So, just which parts of the comics does Sanderson use, and what does he rebuild his own way? Except that that anything-goes richness is as much a part of the comics experience as the word balloons. And I’m sure editors as much as fans ponder the next “reboot” and look longingly over at the novelists who make a story with a plan (or make us believe they had). But so much of comics’ strength and weakness is the gonzo energy of different writers throwing out a new idea each and every month and trying to wrestle that into a coherent story. It’s harder than it looks, and not only because it’s replacing panels with prose and monthly installments with unified arcs for a full-size book and series. Now that created-as-novels superheroes are a genre, there’s no lack of authors grappling with the questions of just which parts of the comic book experience to recreate. These aren’t epics, they’re about Epics, and how (and why) to take those villains down. But the Reckoners trilogy is one of his changes of pace, short novels with a mostly lighter tone. Sanderson is best-known for matching other big-name fantasy writers sprawl for sprawl, with books like his Mistborn trilogy-plus, or his taking over the Wheel of Time series, and his current Stormlight Archive (planned as ten books? so what do I do with my other two wishes?). It’s an investigation, and a slugfest, and all-around fun, among other things. Which sounds like a comic-book inspired dystopia… which it’s not. But since that author is Brandon Sanderson, the concept for the Reckoners books is “a world where there are no superheroes, only supervillains.” When one of the short-list Best Fantasy Authors Out There writes a superhero series, pay attention.

Brandon sanderson superhero