After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn

Celia West is the daughter of Captain Olympiad and Spark, Commerce City's two greatest superheroes. Unfortunately she has no powers and is totally normal, unless you count her ability to remain calm in the face of constant kidnapping. Now her parents greatest foe The Destructor is on trial and she is the forensic accountant assigned to find his assets. Her relationship with her parents has always been strained AT BEST, the events that follow can bring them together or take them apart.

As soon as I saw the cover of this book I knew it was for me. I recently discovered a love for Carrie Vaughn and I've always adored old school comics. This dealt with the realities of being related to a super hero and how it can hurt the family dynamic. Celia's pain was often palpable and it was impressive how she pulled herself out of her own drama and grew into a strong woman.

I do admit that the mystery was easy to solve. I knew who was committing the crimes, but the impetus behind it and how it related to the trial and to the past was very unexpected (I'm hoping this is vague enough not to give anything away.) I was so excited at how everything tied together at the end.

***Spoiler***
There was one thing that kind of bugged me. Sometimes it seemed like Celia was developing powers and other times it seemed like she was picking up Dr. Mentis' powers. I think you're supposed to infer that her power is more of a mental one but I'm just not sure and it was driving me insane. I want it confirmed!
***End Spoiler***

I loved who Celia ended up with. I did see it coming but not in a "of course that's going to happen kind of way" more in the "I hope that happens kind of way." They were prefect for each other.

The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines by Mike Madrid

My post earlier this week on what famous person I would want to be made me think of this book which I read last week, so here's the review.

I really loved this book. It gave a great overview of the place that women have held in comics over the last 70 years. The author writes in a very personable style that makes the book easy to read and enjoy. For each decade since comics have been popular, the author addresses the changes occurring for women in the society and how these changes were reflected or not reflected in comic books. There are also chapters devoted to specific characters or even arch-types within the comic book industry.

My biggest problem now is that I want to go out and read all of these comics he talks about and some of them just aren't available. The only negative thing I will say is while it would be completely inappropriate to have a book on female superheros without devoting a chapter to Wonder Woman; the author also covers parts of Wonder Woman's background in other chapters so by the time you get to that chapter, you do kind of feel like "okay I read alot of this already." But stick it out because it's totally worth it to get to the chapters on the superheroes of today. Otherwise this is a great read for any girl that's into comics and graphic novels or anyone who want's to see how womens issues are reflected in different types of media.

This post will eventually be cross-posted at Reviews for You