It’s been a fad for awhile to make superhero novels into satires. The possibilities are endless for the satirical targets because of the ability of superheroes to morph into whatever niche is needed. There are some that were done well (such as Rick Veitch’s The Maximortal and Bratpack) and then there is Captain Freedom. It’s not that Captain Freedom is bad, since it does have some really good ideas. It’s more that it’s lazy and doesn’t really due justice to any of them. It seems like Robillard is more interested in the cheap laugh that doing a true satire. Let’s see where the book went wrong.

The story starts with Captain Freedom writing his memoirs. He’s been kicked out of Gotham Comics and pretty much has no career right now. Part of his problem is that he has no arch enemy to fight (and keep up comic sales). We go back to the beginning of his career where he cheated his way into a side kick career (and made an enemy out of Skip Goodwin who would go onto a newspaper career that takes down Captain Freedom). After training and working as a sidekick for Chief Justice, he gets elevated up to a true superhero after Chief Justice dies. Captain Freedom has to work to get noticed and to get a comic from Gotham Comics to be able to afford to live his superhero existence.

The story then follows Captain Justice as he succeeds in his job, gets his own sidekick DJ (who can use music as a weapon) and then his downfall at the hands of Skip Goodwin. He then meets with his therapist (who recommends the memoir that covers the first half or so of the book). Captain Justice jumps around trying to poke fun at various things until the end where he finally gets an arch enemy. But it seems very disorganized and jumps all over the place. It almost seems like the characters are in the book just to serve the plot, rather than be characters in their own right. The satire is fairly weak and the humor isn’t much better.

Overall I wasn’t that impressed with the book. It had received some good reviews, so I had hope that it would be worthwhile. But I was very disappointed in it. Not recommended.