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《Rowan》James Knight: Teenage Superhuman

Reviewer: RowanCarver
Written by: Iskipp_u

James is a teenager who has super strength. On regular days he is a typical teenager who has to go to school and deal with the struggles that come with adolescence, but in his offtime, he’s a vigilante named Alpha who fights crime with his brother, Derek, a cop. This is a really charming story that feels like it’s straight out of a comic book. It reminds me a lot of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and the recently released Ms. Marvel show on Disney+. It has punchy humor and fast-paced action scenes, and while the storyline and characters are fairly simple on the surface, there’s a lot of depth to them that makes them stand out from other standard superhero tropes.

 I like that the story seeks out opportunities to twist old cliches. Instead of James Knight playing a do-gooder Kim Possible teenage superhero, his entire character arc operates off of one theme: As much as I wanted to be the good guy at school, I was no hero, and my family knew it. That’s instantly gripping. Everyone loves an anti-hero, and James Knight plays the role well. I also really enjoy his quippy attitude. Oftentimes anti-heroes “with an attitude” come off as annoying (I know that this is a hot take, but Deadpool gets on my nerves for this exact reason). James Knight uses this trope, but he isn’t annoying because he is a very genuine character. While his dialogue drips with sarcasm, it works because he’s still complex, and he’s constantly wrestling with this conflict of trying to figure out his morals. Whereas Deadpool comes off as annoying (to me, anyway) because his sarcasm feels so forced. His jokes always feel like a constant cash-grab, and it doesn’t always feel authentic to the character. The “antihero with an attitude” trope works better with James because 1. He is a teenager and 2. He has every reason to be sarcastic sometimes, and I like that he uses humor to cope.

The story often takes a break to give exposition, pausing the narrative to do so, which jars the pacing and makes the flow choppy. Take this excerpt for example: 

“Derek! I scolded, watching his glare from the mirror. “I know. You don’t have to bring it up every time. I won’t do anything stupid.” 

Mark Reignson was my greatest enemy and Phoenix high school’s most well-known provocateur. Since the sixth grade, Mark has targeted me with his dirty jokes and demeanors. 

Exposition is really difficult and there’s definitely a science to it. There are many different techniques to accomplish writing exposition in a way that isn’t distracting for the reader. You never want the character to stop the story, turn to the camera, and explain something…unless a Film Noir style is something that you have genuinely chosen…but this story doesn’t commit to that idea enough for that exposition style to work. Environmental storytelling and flashback are two good tools for writing seamless exposition. It’s also effective to feed exposition into the story through small sentences here and there, but no more than one at a time. I really like Tim Hickson’s chapter on exposition in On Writing and World Building Volume I. You can find the link to that book along with his videos in the references chapter of the Sanctuary Community review book. 

You have really strong character descriptions: My father appeared exhausted, dressed in his cop uniform with enormous bags under his hooded eyes. His golden hair was unkempt and he sported stubble on his chin. He was a disaster. Love it! It’s great that James makes a personal conclusion at the end of this descriptive paragraph: He was a disaster. I love that you always take the time to describe things from James’ POV and that you always make him have an opinion about something or someone he’s seeing, which strengthens his voice. This is sometimes the hardest part of writing third limited: writing from the character’s POV exclusively without the author’s voice getting in the way. But you seem to have mastered this technique well. 

I know I used this word to describe this story before but “charming” is what I would call it. James is such a likable character and you want to see him succeed. However, I do appreciate that this story has depth in its conflict, particularly with James’ “dark side.” I love reading about a character with very powerful abilities who is still figuring out where he stands morally. This is an excellent conflict design that drives the story in unexpected directions. This is a great story for fans of Marvel movies who want a young, genuine, and complex character in the lead role. 

See you, space cowboy