Who’s Killing the Great Capes of Heropa by Andrez Bergen

Who’s Killing The Great Capes of Heropa by Andrez Bergen

Published by Perfect Edge (September 27, 2013)

Review by N. E. White.

Jack, an unassuming kid from the street’s of a post-apocalyptic Melbourne, finds himself dropped in a 1940’s era city steeped in glass, panache, and superheroes. And he’s one of ‘em – Southern Cross.

A bit confused and not quite ready, he’s led up into one of the tallest buildings of the city and shown to the lair of the latest heroes trying to keep things in order on Heropa. But Jack soon finds out that nothing is what it seems and the world he had tried to escape from might be better than this superhero filled one, because someone is killing off the capes (both good and bad).

While the resident capes busy themselves with, well, their vanity, Southern Cross takes it upon himself to figure out who it is. Throughout his investigations, we learn more about how Heropa functions and the capes that cause havoc on the city every day. Southern Cross eventually pursues a potential suspect, a blando (a non-superhero in Heropa, and therefore not a real person but a piece of software code). Along the way, he’s joined by a superhero reporter and falls in love with a bank teller.

A homage to the superhero comic book genre, Who’s Killing The Great Capes of Heropa does its best to engage the reader with a fast-paced plot and interesting superhero antics, but fails on several fronts for me. Primarily because I just didn’t see the point of the story. Because it is all set in a virtual world and doesn’t seem to have much of an impact on the real world of devastated Melbourne, the story just didn’t feel important to me, even when we find out what really happened to the people who couldn’t make it in Heropa. The second reason is all the tangents on comic book lore. While interesting, there were definitely times I started skimming to get back to the story.

Regardless, Mr. Bergen has a penchant for snappy dialogue and the author does have a vivid imagination that he imparts well to the reader. I can easily recall specific images of some of the scenes of the book as well as some of characters. The Brick is a collection of animated bricks and Bergen’s description of him really brought him to life. And Pretty Amazonia was deliciously creepy. Though the superhero characters might be a bit two-dimensional, they are as unique as the real people behind the masks and are completely relatable. The story line is unpredictable, and I rather enjoyed all the comic book references, though I admit much was lost to me since I’m not a comic book aficionado.

If you can’t get enough of superheroes, then Who’s Killing The Great Capes of Heropa may be one to put on your reading list. It has an unlikely hero in a world awash with superheroes.

N.E. White, January 2014.