From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: blue pyramid, space elevator, dark fantastic, Hawk King, Iron Lass, Power Grrrl (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Masquerading as a self-help book for superheroes, this sharp satire of caped crusaders hides a deeper critique of individual treatment versus social injustice. Faust (The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad) provides funny and knowing caricatures of the famous figures of American comic books via an extended therapy session by Dr. Eva Brain-Silverman. Analyzing their various mental hangups, Dr. Brain attempts to help heroes like irascible billionaire crime-fighter Festus Piltdown III ("Flying Squirrel") overcome the rejection of his foster ward, Tran Chi Hanh ("Chip Monk"). But African-American hero Philip Kareem Edgerton ("X-Man") resists, insisting that recent events in "sunny Los Ditkos" are signs of a coup within F*O*O*J ("Fantastic Order of Justice") and not RNPN ("Racialized Narcissistic Projection Neurosis"). Faust's well-aimed jabs spare no super sacred cows nor many pop idols and pychobabbling media stars. Underneath the humor, careful readers will find uncomfortable parallels to real-world urban tragedies in the novel's "July 16 Attacks," where Faust gives a double meaning to the "Crisis of Infinite Dearths." (Jan. 30)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Faust's latest is a self-help book for superheroes struggling with a post-Gotterdammerung lack of supervillains to fight, based on psychiatrist Eva Brain-Silverman's case studies of six fractious members of the Fantastic Order of Justice, aka the F*O*O*J. As "Dr. Brain" takes her six patients through some fascinating therapeutic processes, secrets and hidden tensions come to light. In the midst of it all, Hawk King, an ancient Egyptian deity and the most respected superhero, dies. Immediate grave repercussions include accusations of murder and conspiracy by self-proclaimed world's greatest detective and former LAB (League of Angry Blackmen) member X-Man, and the resignation from F*O*O*J of Omnipotent Man, a 71-year-old refugee from the planet Argon. As the F*O*O*J descends into a maelstrom of recrimination, internal power struggles, and personal secrets brought to unforgiving light, the role of the superhero becomes less antisupervillain and more--for lack of a better word--preemptive. Faust's follow-up to The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad (2004) is an excellent superhero comedy as well as an unsettling satire. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 390 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; First Printing edition (January 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345466373
• ISBN-13: 978-0345466372
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #278,205 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Freud meets Stan Lee, February 28, 2007

By	Richard LeComte "richlec" (Tuscaloosa, AL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Minister Faust is dealing with a host of serious issues -- race relations, societal structures, psychotheraphy, individual responsibility vs. societal forces -- in the clever guise of a superhero novel. His satire of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Spider-Man are dead on, and he broadly hints that we're not supposed to take our narrator, the analyst Dr. Brain, at her word. The character of X Man, one of the deepest and most literate I've encountered in urban fantasy, is a genuine hero, combatting his own past and the forces he perceives are against him at the same time. What we get is a multi-layered and ultimately disturbing narrative that makes political points while humanizing these superhuman beings. And Faust keeps the action coming, too. Indeed, the personal is the political, although you won't get that from Dr. Brain.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SF humor for mensa members, March 21, 2007

By	Evil Mr. Short Strokes (Mountain View, CA) - See all my reviews

I won't comment on the story line, since you will (I hope) find out for yourself. Instead let me talk about the book's character.

The book is wonderfully complicated.

The characters are horribly disfunctional in so many believable ways.

There are tens of subtle jokes per page. No, I mean per paragraph. No, per sentence.

This author is awesome in his use of language. He is awesome in the breadth of subject matter he touches on. He is beyond awesome in humor.

I haven't been captivated by brilliant language, stunning depth, and engrossing story line in any book since The Big U, by Neal Stephenson, came out more than 20 years ago.

(Before I go on, no I am not related to Grand Minister Faust.)

This SF story is completely ridiculous and impossible.

You will find that you are living it today. In reading this, you will gain insights which you can use (if only to laugh about) in your life tomorrow.

This is the book you will read, then buy more copies of to loan to your friends.

Its a blast. Now I am going to turn back to page 1 and read it again.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It makes you wonder ..., April 9, 2007

By	Brendan M. Howard (Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

... why hasn't somebody in comic books done this this well?

This is a book within a book, with a psychiatrist trying to get into the heads of some increasingly anti-social superheroes. Their histories slowly unfold over the course of the tale and involve cataclysms, family drama, and personal vendettas on a par with the classic _The Watchmen_. Awesome read for comic-book fans.

Especially clever are the deliciously exaggerated metaphors and similes Dr. Brain uses, courtesy of our author, Faust. Having read my number of self-help and psychology books, they're true parody gold.