Team-Ups and Crossovers review

    I am a huge fan of Marion G. Harmon's Wearing the Cape series and it was actually a major influence on my Supervillainy Saga books. Before Supergirl was on television, I was a huge fan of the character and felt she was overlooked. So fiction starring a Supergirl-alike ala Hope Corrigan was something I eagerly devoured. I've been a bit back and forth about the past couple of volumes because the forward momentum seemed a bit stalled.

    I was really hoping we'd get some insight into the idea of the Teatime Anarchist's "hellish future" and why events are accelerating toward bringing it about but the past few volumes have mostly been about slice of life characterizations. This doesn't get rectified in the book but there is a pretty entertaining storyline which covers one of my favorite types of comic book story: the parallel universe.

    Back before DC Comics drove the concept to the ground, some of the more interesting stories were about the Flash traveling to alternate universes to deal with the heroes of other worlds while also seeing how reality played out differently there. The Flash series is doing the same thing with the Supergirl series and we've also seen the concept examined in-depth by sci-fi series like Sliders.

    The concept is a difficult one to pull off because while interesting, you have to develop the whole world as well as make sure things feel like they actually have stakes. Other realities aren't usually going to impact the main universe and can be shrugged off as, essentially, just a dream. So, you can tell I was leery of this particular story and whether or not it would be any good.

    So, what did I think? It was actually pretty good. Hope Corrigan takes awhile to get trapped in another dimension, it's a series of very entertaining short stories set in other superhero universes. This includes the Velveteen universe, which I'm going to check out because of this and a number of others which have intrigued me. As advertising for other superhero fiction, I have to say I'm impressed and kind of annoyed she didn't visit my world.

    Really, I'm not sure what to say about this book other than it's just consistently entertaining throughout. There's a section in Oz, a section in a post-apocalypse Iron Age world, and places where Hope meets Santa Clause. I even liked the parts which weren't from Hope's part, which includes a really good section with Artemis. I think my favorite part was set in a comic book convention where Hope and the superheroine Astra are fictional characters on a popular TV series.

    I admit, there's one element of the book which bothers me and that's the fact I absolutely hate the Kitsune and Hope romance. I'm not a big fan of really pushy characters to begin with but Kitsune, which I can best describe as a shape-shifting Japanese Gambit, really annoys me. I was more interested in the Astra/Seven romance and it seems that's not going to go anywhere.

    In conclusion, this is an enjoyable story and I recommend it to fans of the Wearing the Cape series or even as a stand-alone to check out. However, nothing really of consequence happens in this book and I wish there would be more of a metaplot in Hope's life. Right now, it seems like the series is mostly just putting out enjoyable filler.

8/10