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Ben MarcusBen Marcus's books The Age of Wire and String and Notable American Women were considered "experimental" fiction because of his unconventional use of... Continue »
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eBook editions

Captain Freedom: A Superhero's Quest for Truth, Justice, and the Celebrity He So Richly Deserves

by G. Xavier Robillard

Captain Freedom: A Superhero's Quest for Truth, Justice, and the Celebrity He So Richly Deserves Cover

 

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Captain Freedom Podcast

Download podcasts of G. Xavier Robillard reading chapters of his new book Captain Freedom, only on Powells.com.

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Freedom's fifteen minutes are over!

Software pirates! Mostly extinct dinosaurs! Giant barbarians! Crooning criminals! Captain Freedom's beat them all, saved the world, and looked fantastic doing it — but he couldn't fend off middle management.

The Superhero lifestyle is all that Captain Freedom has ever known. What's he supposed to do now? Enter politics? Write a children's book?

Freedom's in a bad way and he's only a stint in rehab away from a lifetime of celebrity reality shows. But with the guidance of his new life coach, maybe Freedom can stumble in a new direction — even if it means having to make peace with his parents... or finally commit to a single long-term archenemy.

Review:

"What do you get when you give a metrosexual superhero a sidekick, an identity crisis and the ability to predict the weather? The answer: Captain Freedom, the lovable hero of Robillard's debut novel. Once a popular superhero, Freedom's celebrity is on the wane, and instead of going quietly into retirement, he goes in search of his origin. Along the way, Freedom visits with a life coach, tries to find his lost father and writes his memoirs. He also laments his lack of a completing other half: an arch-nemesis. Causing trouble for Freedom, meanwhile, is the sniveling journalist/would-be superhero Skip Goodwin, whose antagonistic history dates back to the superhero school he and Freedom attended. Although Freedom manages to maintain a successful career into retirement and stay in the public eye, he also has a lot to learn about personal relationships. Robillard keeps the satire fast and furious, with laugh-out-loud moments competing with strangely insightful quips. It's funny and smart, and even readers who've long given up comic books will enjoy the ride." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"Captain Freedom is a truly funny and energetic romp of a social satire, a terrific send up of not only of super heroes, but the cult of personality in general. And G. Xavier Robillard isn't stingy with the ideas, which indicates there's good things to come. I can't wait." Christopher Moore, Author of Lamb and Practical Demonkeeping

Review:

"We've seen alcoholic superheroes, closeted gay superheroes, even homicidal superheroes. But we've never seen the superhero as neurotic hipster fame whore. Robillard's hilarious satire goes somewhere new and surprising." Neal Pollack, author of Alternadad
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Video

About the Author

G. Xavier Robillard writes for several humor sites, including McSweeney's Internet Tendency and Comedy Central. He lives in Boston. Captain Freedom is his first novel.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 5 comments:
Alterity, January 1, 2010 (view all comments by Alterity)
Farcical and sometimes nearly too true to be funny. The satire may hit a little too close to home for many Californians. It has a different feel from Robillard's online writing, but he doesn't seem to have had any trouble moving into the novel format.
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stina8753, May 5, 2009 (view all comments by stina8753)
Captain Freedom is easily one of the sharpest, wittiest books I've read in a long time. It combines enough goofy humor with really cutting observations to make a brilliant critique on the ideas of celebrities, heroes, and public image. This is definitely a fantastic, fun read, and I've been recommending it to everyone I know, including my college professors. Very well done.
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Terrence, March 22, 2009 (view all comments by Terrence)
The initial reviews I read about this book looked very promising and I actually liked the concept. The writing style was disjointed and not well thought through. I purchased "Soon I Will Be Invincible" at the same time and that's turning out to be a much better book.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780061650680
Author:
Robillard, G. Xavier
Publisher:
Harper Paperbacks
Author:
Robillard, Gregory Xavier
Author:
by Gregory Xavier Robillard
Subject:
General
Subject:
Job Hunting
Subject:
Satire
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
2009
Edition Description:
Trade PB
Publication Date:
20090231
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
272
Dimensions:
8.00x5.34x.69 in. .45 lbs.
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Related Aisles

Captain Freedom: A Superhero's Quest for Truth, Justice, and the Celebrity He So Richly Deserves Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$6.95 In Stock
Product details 272 pages Harper Paperbacks - English 9780061650680 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "What do you get when you give a metrosexual superhero a sidekick, an identity crisis and the ability to predict the weather? The answer: Captain Freedom, the lovable hero of Robillard's debut novel. Once a popular superhero, Freedom's celebrity is on the wane, and instead of going quietly into retirement, he goes in search of his origin. Along the way, Freedom visits with a life coach, tries to find his lost father and writes his memoirs. He also laments his lack of a completing other half: an arch-nemesis. Causing trouble for Freedom, meanwhile, is the sniveling journalist/would-be superhero Skip Goodwin, whose antagonistic history dates back to the superhero school he and Freedom attended. Although Freedom manages to maintain a successful career into retirement and stay in the public eye, he also has a lot to learn about personal relationships. Robillard keeps the satire fast and furious, with laugh-out-loud moments competing with strangely insightful quips. It's funny and smart, and even readers who've long given up comic books will enjoy the ride." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review" by , "Captain Freedom is a truly funny and energetic romp of a social satire, a terrific send up of not only of super heroes, but the cult of personality in general. And G. Xavier Robillard isn't stingy with the ideas, which indicates there's good things to come. I can't wait."
"Review" by , "We've seen alcoholic superheroes, closeted gay superheroes, even homicidal superheroes. But we've never seen the superhero as neurotic hipster fame whore. Robillard's hilarious satire goes somewhere new and surprising."
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