Every so often I find a book or series that I really like that nobody else seems to have ever heard of. Here’s one example: Blake Michael Nelson’s “Signalverse” superhero novels.
These aren’t great literature, but they’re fun. I really enjoy them. They’re straightforward superhero adventure, of a sort that’s rather scarce in comic books these days, written in straightforward prose.
There are four so far:
The Adventures of Jack and Miracle Girl: Volume One
The Adventures of Jack and Miracle Girl: Volume Two
Orchid
(The links are to the paperbacks, but there are also Kindle ebooks of all of them.)
These stories all take place in Signal City, a city that’s home to dozens of superheroes and supervillains. Prose superhero stories (which aren’t all that numerous to begin with, though they’re multiplying now) are often either grim ‘n’ gritty or silly parody; these are neither. They’re light adventure, with a little humor, a little romance, some suspense, etc. They’re not trying to deconstruct anything, they’re not terribly long or complex, but I find them a really good way to brighten an afternoon.
Check ’em out.