Permuted Press

14, LOVED IT!

http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2013/05/why-so-few-superhero-novels.html

This discussion inspired me to do an article.

Thanks guys.

I know Thom (and of course Pete) have some good superhero novels already done...

I keep kicking myself for never finishing any of mine...

I also got a little veklempt...

I mean less adaptions and more original works. "Ex-Heroes" inspired me for this post, partially because it occurred to me there should be more books like this and I happily would have read it without zombies. There's a few other works I like too like "Soon I Will Be Invincible" and "Wearing the Cape" but it's  a pretty small seeming market.

Comics ... are ... pictures!  Or, rather, the medium has always been defined as such.  In the "old days" there were never novelizations of comic books/stories; however, in the last decade or so, more and more are showing up.  Also, Comic Bookdom is often fraught with rights issues and unclarity of who owns the right to create or amend to ... Canon rules, everybody else schools (as it were; I dunno - I make this stuff up as I go..)

Warhammer - Chew!  Dang good series; been reading that one since day one.

Perhaps superheroes are pretty niche, and don't have as wide of an audience. I know nowadays, I'm less attracted by superhero comics. I still like to see the movies, to see what they'll do with them, but whenever I hear what's going on in superhero comics, I tend to groan.

That doesn't mean I don't enjoy comics. Helheim. Parker. Hellboy. Chew. These are all awesome. There's plenty else to explore out there.

Possibly because superheroes lend themselves better to a visual medium, or are perceived as such?

I've read a few Hellboy short stories (in the "Odd Jobs" series) and while they were good stories in their own right, they didn't really feel like Hellboy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=baQBTWd49j4

This is HILARIOUS.

Also very true.

Anyone ever give any thought to this question.

It's a pretty untapped genre in my mind.

I don't know why.