Claude LaLumière's Hochelaga and Sons

"Once I'm done clearing everything out, I grab the sledgehammer and start tearing the wall down.

Because I can't become intangible and walk through it. Because I can't teleport at will. Because I can't even punch holes in it with my bare fists.

Because my father is dead."

Hochelaga, Montreal's own costumed superhero, was a hero for everybody. Born not of a spider bite, a radiation surge or a far-away planet, Hochelaga's powers were forged in the laboratory of evil Nazi scientists. Hochelaga is fluent in every modern language on Earth and has "just about every superpower imaginable." But, unlike other superheroes, Hochelaga doesn't use his powers to save the world from catastrophe, to venture into outer space or even to fight crime (although he will do so when necessary). No, Hochelaga prefers a quieter, less glamorous life: helping people to find lost pets, talking down would-be-jumpers from roof tops and advocating for Montreal's homeless. Hochelaga truly is a hero of the people. But when Hochelaga dies at the hands of the Herald of Hate, it falls to his son Gordon--an ordinary human--to don Hochelaga's costume and follow in his father's footsteps.

Hochelaga is a modern-day superhero with Canadian sensibilities. His story manages to poke fun at many comic book tropes while at the same time paying homage to them. In Hochelaga and Sons Claude LaLumière has succeeded in taking the superhero archetype and humanizing him, resulting in a story which is both fun and moving.

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