pal of the blog Barry Lyga (The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl) is launching a new young adult novel series with Archvillain, out this month from Scholastic.
It’s the story of Kyle, who was setting up to play a prank the night the strange meteor shower gave him superpowers. Now, Kyle’s bored in school, because his new intelligence has put him miles ahead of everyone, and his former status as many popular kid in school has been usurped by a good man superhero interloper. In other words, he’s jealous of Mighty Mike, an amnesic 12-year-old who’s really an alien visitor from another planet.
As events continue, Kyle doesn’t realize how he looks to others, or how his self-rationalizations are becoming much more strained as his behavior becomes much more selfish. Superhero comic readers will notice that this feels a lot like reading a teenaged Lex Luthor’s diary. I wish Kyle was the kind of kid who could have been pals with the new man instead of resenting him. Unfortunately, because this is the first in a series, things can’t be completely resolved, instead putting the characters in place for much more books. (There’s no word yet on when the next one may be released.)
It’s a fascinating idea to me that maybe the bad guy, the one who’s always convinced that everyone would recognize his greatness if only they’d stop paying attention to that other person over there who always comes out on top due to unselfishness and a good heart, is much more relatable to today’s kids than the superhero. It’s certainly an method better suited to a world ruined by reality TV and wall street shenanigans, where everyone’s out for themselves and is craving recognition without actually doing anything to are worthy of it. Of course, many young readers won’t react to it that way, They’ll just see a kid doing amazing things while everything doesn’t go his way, a situation many preteens can sympathize with. but parents may want to talk about the underlying ethics after their younger ones finish the book, just to find out how they took the situation.
Archvillain is $16.99 in hardcover and recommended for ages 9-11. (The publisher offered a review copy.)
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