Never Trust a Guy in Spandex

The Supervillain and Me by Danielle Banas

Publication Date: July 10, 2018

Summary from Goodreads:

Never trust a guy in spandex.

In Abby Hamilton’s world, superheroes do more than just stop crime and save cats stuck in trees—they also drink milk straight from the carton and hog the television remote. Abby’s older brother moonlights as the famous Red Comet, but without powers of her own, following in his footsteps has never crossed her mind.

That is, until the city’s newest vigilante comes bursting into her life.

After saving Abby from an attempted mugging, Morriston’s fledgling supervillain Iron Phantom convinces her that he’s not as evil as everyone says, and that their city is under a vicious new threat. As Abby follows him deeper into their city’s darkest secrets, she comes to learn that heroes can’t always be trusted, and sometimes it’s the good guys who wear black.

Confession:

This was a very different and fun take on the superhero genre.  I loved that our main character is the sister of a superhero, and that they have a typical sibling relationship despite his powers.  It also appeared that people developing superpowers was pretty typical of this world, and it sounded like every town pretty much had one or two.  I would have liked a little bit more of an explanation on how that worked and also there seemed to be a bit of an undertone of it not being good to have powers that wasn’t explained well.  

I liked Abby, she is fun and also somewhat fed up with having to hide her brother’s identity as the Red Comet.  Some of the funnier scenes involved her best friend Sarah’s obsessive fan girling over her brother.  Her car is even plastered with his picture.  But they had a good relationship when all was said and done.  Abby’s banter with everyone was pretty spot on, but it was especially so with Iron Phantom.  Abby was pretty awesome when things got tough and she could also kick butt when she needed to.  

Ah, Iron Phantom, what a cool guy!  He was a great superhero/villain.  He also teleports, which you don’t see often with superheroes.  He was really sweet and sincere from the start with Abby.  Not sure why he kept his real identity from her for so long, but it certainly added to the sweetness of their relationship.

Lots of good secondary characters.  Sarah, Abby’s best friend, added much comic relief.  As did Fish Boy, who ended up not being as lame as you initially think.  I also liked Isaac, and kept expecting him to have bigger role in the story than he did. 

The plot was interesting, if a little flimsy.  The parts that had to do with the high school musical were my least favorite, they just interfered with the other story.  The main plot of who was trying to make Iron Phantom into a villain and why was the better and more interesting storyline.  Some good action sequences and some daring rescues with some scary moments for the superheroes.  

Overall, a fun read and a nice addition to the superhero genre.