The Posterchildren: Origins

By Kitty Burroughs

Nestled in the Cascade mountains in the Pacific Northwest, Maillardet's Foundation for the Future of Humanity is widely accepted as being the premiere training facility for young posthumans. The Academy accepts superpowered posterchildren from ages six through seventeen, guiding them through the training that they'll need if they want to become legally licensed heroes. Maillardet's Academy advertises itself as being for all types, welcoming the offspring of the greatest heroes of today - like Ernest Wright, the son of the Commander - along with new posters just learning to control their powers - like Juniper Hovick, a temperamental New Yorker with a flaming menagerie. Maillardet's is where the heroes of tomorrow are assembled today, so the pressure to perform is high. For disgraced legacy poster Malek Underwood, the third block of his training begins with him being knocked from his pedestal as the top student in the school, then paired with an almost-failing lesbian speedster named Zipporah Chance. Though they come from different backgrounds, Ernest, Juniper, Malek, and Zipporah all have the same goal: surviving the year. If they're ever going to become heroes, they have to make it to finals, first.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kitty Burroughs
• Release date: May 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9780989355971

Kitty Burroughs

A twenty-five year old resident of Seattle, I spend most of my time enjoying the rain from a respectable distance (re: indoors). As a fan of comic books, I'm overly invested in people who wear spandex and habitually take bites out of crime. When I'm not reading or critiquing comics, I'm writing my own.

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Reviews for The Posterchildren

[lymsleia_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hey, hey.Do you like superheroes? Even just a little bit?How about teen superheroes?Me, I love the idea of them and have had quite a bit of fun with some of the movies but have pretty consistently bounced off of the comics (both from Marvel/DC and smaller 'verses) partly because the many interconnected continuities don't play nice with my urge to read All The Things everything there is to a Thing and partly because they have so, so much potential to show us so many different kinds of people and somehow the majority of 'em still end up being the same old straight/white/cis/able-bodied/neurotypical guys (and some women) and it's kind of heartbreaking and no matter how often I try and how much I enjoy the superhero comic I'm trying to get into that day, I always end up sighing dejectedly and wandering off again.And then I'm sad because I really love the idea of superheroes gdi.Early on Friday, I met the Posterchildren, and since then my weekend has been sunshine and sparkles.Let me put it this way: I don't read prose all that quickly usually, but in the last 48 hours I've inhaled about 130.000 words of teen superhero fiction AND NOW I AM OUT OF MORE POSTERCHILDREN TO READ AND THAT IS TERRIBLEso now I am trying to write something between a blog post and a review in a rather desperate attempt to rope more people into this fandom so that I'm not making high-pitched squeaky noises in a vacuum anymore. And also because the Posterchildren make me RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY AND I WANT TO SPREAD THAT HAPPINESS AROUND.... I will refrain from more excited capslock shouting for the rest of this reviewpostthing (maybe) but I am very excited I'll have you know.So, what is this Posterchildren thing, precisely? And why should you care?Alright. So. The Posterchildren: Origins is the first book in a series of superhero fiction that chronicles the lives of a set of young superhumans - called "posthumans" in this universe - as they attend Maillardet's, the USA's most prolific school for kids and teens with posterpowers. Sounds familiar? Well, that's because the Posterchildren universe is as much gleeful tribute to the tropes and plots that superhero fans know and love as it is its own thing, and it certainly never tries to hide its inspirations. Even I with my somewhat cursory knowledge of superhero comics can play Name The Marvel/DC Hero That Inspired This Character with the more obvious examples, but that doesn't detract from just how ridiculously engaging the Posterchildren are.It is hard to say more about the story of Malek, Zipporah, June, Ernest, Maks and their fellow students than what's said in the official summary (link at the bottom of this post) because when it comes down to it, there isn't much in the way of plot here besides what's typical for both superhero and high school stories: make friends, roll your eyes at bullies, go to your classes, pick a codename, know when to break rules, make peace with the spandexy thing that is going to be your superhero costume (or embrace it whole-heartedly)...There is a mystery going on in the background that comes back later to, quite literally, punch one of our narrators in the face, but overall, "make it through the school year" is the plot.Because Origins is just the start of it all. A second book, charmingly titled "Retcons" is planned and starting this month there will be monthly short stories set in the universe that I can't get my hands on soon enough. So, not much crime fighting in spandex yet! And some very... teenage-y antics.BUT. And you know there had to be a but because I'm not doing a very good job selling this thing right now, am I? So, but. This relative plot-less-ness is not actually a stumbling block for the book. (Well, unless you are looking for a super plotty read, I guess.) Because what makes it shine (or sparkle) are its characters. And the fact that they do, in fact, come in a veritable rainbow of different races/cultures/nationalities/sexual orientations/body types/etc. (This "etc." stretches to cover, among other things, both mental illness and neurodiversity as well as various gender identities, although as far as Origins goes I'm taking the latter from the author's blog more than the book itself.)But this isn't a book about diversity. It's not about The Experience Of Being [Identity X]. (Because as much as I believe that these stories do have their place, they are also very, very much not for me.) It's a book about teenage superheroes. And let me just say that all of the characters that get a good amount of screenpage time (and a few that don't) are among the most relatable and engaging characters I've met in a while and I love them all. ALL OF THEM. They're allowed to be flawed and even sometimes be unlikeable as they navigate growing up, friendship and the Things They Do Not Talk About. (At least one of them has rather... traumatic bits in their past that remain largely mysterious.) But who they are always shines through, and wow does it ever shine brightly. (Even when they don't literally sparkle.) (And even when you sometimes have to look more closely and have to engage in highly illicit fry smuggling to see it.)The bits of worldbuilding for the Posterchildren 'verse that we see here are fascinating and there's some great pun-loving humour in this book that made me laugh out loud more than once. I also loved the adults/teachers in this book who as a rule were actually both likeable and competent, which isn't exactly a given in this genre, first and foremost among them Mal's mother Amira because asdfghjkl a well-respected, intelligent hijabi with leadership abilities omg yes please. And how often can I say I REALLY LOVE THESE STUPID KIDS before you give up on the one-trick pony I've suddenly turned into?If I absolutely had to find something negative to say about The Posterchildren: Origins it would be that there are some pacing hiccups in the second half of the book (although they didn't actually bother me) and the fact that it doesn't stand on its own too well (then again, it was never meant to), because it's essentially a prologue for things to come. But wow can we ever expect great things to come if Origins is any indication.And maybe I am a tiny bit sad that it's a self-published book, but only because I know that that means that some people will dismiss it out of hand because of the reputation that self-published books are badly-written, terribly-edited messes. (I certainly enjoyed the writing, as you can tell, and think that the style fit the story very well, and that each of the four narrators got distinctive voices and all that. And as for editing, well. I think I found about three or four instances of missing punctuation marks or misplaced words? But four out of almost one hundred and thirty thousand doesn't sound too bad to me.)I'm sure I'll think of more to say the moment I hit "post" on this but for now, I leave you with this: You can buy The Posterchildren: Origins at Smashwords for $5 and even read a sample that covers the first quarter of the book. If anything I've said in this overly long post/review sounds at all relevant to your interests, please give it a try.(And if you have any specific questions, let me know via comment or PM and I'll do my best to answer.)