B-
Genre: LGBTQIA, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult
Theme: Crush
Archetype: Diverse Protagonists
Not Your Sidekick is an adorable YA superhero romance with an Asian bisexual heroine, science fiction elements, and some cute robots. It’s also about mistaken identity – a common theme in superhero stories, but one that irritates me no end (as does the Big Misunderstanding trope, which have many similarities). For this reason, I wasn’t crazy about the plot of this book, but I did love the characters and concept.
Not Your Sidekick is set in what’s left of the United States after World War III. The war has caused many drastic changes to the world, but it didn’t cause a complete apocalypse – Jess seems to live in a perfectly lovely suburb and she’s excited about trips to the big city. One of the changes that has occurred as a result of the war is that many people have developed superpowers as a result of genetic mutations. Jess’s parents, who are Vietnamese and Chinese, are superheroes, and her older sister Claudia also has superpowers. Jess’s brother doesn’t have superpowers, but no one cares because he’s brilliant. Jess, a high school student with OK grades and no powers at all, feels totally ordinary and totally left out.
Jess gets an internship at a mysterious company that turns out to be run by Monroe Industries, which also employs Master Mischief – her parent’s nemesis. In addition, Jess’s crush, Abby, interns at the same company, and Abby offers to give Jess a ride to and from work every day after school. Master Mischief never does any serious harm. He’s more of a prankster than an actual villain. And this internship means that Jess might be able to win over Abby. But who is her co-worker who only appears in mechanical armor and wants to be referred to as ‘M’?
Unfortunately, I was not gripped by the plot, which hinges almost entirely on a case of superhero identity that anyone with an IQ higher than that of a piece of cheese will decipher in about five seconds. To be fair, the completely obvious superhero (or villain) disguise is a beloved and time-honored comics trope. Batman wears a mask that exposes at least a third of his face, and no one can recognize him. Meanwhile Clark Kent and Diana Prince are only “indistinguishable” from Superman and Wonder Woman because Clark and Diana wear glasses. Many people find this quality of comics to be endearing but it drives me right up the wall, making the plot of Not Your Sidekick a terrible match for me. I found Jess’s inability to put two and two together to be annoying rather than funny, and I thought the plot was pretty predictable.
However, I loved the characters in the book and the casual yet pervasive sense of diversity. Jess’s best friend, Emma, is Latina. Her other best friend, Bells, is described as having “dark skin” and is transgender. These aspects of the characters are presented as important parts of the characters’ identity, but not as their entire identity. For instance, Jess notes on one occasion that Bells has been wearing his binder for a long time and asks if he’s comfortable, and she’s careful to ask M what M’s preferred pronouns are because of her experience with Bells.
Another example involves Jess’s old friends (who are now part of the cool clique) whom she met at the Sacred Heart Chinese Language Academy, which they attended every Saturday until seventh grade. These bits of backstory and texture make the story and the characters richer without reducing the characters to types.
In some ways, this book qualifies as a romance novel – I wanted Jess and Abby to get together, and no other ending could satisfy me as the reader. However, the dynamic between the friends and between Jess and her family is actually much more interesting than anything that involves Abby or the plot involving the Monroe Company. Bells has a whole life off-page that I am dying to read about. The backstory of Jess’s parents would make an amazing dystopian novel, albeit one lacking in wacky hijinks. I feel like any of these stories would be more interesting and less predictable than the one Jess finds herself in, even though I liked Jess and I enjoyed her character development. The story is told from Jess’ point of view, and as a result Abby is a bit too perfect. She’s more of a device to help Jess come into her own than a fully-rounded character.
This book is the first in a planned trilogy and I’m very excited about future installments. I loved the world – but I wanted more of it. I loved the characters because they were fun and their interactions felt realistic and natural. I loved the light, silver age comics tone. I just wish that the plot hadn’t been so predictable and that Abby had been just a bit more developed as a character.
In the meantime, I never got tired of wondering what everyone would eat next (all the characters spend a lot of time eating and I got really hungry while reading this) and what color Bells’ hair would be in the next scene (he likes to change his hair color all the time). While the book doesn’t work so well as a cohesive whole, the component parts are fabulous.
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This sounds really cute. I know, I know, masks and glasses and people are not blind but this book sounds like you need a kitten and a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa while you read it.
“Batman wears a mask that exposes at least a third of his face, and no one can recognize him. Meanwhile Clark Kent and Diana Prince are only “indistinguishable” from Superman and Wonder Woman because Clark and Diana wear glasses.”
In fairness, these characters also have other traits and tricks that make it unlikely they’d be recognized. Batman uses a voice two octaves lower than Bruce Wayne’s (though recent movies make it sounds like he gargles with acid) and often has Bruce Wayne adopt a spoiled, bored rich kid pesona that’s the opposite of the intense Batman. Clark Kent originally acted very meek and often cowardly, seeming to run away from danger; I’m not a big fan of the original SUPERMAN movie, but the scene where he almost tells Lois his secret identity shows how a few little changes can make a big difference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIaF0QKtY0c As for Wonder Woman, if you go by the TV show it’s not hard to imagine that folks would have trouble believing the same woman who worked in modest outfits, wore her hair in a bun, and had on big glasses was a literal amazon running around in a pretty revealing outfit (which I couldn’t paste here; if someone can tell me how, I’ll put pictures up; if not, just Google Image search for “Lynda Carter Wonder Woman” and “Lynda Carter Diana Prince” to see the difference) that was essentially a corset, what TWO AND A HALF MEN accurately described as “star spangled hot pants,” and the bondage-ish golden lasso and bracelets. And the new SUPERGIRL show (which I love) has Kara with a meek and harried persona, while Supergirl is all confidence. (It also helped that the Martian Manhunter once shifted to look and sound like Supergirl, letting Cat Grant see Supergirl and Kara in the same place at the same time talking to each other.)
Granted, it does strain credulity that professional reporters who had frequent close contact with Superman and Clark Kent couldn’t make the connection between them, or that Diana Prince could work for an organization focused on Wonder Woman. (One of the jokes of the campy BATMAN 1966 show was that Adam West didn’t even try to change his voice from Bruce Wayne and Batman, but no one who spoke with “them” ever made the connection.) But it’s one of the many areas of comics where you have to suspend disbelief to enjoy the rest of the stories.
> Another example involves Jess’s old friends (who are now part of the cool clique) whom she met at the Sacred Heart Chinese Language Academy, which they attended every Saturday until seventh grade.
Ahh saturday chinese school
@jimthered I basically scrolled down to the comments to write exactly that. There is also the bit in Superman II where Lois does find out and Clark just takes off his glasses and squares his shoulders and feels like a completely different person.
Also part of why the heroes can pass in every day life is because no one would dare to believe their best friend/spouse/colleague is actually a super hero. It just feels like too much out there.
Er, I mean too out there. (Sorry, English is my second language.)