often worth reading)
Strengths:
"I"nteresting powers, power sets - not just cookie cutter powers (Worm is the best at this)
"W"orld building - how well the world around the story is built (Worm is the best at this)
"F"un - just plain fun to read (don't tell my parents im a supervillain is the best at this)
"D"rama and storlyline - character interaction and depth of plot (Worm is the best at this)
"T"heme - depth behind the story (Worm is the best at this)
"E"xcellent protagonist / strong main characters - how engaging are the main characters (Worm is the best at this)
Genre Detail:
Fantasy (powers based on magic)
Sci-fi (powers based on altered person)
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worm
note to readers - One friend of mine who read this didn't enjoy it because it is so violent/grey morals, others have unanimously loved it. I was floored at how excellent the story was, had to read it again to pick up what I missed first read through.
ranking: 10/10
Strengths: I/W/D/T/E
Genre Detail: sci-fi
Comments: putting here as a baseline - linked to goodreads seperate writeup. this is a must read as long as the negatives noted there are not a problem
wearing the cape (5 books in series, not complete)
note to readers - this is the most comic-book like of the novels/series, if you are patient with it it gets better as you go along.
ranking: 8/10 + (6.5-9)
Strengths: F/E
Genre Detail: Sci-fi
Comments: worth reading, first book isnt great, each one gets better.
Cons: first book isnt very good. story lines take a while to get decent. characters are fairly cookie cutter power wise.
super powereds (3/4 books done)
note to readers - I really enjoyed this series, Drew Hayes (author) is an excellent indy author who writes what he loves. One of my favorite characters in any book (Nick) in the series.
ranking: 9/10 + (7.5-9.5)
Strengths: I/W/D/E
Genre Detail: Sci-fi
Comments: unique, first chapter of book 1 is first chapter written by the author (first 10 chapters or so are rough reading). has good story, good depth, good powers and treatment of powers, gets better with each book. annoyances (some bad writing early on, and cadence in sections of the overall story) are outweighed by some really long term cool scenes.
Cons: Truly rough reading first few chapters, pacing can be tough, non essential characters motivations are 2 dimentional
after reading the above books, this spinoff is a virtual must read, best of the bunch: https://www.amazon.com/Corpies-Super-Powereds-Spinoff-Book-ebook/dp/B01D9C21DE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1473257391&sr=1-1&keywords=corpies
action figures (5 books done, 3 in works for next year)
note to readers - this is more YA targetted, but on occasion goes way beyond what I would expect in YA - still fun and well done
ranking: 8/10 (7.5-8)
Strengths: F/D
Genre Detail: Sci-fi
Comments: steady, easy, enjoyable
Cons: not much depth, angsty, simple, seems to target YA but occasionally breaks boundry to be potentially inappropriate for younger audience
dire (3 books, not complete)
note to readers - Outstanding lead character and really nicely written. I loved DIRE.
ranking: 9/10 (9-9)
Strengths: W/D/E
Genre Detail: sci-fi
Comments: dire is a great character, its a good story, inspired by worm (was originally fan-fiction on parahumas site, the intro to dire)
Cons: taking a while for next book to come out, only sample size of 2 books in series. third book was just released, didnt like as much as first two.
Gailsone (2 books, then shifted to periodical short novella releases)
note to readers - Least good of the good ones, If you leave any off this is the most leave-off able.
ranking: 8/10 (7.5-8)
Strengths: F/E
Genre Detail: sci-fi
Comments: fairly unique story, strong main character, quite murdery at times.
Cons: after second book author started releasing .99$ 100 page short excerpts, books are fun but no depth, some annoying interplay between characters
Dynamistress (2 books, series done)
note to readers - fan fiction at its finest, a talented author who played City of Heroes wrote a 2 book biography for his character, lots of "labor of love" and nicely written story.
ranking: 8/10 (8-8)
Strengths: F
Genre Detail: Sci-fi
Comments: unique autobiography format, this is more a story of a person who happens to engage in the super human community than a hero story, very well done. oddly enough - inspired by the MMO City of Heroes, written by an author who played the game.
Cons: if you are looking for a heroic story, this is more a person story that unions the genre.
confessions of a d-list supervillain (3 books, not really a series though there is a timeline)
note to readers - These were fun, first ones in the genre I read. Not as good as others in the list, but worth reading if you get into this format (novelization of super/parahuman stories)
ranking: 7.5/10 (7-7.5)
Strengths: F
Genre Detail: sci-fi
Comments: One of the first "super hero" genre books published, fun read but not much beyond that. it has not held up to other books/series since it came out, but still decent enough read
Cons: others are better, not terribly unique or deep. just fun and one of the first forays into this genre.
don't tell my parents i'm a supervillain (3 books, not complete)
note to readers - book 1 was a blast, and is also very appropriate for young readers (5th -8th grade reading level advised). cant suggest it more highly for a fun read, and you might find it appropriate/fun for your kids too after reading it
ranking: 8/10- (9.5-6.5)
Strengths: I/F/E
Genre Detail: Sci-fi
Comments: first book has Worm inspiration, excellent introduction and very creative. second and third books are not as good. worth reading first book.
Cons: very ya, first book captures a story in a "harry potterish" enjoyable story with a ton of discovery and creativity. second and third books fell off that mark.
wild cards (many books, all anthologies of short stories by various authors)
note to readers - anthologies by dozens of authors, with an overall theme and world canon maintained by the editor (George RR Martin). you have to take the good with the bad to get through this series, there are alot of both
ranking: 7- (8.5-5)
Strengths: I/W/D
Genre Detail: sci-fi
Comments: anthology format, very unique. some amazing, some awful stories. multi author short stories covering a variety of characters over the course of 30-50 years or so. first of its sort. George RR Martin editor. the first 5 books are mostly good, there are a bunch of bad mixed with some good after that.
Cons: expensive, and quality of stories varies wildly.
steelheart (3 books, complete)
note to readers - I just didn't like the story, seems like almost everyone disagrees with me based on online reviews. really well written, but it never hooked me.
ranking: 7.5
Strengths: I/D
Genre Detail: sci-fi.
Comments:I didnt enjoy these as much as I thought I would, many others enjoyed more than me based on reviews. well written (the author is a top notch writer) but there was just something off about them that I couldnt place.
Cons: premium cost, other stories (indy pub/other) are just more enjoyable.
Wearing the Cape. One of my favorite series, and due to get a fifth installment next month.