GRAPHIC NOVELS

Heroman

by Stan Lee
(creator) & Tamon Ohta (illus.). Vol. 1. Vertical. 2012. 192p. ISBN 9781935654582. pap. $10.95. GRAPHIC NOVELS
COPY ISBN
From comics legend Lee (Spiderman; X-Men; Fantastic Four) and the Japanese production company BONES comes the first volume of a series originally published in Japan in 2010. Joey Jones is a middle school student at the fictional Center City located on the United States' West Coast. Feeling like a loser and desperate for a hero to look up to, Joey repairs a discarded toy called Heybo. When struck by lightning, the toy turns into a giant robot that Joey names Heroman. With help from Heroman's strength, Joey finds the confidence he needs to protect his friends and the rest of Earth from a new alien enemy, the Skruggs.
VERDICT While Ohta's artwork is both cute and impressively detailed, Lee blends his signature weakling-turned-hero plot with some rather clichéd manga elements (a school-aged child who gains mysterious powers and has repetitive fights with cookie-cutter character villains). An awkward English translation detracts from the story. Readers who are fans of Lee's but less familiar with manga may enjoy it, as well as younger male readers who are newer to both comics and manga.
Reviewed by Heather Williams, Whatcom Community Coll., Bellingham, WA , Feb 15, 2013
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