The Legion of Nothing: Rebirth [Kindle Edition]

Jim Zoetewey (Author)

Book Description

"You may kill somebody today. We won't think anything less of you for it."

Nick Klein's grandfather was the Rocket.

For three decades, the Rocket and his team were the Heroes League--a team of superheroes who fought criminals in the years after World War II.

But Nick and his friends have inherited more than their grandparents' costumes and underground headquarters... they've inherited the League's enemies and unfinished business.

In the 1960's, Red Lightning betrayed everyone, creating an army of supervillains and years of chaos. The League never found out why.

Now, Nick and the New Heroes League will have no choice but to confront their past.

Praise for The Legion of Nothing:

"Zoetewey brings a verisimilitude to superhero stories that's rarely shown through humor. The Legion of Nothing is not Batman or Superman, no Ironman or mutant, but its characters handle what's laid before them with the resilience of youth and the inventiveness of those who haven't been told, 'No, you can't do it that way'."
-Muse's Success Reviewer

Product Details

• File Size: 478 KB
• Print Length: 254 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: 1889 Labs Ltd. (July 22, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B008NYGG8A
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #514,327 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Superhero read May 15, 2013

By Chris

Format:Kindle Edition

I have always loved comics and have wanted to find a good novelization of the genre for years. Unfortunately,the typical superhero novel falls short of "good". The authors are so caught up trying to make a "statement" or they make their characters unrealistically underpowered to build the"underdog" feeling. But Legion does it right. Jim has written characters that are interesting, at levels of power that are fun to read about, and are easy to empathize with. Overall, a very enjoyable read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good read lots of tense action December 30, 2012

By jerry dobias

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I read this all on the web version which does have a few extra words and missing words on occasion. I have not really seen many spelling problems. So really Jim Zoetewey does an excellent job of keeping his ongoing work on the web in both tight story and excellent grammar. For me though what really helps is that this all take place in Michigan. Being a native of Michigan the story brings a slice of home into the world building.

The Legion of Nothing is mostly the story of Nick and his struggle to live up to his grandfathers expectations while trying to complete high school and stay in his parents good grace. His friends and co-heroes are all too helpful, which is probably really no help until he finally commits to being a hero.

I don't want to call him a reluctant hero. It's just more difficult when all his friends, Haley, Cassie, Daniel, Vaughn, Rachel and Travis have real super powers while he's quite normal. If he can be normal having a grandfather who taught him how to make super armor and a martial arts trainer who is an enigmatic mercenary.

Going out to fight crime the first time seems like a great idea on a boring night. It quickly turns into a dangerous and deadly turn of events that exposes them to a wide range of super and not so super villains who really don't want anyone interfering with their comfortable lives of crime.

It goes without saying that school is going to interfere with their crime fighting work, a lot.

This story has it all along with a cast of thousands that I have to admire Jim for being able to keep up with. If you liked those old comic heroes and or want to see a little something different then this book is for you. There's a lot of that sly humor you get in those books. And Jim does such a good job of description and keeping things moving that you hardly notice that there are none of those pictures in each panel.

Can't wait for the next book. And I won't because I'll just keep up with his web site.
Thanks for a fun read Jim.

J.L. Dobias author of Cripple-Mode:Hot Electric

4.0 out of 5 stars The Consequences of Growing Up a Superhero's Grandson November 27, 2012

By M. Hogarth

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

So I'm not a fan of the superhero genre, and not really reading YA fiction either, and yet... I really liked this book. I liked it for being an examination of the consequences of growing up the grandson of a famous vigilante; I liked it for being honest about the implication of superheros actually -being- vigilantes (in contrast to the existing justice system). I liked the narrator's reluctance about the whole thing, and his ambivalence about what it's done to his parents and what his role is and should be. And I liked how grounded the narrative was and how believable the kids. I really cared about Nick; I'm glad I got to watch him struggle with issues of responsibility that someone his age really shouldn't have to.

In short, it was worth reading. I'm glad I did!

Note: this book also has a bonus short story at the back about Nick's grandfather... it's not introduced as a short story so for a moment I thought it was a flashback! But it's not. The book ends properly before that, and then this is a peek into the past and how Things Came to Be.

More About the Author

Jim Zoetewey grew up in Holland, Michigan, near where L Frank Baum wrote The Wizard of Oz and other books in that series. Admittedly, Baum moved away more than sixty years before Jim was even born, but it's still kind of cool.

Jim didn't attain his goal to never leave school, but did prolong his stay as long as possible. He majored in religion and sociology at Hope College, gaining enough credits to obtain minors in ancient civilizations and creative writing--had he thought to submit applications to the relevant departments. He attended Western Theological Seminary for two years. He followed that up by getting a masters degree in sociology at Western Michigan University.

Once out of school, he took up the most logical occupation for someone with his educational background: web developer and technical support. Simultaneously, he finished all but three credits of a masters in Information Systems, a degree that's actually relevant to his field.

He's still not done, and honestly, won't finish for a while. His wife and two children would like to see him look away from the computer screen occasionally.

In the meantime, he's been writing stories about superheroes and posting them online at http://inmydaydreams.com. He's still not sure whether that was a good idea, but continues to do it anyway.

He's also not sure why he's writing this in the third person, but he's never seen an author bio written in first person and doesn't want to rock the boat.