3/5 stars

Thank to the publisher and Netgalley for this e-arc.

It was good. Not really much a fan of action and superheroes so a e is the best that i can give

This was a well-done graphic novel that kept my interest and made me think. I like the art although it wasn’t spectacular. I liked the theme of getting at why do people turn to crime and doing bad things instead of just talking about “bad people.” The protagonist, Quin, gained the power of invulnerability when he was too close to a meteor shower. It’s an awesome super power but he’s a scrawny high school student who doesn’t completely understand what he can do with his powers. I like the reflection to figure out what “saving the world” means and the constant push to look at other perspectives. I’d like to read more in this world, but I hope the characters get to develop a little further as I thought there was definitely room for growth.

Quin is a teenage boy who faces the regular struggles of a high-school student: an unrequited crush and cruel high-school bullies. The thing that sets him apart, though, is that a short while before the story takes place, Quin was caught in a meteor shower, and developed the power of invincibility.

When he realises that he can use his power to prevent crime and stop the villains that are creating social uproar, he joins forces with a number of other costumed new friends to try and save New Orleans.

The whole novel was in a unique style that I haven't seen before, and I found myself fully enjoying the artwork as much as I enjoyed the classic, superhero origin storyline. It's a very quick, very easy read that expertly walks the line between fantastical escapism and social realism.

Quin is an instantly likeable protagonist with a believable, likeable love interest and family life, and I love that his relationships with all of the other characters were explored in enough detail to get me invested in such a short story. It was overall really fun, really well illustrated and a great way to spend an evening.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Quincredible Vol. 1 in exchange for an honest review.

While interesting in concept, Quincredible Volume 1 tries to give us too much of the plot and it ultimately leads to a preachy, exposition dumbing, tonally confusing mess.

We start with learning that Quin is really geeky and tech savvy. Okay, cool. Then we find out he has a crush on a girl very involved in politics. Then he gets beat up by some bullies, we find out he has super powers, he gets hit by a vehicle, runs from a cop, jumps off a roof, meets a bunch of superheroes, decides he doesn't want to be a superhero, decides he does want to be a superhero, saves another hero, his parents get kidnapped and I'm going to stop there because I don't want to get spoilery. That's without me mentioning any of the 'big battle stuff'. The story keeps trying to push in social themes (some of which are really contradictory) that end up bashing you over the head because there's no time for nuance, development with our romantic lead, the other hero's, and Quin's parents all while having his 'reluctant hero' arc. It was a pacing nightmare and I honestly have no idea where the rest of the series could possibly be going because this one felt like 3 installments shoved into one.

Quin is just a kid... with the power of invulnerability after a meteor hit his home of New Orleans where lots of other heroes with superpowers have popped up. This graphic novel treads some familiar ground, without adding too much new to the story of a kid trying to find a way to help his community. It's sprinkled with various evils, and tries to differentiate between them -- from people who are in desperate circumstances, to those seeking to uphold power structures, and those that just seem to like powerful laser weapons. Lots of similarities to Miles Morales, with a nerdy kid pining after his classmate (but he has two living parents, definitely a unique feature of superhero stories!).

The birth of a new superhero. Quin is granted invincibility when a meteor hits his New Orleans parish. He wants to help his community with his new power, but what can he do with just invincibility? Quin meets other "enhanced" like himself and fights with them to take on a villain who is trying to destroy the enhanced.

I'm not a huge fan of classic superhero art design, so I found myself wishing the art looked more like the cleaner/prettier images in the cover gallery. The story follows a lot of superhero origin stories pretty closely - Quin gets exposed to a meteor and finds out he's invulnerable. A lot about his story will evoke comparisons to Luke Cage, especially because a Black man who can't be injured or hurt lends itself so well to examining social constructs and state/racial violence in both series.

The plot itself was... fine. Nothing new or unexpected. The story starts to untangle the connection between prison industrial complex/carceral violence and the role of superheroes in society, and that was the most interesting thing to me about it. There is a depth of content to mine there, and I'm interested to see what the series does with it.