” The heroes of this wildly inventive and unpredictable superhero epic don’t want to be ignored, or pitied, or placed on a pedestal.”
NO MAJOR SPOILERS
Hello bibliophiles, Quintin Fortune here, and superhero stories are both the most liberating and most confining of genres to write for. I should know, being I have at least two seasons of a series involving heroes. But I’m not here to plug my own work. I’m here to plug someone else’s.
Plug it full of lead, anyway.
I speak of course about ‘The Ables’ by Jeremy Scott. For those of you who don’t know who he is, he’s the co-creator and voice of the Cinema Sins YouTube channel. Those that know of this channel, you might guess where this review is going.
The Ables is about a group of disabled teens that develop superpowers that, at first, seem useless to them based on their conditions. For example, the main character, Philip Sallinger, is a blind kid that discovers he has telepathic powers.
Now, from the start, this is an awesome concept. It shows a side of ‘person gains superpowers’ that has rarely been utilized outside of a handful of comic characters.
Phillip, along with other teens with similar contradictory abilities, try to prove their worth to the rest of the town of Freeport. They try to convince the rest of the town to involve them in the yearly school competition to show their powers in action, only to have their efforts fouled up by mysterious circumstances. Along the way, they learn how to better use their powers, learn a bit about teamwork and trust, and fight a mysterious villain that knows more than he lets on.
Aaannnddd then it descends into cliche-riddle HELL by the Third Act (Prepare the Counter!). The Main Character is led to believe he’s the Chosen One by the Major Bad Guy (DING). Relatively unknown and rarely spoke of secondary character is the Chosen One (DING). Major Bad Guy is revealed to be related to the Main Character (DING). Main Bad Guy destroys half of the town (DING). Chosen One sacrifices himself to save the town (DING), and finally, both Major Bad Guy and Chosen One are missing after said destruction (DING).
All in all, ‘The Ables’ was a great concept, but quickly fell into the same trappings that seem to pop up in many superhero stories. If it were anyone else, I probably would not be so harsh about it, but when it’s coming from someone that became famous (well, YouTube famous, anyway) from pointing out all the cliches in movies to let his ending fall into those trappings…well, you brought it on yourself, mate.
The idea for the story was good. The characters were likeable. If you’re looking for something different in your superhero stories, give it a go.
I’m Quintin Fortune, and we can be heroes, just for one day.
Reviewed by:
Quintin Fortune
Added 4th November 2016
