MADreads

You’re nobody ’til somebody hates you

September 1st, 2009 Jane J. - Central Library

“The thing people seem all too happy to forget is that where there be superheroes, there also be supervillains.  It makes one wonder: If the heroes went away, would the villains follow?”

So opens Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge and a better opening would be hard to find for this clever, fun, adventurous, complicated novel.  The white and black of the title are Callie Bradford, code name Iridium, and Joannie Greene, code name Jet.  Callie and Joannie met at the Corp Extrahuman Academy where all superheroes train.  And as with all super stories, forces conspire to send Callie, now known as Iridium, on the run as a villain.  Once her training is complete Joannie, now Jet’s, mission is to find and defeat her one-time friend.

Jet is determined to be the hero she was trained to be but struggles with her heroic identity and the trappings that go with it.  Coupled with the fact that the Corp corp is not all it seems and the academy not the shining beacon she remembers and Jet’s role becomes even more murky.  And while Iridium is the one acting illegally her actions take on a more heroic tinge as time passes.  Things are certainly not as Black and White as they seem.

The authors play with comic book conventions to great effect in their first joint venture (more adventures to follow).  What would Batman be without the Penguin or Superman without Lex Luther?  Just nice looking men in tights.  Kessler and Kittredge play with that fact while exploring the thin line between good and evil.  And tell a darn good story along the way.  I look forward to more battles between Jet and Iridium.

Entry Filed under: Recreational Fiction, Science Fiction