In fact, Chaos doesn’t even seem to be himself anymore and Crimsonstreak needs to bust out of the nuthouse to figure things out. Once he escapes, with the help of a ally named Crusading Comet, he discovers the world is not as he left it. Following an alien attack which caused massive destruction and chaos among the Earth’s inhabitants, his father has been named the High Imperator in what is now being called the New World Common Wealth Regions. What’s more, it appears that his dead mother has now returned and is ruling by his father’s side… and so is he! Huh?
Crimsonstreak finds his way to Crusading Comet’s home and is shocked to discover the man’s teenaged son, Warren Kensington the Fourth, and his personal butler, Mortimer, holed up in his mansion in a secret area. You see, Crusading Comet is like a blend of Batman and The Phantom, a man with billions of dollars and no actual super powers whose superhero title is passed down the family line. Just as his father before him and his son will after, they fight evil with money and gadgets. These are just the folks to help Crimsonstreak defeat his father, or at the very least, figure out what the heck is going on. As the team works out a plan, things get more complicated. It seems Colonel Chaos has incarcerated all of the good supers in Clermont, so they won’t have much help, but an old flame of Crimsonstreak’s just happens to be on the inside of Chaos’ regime and this could prove useful. Can Crimsonstreak discover the mystery behind his father’s insanity, his mother’s reappearance and his own doppelganger before he is discovered and recaptured? It’s going to take a lot of luck, a bunch of gadgets and a metric ton of teamwork to pull it off.
I, Crimsonstreak is a fun read, chock full of superhero references that any comic book geek will enjoy. It’s got a good bit of humor interwoven with the action and some fun back-and-forth dialogue, especially between Crimsonstreak and Morty. The books wraps up nicely, although it may be setting up for a sequel, but what threw me off was the fact that there were over 100 pages left after I read what appeared to be the end of the book. I assumed it was further information on the story, and it was, but more background and history than anything being added to the ongoing story. Appendix I: Chaos Family History starts off with Colonel Chaos’ emergence onto the scene as a super villain and goes all the way through his relationship with Miss Lightspeed, the birth of Crimsonstreak, and the death of Miss Lightspeed. Appendix II: The New World Common Wealth Era describes the alien attack and Chaos’ eventual takeover of the world. Appendix III: History of the Crusading Comet describes the first appearance of Crusading Comet in the 1950's and the long reign of this apparently immortal man, as his sons take up the cape and mask and retain the same name. It’s all great info, but I just didn’t immediately realize the book was over, with that many pages left.
If you like superheroes and comics, you’ll want to check out I, Crimsonstreak. It’s a good, quick read with witty dialogue and an interesting story that winds up with a pretty happy ending, despite the impossible circumstances.
