Superhero or Reformed Supervillians

Superheroes have captured our imagination for decades. Author H. L. Burke brings a new take on this wonderful trope with Reformed.

Once a villain, always a villain?

Optimistic and idealistic superhero Prism is determined to redeem her father’s legacy by rebooting his super villain rehabilitation program. To do so, she sets her sights on Fade, the relapsed super villain who was the reason the government canceled the original program in the first place. However, when she petitions for Fade to be released into her custody, she finds out things might not be as simple as she thought.

The opening had my attention from the get go. I was eager to learn more, so I invited H. L. (as my son calls her.) to come explain.

Superheroes and Marines

Even with dozens of superheroes at their beck and call, DOSA (Department of Super-Abled) higher ups knew if they wanted dependability and professionalism, it was hard to beat a motivated Marine.

Usually superheroes live in cities. There are some exceptions, but for the most part superhero is a subgenre of Urban Fantasy and the Urban part is important. Whether it’s a made up city (Gotham, Metropolis) or Spider-man being tied to New York, you don’t often see superheroes outside of urban areas.

Which posed a little bit of a problem for me because I’ve never really lived in a city (unless you count Miramar which I think is technically still inside of San Diego, but not like downtown San Diego). I have been to some cities (mainly Portland, the aforementioned San Diego … I’ve driven through LA a lot but never had a desire to stop, sorry LaLaLand Folks), and while I know with proper research, I could probably figure out how to set my superhero book in a place I’ve never been before, my heart wasn’t in it.

I briefly considered setting it in Portland, but it kind of feels like Portland is the go to location for quirky fiction to the point where it’s almost cliche. (Though I do love Grimm)

Then I was like, “You know, I did live on Camp Pendleton for four years. Camp Pendleton is in shouting distance of two major cities. It has training grounds. It has airfields for easy transportation … it has an empty Naval Hospital that is literally sitting abandoned, just waiting to be adapted as a Super HQ … If I had a superhero team, I’d station them on Camp Pendleton and have them run operations alongside the Marines.”

img="H. L. Burke and her marine" — Author, H. L. Burke and her Marine

Some personal background, the love of my life is a Marine, recently retired, but as any Marine will tell you, it’s kind of a lifetime title (Once a Marine, always a Marine). Because of this (and my knowledge of Camp Pendleton making research minimal), putting my superheroes beside military heroes felt very natural.

img="Osprey helicopter" — photo: public domain

The decision influenced a lot of plot choices, like my heroes hitching rides on Osprey helicopters … them spending a lot of time on the beach … a supervillain attack happening in Temecula (because that just seemed funny to me), but I think mostly, after 13 years as a military spouse, I just wanted to bid that life a proper fictional send off.

So my superheroes aren’t based on New York, LA, San Diego, or even Portland. If you want to see their hangout, you’ll need a military ID to get on base. It was a fun change that helped me make the series my own, and I hope you get a chance to visit sunny SoCal and my superhero team.

More About Reformed

If that didn’t give you a glimpse into this fun story, here’s the rest of the blurb.

Once a villain, always a villain?Optimistic and idealistic superhero Prism is determined to redeem her father’s legacy by rebooting his super villain rehabilitation program. To do so, she sets her sights on Fade, the relapsed super villain who was the reason the government canceled the original program in the first place. However, when she petitions for Fade to be released into her custody, she finds out things might not be as simple as she thought.

Convicted of an unforgivable crime, Fade received a choice: surrender to trial and possible execution or endure a memory erasure so he could start fresh. Now with no recollection of his time before incarceration, Fade doubts he has the ability to be anything but the villain the public believe him to be.

A series of attacks by a mysterious power-swapping villain points back to Fade’s past and the crime that cost him his freedom and memory. With her father’s legacy and her own reputation on the line, even Prism has to wonder: can a villain truly be reformed?