A Man With An Agenda

Thoroughly enjoyable, and inevitably I have to compare it to Perry Moore's YA coming-of-age story 'Hero'. They released in the same summer, and both incorporate (and rely heavily on) classic superhero tropes. Both authors injected a modern sense of the social fallout that the high-celebrity status of being a superhero (or villain) would bring to a person -- and the mental and physical costs of their abilities.

Grossman has the edge in writing, but not by much. I'm not sure if its a more refined style on his part writing, or that by writing for a grown-up audience he didn't feel he needed so many bold italicized underlinings to get his point across.

Dr. Impossible as an evil genius was a lot of fun to hear from, and I liked the slow build-up to his 13th attempt at global subjugation. Fatale, the new-girl on the superhero squad, was more predictable, but perhaps necessary to fill in the gaps of Grossman's superhero universe. Someone had to express awe towards the past achievements of Dr. Impossible's enemies, he could only give them grudging respect, and you needed to know who he was going against to appreciate what he was trying to do.