Last year I read Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines. I was drawn to it by the quote on the cover that said "The Avengers meets the Walking Dead." Well, I like the Avengers, and I like the Walking Dead, therefore, this book is worth a try. This past week, I read the second in the series, Ex-Patriots, which takes our heroes out of their movie studio "safe zone" in L.A. to the Arizona desert, where they meet up with a new hero and a new villain.
Clines' superheroes are archetypes: the invulnerable flying hero (St. George); the scientist/engineer with crazy high-tech battle armor (Cerberus); the introverted mystery woman--with no discernible powers--who possesses high intelligence, superior martial arts skills, and a high-tech apartment that clearly cost a fortune (Stealth); and, the guy who can transform himself into pure energy/electricity, while spouting non-stop witty banter (Zzzap). In this second book, we are introduced to Captain Freedom (his real name, by the way), a super-soldier created through a secret military project (code name Krypton). Even though we, as readers, are not presented with "new" heroes per se, the characters are more than two-dimensional, and the interactions between them help to carry the story (not to mention the many, many pop culture references from Zzzap).
Add to this, the ex-humans (zombies), which, really, are standard, run-of-the-mill, reanimated-after-a-virus, walking corpses. Naturally, the only way to dispose of them is with a shot or blow to the head. The fun twist here is the setting. Because Clines has established Los Angeles as the center of his world, there are zombies walking around who used to be famous people. There is an underlying sub-plot that involves the citizens of the Mount (the movie studio that has become home to the survivors) keeping score of what famous ex-humans they take down. We are not told exactly what the point system is, but from the dialogue, I can only guess that the more recognizable and A-List the star is, the more points they're worth. We are also told at one point in Ex-Patriots that with the amount of silicone in L.A., some of the bodies don't decompose as fast as others.
Peasy, the super-villain from Ex-Heroes returns in the second volume, although he was presumably killed in the first book (fans of this genre will know that it's awfully hard to keep some of these folks dead). He seems to now be incorporeal, but can control, and speak through, hordes of the ex-humans at a time, giving a mind to the mindless creatures. In addition to Peasy, our heroes must deal with Agent John Smith, and his particular version of mind control.
To me, this series is a fun read. Although the characters are archetypes, as I mentioned (for those who didn't figure it out: Superman, Iron Man, Batman, and the Human Torch(?)), they have a life of their own in the zombie apocalypse that Peter Clines has created. I am looking forward to the third volume of the series, Ex-Communication, to see what new characters and situations arise.
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