League of Somebodies by Samuel Sattin tells the story of Lenard Sikophsky, a small, crippled boy in Boston, Massachusetts, who, after undergoing a series of grueling and death-defying tests and consuming volatile chemicals, goes on to become the world's first genuine superhero.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
The first part of the book involves Lenard's father, Fearghas Murdoch Sikopshky, a depraved patriarch of Scottish/Jewish origin who forces his son to pass a series of masculinity based tests to prepare him for a mysterious future. Fearghas is obsessed with an ancient tome called the Manaton that has been supposedly passed down through their family for generations, and must be protected at all costs. From running from oncoming trains to fighting lions, Fearghas forces Lenard perform various tests according to his interpretations of the text.
Meanwhile, Fearghas is also secretly feeding Lenard measured doses of a plutonium compound in his breakfast cereal daily, in order to alter his mortal constitution. This cripples Lenard as a child, giving him stumpy legs and a large upper torso, leading to allegations by the family physician that he's being poisoned. Upon undertaking the second test of manhood, however, in which Lenard goes face to face with an angry lion, the compound ends up activating, imbuing him with super strength that persists throughout the rest of the book.
After his physical awakening, Lenard falls in love with a compulsively suicidal woman named Laura Moskowitz from his home town of Milton, Massachussetts. Their meeting is based upon a contractual obligation that Fearghas has with Laura's father. As their relationship blossoms, it is discovered that a violent entity called THEY is out searching for the Manaton. Lenard and Laura end up escaping Boston, but Fearghas presumably dies after being hit by a bus piloted by a member of THEY.
The second half of the book takes place outside of Denver, Colorado, where Lenard and Laura have moved to undertake new identities and raise their son, a creative, intelligent young boy named Nemo. As Nemo comes of age, he realizes two things. First, that he is gay, and second, that he has super powers. Natural, electricity-based ones that don't require plutonium injections. THEY eventually discovers the location of the Sikophsky family (renamed Zatkin to protect their identity), around the same time that Nemo falls in love with a boy at school
In a vain attempt to cure his son of his homosexuality after discovering Nemo kissing a boy in a movie theater, Lenard and Laura take Nemo to a friend's cabin in Mendicino, California, to isolate him. This methodology of course fails, and Nemo is kidnapped on the coast by representatives of THEY, who ransom him in exchange for the Manaton.
The final pages involve Laura, Lenard, Lenard's friend Carl, and his transgender ex-wife Daphne as they go to hunt down and destroy Nemo's captors. A massively bloody battle ensues in which Lenard operates a giant robot made with components of a Cadillac called Prometheus to bring THEY to their feet. Soon afterwards, Laura commits suicide after being arrested for sexual assault of a minor that comes back to haunt her from years back. Nemo moves to the west coast and develops a healthy relationship with another man, and Lenard Sikophsky dies of testicular cancer.
Best part of story, including ending:
I really like how League of Somebodies manages to be both a superhero novel, and a family drama. It crosses genres.
Best scene in story:
I like when Lenard faces the lions, being that it redeems him from the downtrodden nature of his existence.
Opinion about the main character:
I both like and dislike Lenard Sikophsky for the fact that his arrogance overtakes his ability to be a good, upstanding member of society.
