Review: Super for You, Bad for me by Asta Idonea

Title: Super for You, Bad for Me

Author: Asta Idonea

Length: 200 Pages

Category: Sci-Fi

At a Glance: An entertaining superhero page-turner with a bit of humor, a smidge of angst, and a dash of action surrounding a relatable protagonist.

Reviewed By: Lindsey

Blurb: Life—and love—doesn’t follow a script.

Struggling actor Oswell Outterridge thinks he’s hit the jackpot when he’s chosen to play a scene opposite his idol, Kane Teague, in a superhero movie. However, things take an unexpected turn when the slime he accidentally ingests gives him telekinetic powers. Then Kane asks him out, against all expectation, and it seems that life couldn’t get any better—aside from the little matter of keeping his identity secret from his celebrity boyfriend.

Oswell goes from a nobody with little social life and few prospects for the future to dating the man of his dreams and using his superhuman abilities to defend innocents. Everything is perfect, and it seems he’s finally achieved a happily ever after worthy of the silver screen. But when a supervillain arrives, determined to defeat Oswell and win Kane’s affections, everything falls apart. In the ensuing conflict, Kane gets caught in the crossfire, and Oswell faces his toughest fight yet. Can he remain the hero he’s always imagined himself, or will a dark desire for vengeance change him forever?

Review: I love a good superhero romp so when I see one coming out, it definitely piques my interest. Before I begin my review, I want to remind any prospective readers to suspend disbelief; as with pretty much any other comic book style storyline, let your imagination take over and just go with it. If you want a more down-to-earth and realistic tale, this one probably won’t be your bag. The plot is pretty typical for the genre: a guy has something out of the ordinary happen and finds himself with new powers, tries to figure out his new powers, tries to balance his secret life and his normal life with friends and family, does some heroic saving, an anti-hero begins to single him out, and they become nemeses. Shenanigans follow their battles until the hero comes out having learned a valuable lesson as everything wraps up nicely.

While the outline followed was typical, I found Oswell to be a breath of fresh air. He is extremely relatable, and his experiences as he delivered his story were amusing. The reader joins Oswell as he recounts his going from a struggling actor, who may have just landed his first credited role, to getting slimed and awakening with awesomely terrifying powers. He compares his experiences against the Hollywood and Comic Book universe portrayals and finds there are a lot of things that are glossed over, giving it a bit of a satirical feeling. With Oswell, the reader gets a front row seat as he deals with his new situation, from thinking he has an overactive imagination to accepting he has powers. His escapades as he figures out costume concerns that are never talked about, how far to push his newfound abilities, choosing a name, and searching for actual crime to thwart kept the humor rolling in.

Oswell meets Kane before his powers manifest, so their relationship is in its infancy while Oswell is trying to determine what he should or should not do. Their relationship cultivates alongside Oswell’s superhero persona. His dread of scaring Kane away before they have a chance, or that Kane may have him locked up in a looney bin or tested on as a lab rat, keeps him from spilling his secrets and gives a bit of added angst to the storyline.

While I figured out the villain pretty much from the moment there was interaction, as I expect most readers to since I don’t think the author intended to hide that nugget for a surprise later on, I didn’t expect some of the added complexity to the antihero’s plan and how it all tied together, which was nice. The change in tides where Oswell goes from beloved superhero to a pariah and seen as a criminal, and the accompanying struggle with how easily i his anger, desperation, and desire for revenge he could cross the line to become exactly what he had sworn to fight, turned this story from a fun read to a thought-provoking one. The domino effect of one choice and how it snowballed gave me much to ponder.

Was there anything truly earthshattering that happened here? Not really. It followed a fairly typical outline for these types of stories, but did that take away from my enjoyment of Oswell’s telling of his tale? Nope. While predictable in some areas, others were surprising and while there were some areas in which far-fetched would be an understatement, Oswell’s actions and reactions to the different situations are believable. All in all, Super for You, Bad for Me is an easy read with just enough balance of humor, angst, action and romance to keep it moving forward at a measured paced. While I wasn’t blown away, I did enjoy reading the tale of Oswell’s rise, fall, and redemption. I would definitely recommend it to my fellow superhero loving readers!

You can buy Super for You, Bad for Me here:
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