Common Themes

For most Superhero Prose I can find at the moment: (IN some cases it sometimes nearly hits the top 1000. The really popular stuff hits 500-300 range.)

The more popular tropes used at the moment. From what I can see of samples and some past purchases.

• A majority of them are High Schoolers
• Dramatic Family Death
• A family member is a villian.
• Marvel Type Narrative really outnumbers Old Style DC (IE: Street level Problems/X-men type prejudge stuff vs Giant Scale ones/More Optimistic)
• Anti-Heroes, Villain POV, Downer Settings (Some improve their setting by the end)

In fact, I can count on one hand what types of superhero books manage to get to the top 100: (Rest of its Lit RPG, UF, PRomance, Harems/ Rev Harem, which again, dead horse time: need their own sub genre tags.

• Outlaw (Gritty, More Marvel type Avenger type deal)

The Outlaw
High school junior Chase Jackson is the infamous Outlaw, a celebrated midnight crimefighter caught in an ancient clash between order and corruption. The world only sees the mask, not the young man balancing his secret identity against love.

Rumors surface of a growing evil within Los Angeles, and powerful strangers are searching for the reclusive vigilante, whispering truths about his illness. Despite his desperate attempts for peace, the Outlaw is being drawn into war with the dangerous Infected.

I wont be listing harem books because I don't consider that actual proper superhero stuff. Because its everywhere and needs its own category. Yes, its simple human resentment on my part but its there. I am very biased against these books because they are making it harder to find Cape books. In a sea already flooded. Glaring at UF and Paranormal Romance too. I am beginning to resent them taking up the Superhero tag also.

•  Evil Genius  

Supervillains are murdering people in the streets, but yet superheroes are more concerned with gaining popularity than bringing the villains to justice.

These villains think they are above the law and that nobody can stop them, but they never planned for me. I’ll murder every one of them with my powersuit, traps, and sidekicks.

And if killing bad guys makes me a villain in the eyes of the heroes, well… I’ll destroy them too. 

Plus more often then not, with Superhero Prose, many are trying to go for the literary Option:

• Empire City

The author of the “urgent and deeply moving” (The New York Times) Youngblood returns with this bold and provocative novel following a group of super-powered soldiers and civilians as they navigate an imperial America on the precipice of a major upheaval—for fans of The Fortress of Solitude and The Plot Against America.

Thirty years after its great triumph in Vietnam, the United States has again become mired in an endless foreign war overseas. Stories of super soldiers known as the Volunteers tuck in little American boys and girls every night. Yet domestic politics are aflame. Violent protests erupt throughout the nation; an ex-military watchdog group clashes with police while radical terrorists threaten to expose government experiments within the veteran rehabilitation colonies.

Halfway between war and peace, the Volunteers find themselves waiting for orders in the vast American city-state, Empire City. There they encounter a small group of civilians who know the truth about their powers, including Sebastian Rios, a young bureaucrat wrestling with survivor guilt, and Mia Tucker, a wounded army pilot-turned-Wall Street banker. Meanwhile, Jean-Jacques Saint-Preux, a Haitian-American Volunteer from the International Legion, decides he’ll do whatever it takes to return to the front lines.

Through it all, a controversial retired general emerges as a frontrunner in the presidential campaign, promising to save the country from itself. Her election would mean unprecedented military control over the country, with promises of security and stability—but at what cost?

Featuring Gallagher’s “vital” (The Washington Post), “evocative” (The Wall Street Journal) prose, Empire City is a rousing vision of an alternate—yet all too familiar—America on the brink.

*FACEPALM*

No thank you. Would you kindly. It has the taste of Watchman on it. And current year shenanigans.

Again, all of this just keeps motivating me to work on my own series every day. Even in little ways. Between the short stories for the anthology, the other two first drafts, the world building, revamping books 1, 2, 3, and 4 so far, outline wise, I've written over 300,000 words so far. And its only Feb. I started in Nov of 2019. Let's see where the rest of the year will bring us.

So far, what my series will have: (Thinking of calling the series The Uplift Protocol.)

• Planet Hopping within the sol system (Book 1), eventually ill go cosmic :D (Late Book 2/Book 3+)
• Stopping nefarious agents of the Grays/Keepers, The Roswell Incident. Grays vs Atlantis made WW1 and 2 happen. Oops. 
• A whole clan of Superheros, 3 whole generations jumping into the fray.
• My Justice League standins vs the Legion of Doom (The Cabal)
• Space doggos powered with Defender Belts, most of them Blue for Loyalty, but some are Reds. Powered by the Blood that runs hot in them. One of those is going to be a doberman, 2nd in command of the entire Defender Corp. Cooper/Guards-The-Stars is Green for Faith.
• This Earth has Prolong, Habitat Rings, outer Sol System Defenses, Moon Bases, Colonies on Mars, Bases on Jupiter's Moons. Plus even our doggos live to be 40 years old or so. Because why not. 
• O'neil Cylinders, Terraforming. Yes, that means good old pulpy mini moons around other planets also have humans on them. Because it reminds me of fun. Its why this series isnt hard sci fi as much as space opera. It does have some slight tech aspects but just like supers and pulps, the tech will be made to fit that setting.
• Cosmic Relics, Kardeshev 5 and 6 civilizations
• Babylon 5 references
• Cornfields of Silly out the butt because I am also corny.  
• Atlantis, wherein Arthon is a Muthra, which translates to Security in a certain dead language.
• Pew pew pew!
• Truth, Justice, the American Way and Apple Pie. Just like my old school superman. 
• Space Ships w/ FTL
• Area 51 and other things that will be just as fun to write.
• A United Earth. Still have many individual countries but we pulled ourselves up and formed a Terran Alliance. Not even gonna touch any current year subjects. Just like Original Star Trek, our society is more concerned about exploring beyond Earth.
• Ancient Astro theories are true. After a fashion. :P 
• No Dead Parents or Dead Grand Parent crutches. No orphans. Just tired of that aspect. Its why I have prolong on this Earth. 
• What makes Earth stand out is its ratio for magical Demis/Supers. Not the same as the Atlantians. Its a plot point I built up for the world building aspect that will come into play later in the series.