The story revolves around a secret military unit of five soldiers granted superpowers by experiments. Unfortunately two of them are in love with the same woman, and the result is a massive fight in a civillian area.

When I started reading I wasn’t sure if I was meant to be rooting for the ‘hero’ team. These are more like ’90’s antiheroes: the first time we see them they’re racking up huge property damage and a body count of uninvolved civillians over a love affair. (Does anyone else see the flaws with this sentence: “I’m a superhero…I just take what I need.”). By the second part I was bored and praying for the Punisher to show up.

And then his equivalent does. Subject Zero. The so-called bad guy. The military promptly swings in to protect their superhero team. And at this point the word that springs to mind was awesome. The story kicks in, the set-up pays off completely, the fight at the coffee bar is spectacularly described, and the payoff amusing.

On first read it seems this book has one major flaw: superheroes need to be heroes. However as you read further, it becomes apparent that there is a deliberate contrast between words and actions of the good guys and bad guy in this story, which is very well done by the writer. While written from the point of view of the team, he allows the characters’ actions and words to give the lie to their view of themselves as heroes as the story progresses.

I have only one request: Please please, don’t stop the action to give me a description of what a character is wearing and does his hair. If he’s doing one hundred miles an hour down the wrong side of the street trying to kill someone, believe me I don’t care how his hair is parted.

This is a good short story with a nice wrap-up. It is part of a series, so don’t expect all your questions to be answered, but I could easily see this illustrated in comic form. Comic fans, superhero fans, and readers who like justified thrashings should definitely read this.