Ex-Heroes
Written by one Peter Clines, Ex-Heroes is actually a series of books, of which Ex-Heroes is the first. It’s about a good old fashioned zombie apocalypse. The twist? It’s also about superheroes.
I got it on the strength of the superhero angle. I normally don’t have any use for zombies whatsoever.
“Saint George” Bailey, the erstwhile Mighty Dragon is the most recurring viewpoint character, though several of the others also get their turn.
They call the zombies exes. Not because of some idiotic attempt to be edgy and original because they’re not REALLY zombies you guys they’re just normal people who are being controlled by a mutant fungus because zombies are boring and dumb and we’re edgy and original.
No, these zombies are proper zombies. People die and then they stop being dead. The dead come back to some semblance of life. They call them exes, short for ex-humans, because it’s just easier for people to accept than zombies.
But something is rotten in the state of Denmark California, because St George and the people of “The Mount”, a re-purposed movie studio in the heart of Hollywood, are not the only survivors.
A former street gang, the South Seventeens, has also managed to eek out a living with a few thousand survivors as well, but they’re not willing to let bygones be bygones because their leader has a beef with one of George’s cohorts, a hero who goes by the name of Gorgon.
The story is split between chapters marked Then and Now, with the former largely taking place before the “zombocalypse” and exploring the lives of our heroes before the fall of humanity.
Rounding out the team of heroes is Zzzap, a star in the shape of a man. Or a man in the shape of a star. Or something. Barry Burke is the resident pop culture junkie, though his references are a bit dated since there’s no more culture to be pop.
Cerberus, the woman who built a super suit of powered armor and who kicks ass and takes names.
And last but certainly not least, the leader of our ragtag group of heroes, Stealth. She’s got no powers, but with mad skills and a keen intellect, she kicks more ass and takes more names than anyone. She’s like Batman, basically.
There were other heroes before the fall, such as Cairax, the demon man, whose death, so rumor suggests, came about when the guy attempted to...shall we say do untoward things with an undead actress.
It is an excellent series. Read it, love it. If you don’t I’ll hate you.
