Noir Superhero Fiction

On a cool autumn morning in 1946, a man wakes up at the edge of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. The man wears nothing but a hospital gown and a swath of bandaging around his head. He has no memory of his past or his identity. The only things in his head are visions of a little boy's drawings of a hatchet-wielding superhero and a beautiful woman who may or may not be an angel. As the man nurses himself back to health, he begins to have compulsions to go out into the city and punish the criminal element he believes to be responsible for his predicament. In honor of the little boy, he ...

A doomsday cult has infiltrated Mesa City. Only a motley crew of rookie superheroes stand in their way. Red Mantis stalks a kidnapping ring, determined to shatter its grip of terror and every bone in its collective body. He may not have powers, but he knows how to fight. And when teenagers disappear from your neighborhood, that’s what you do: You stand up and fight! Besides, he may be the last hero left in this bleak city. Mister Wonderful hasn’t been seen in weeks. The Coyote is dead, murdered by cultists of the Never-Ending Serpent. Leaving her partner, Medicine Man, on a mindless ...

It’s 1975, and the comic book industry is struggling, but Carmen Valdez doesn’t care. She’s an assistant at Triumph Comics, which doesn’t have the creative zeal of Marvel nor the buttoned-up efficiency of DC, but it doesn’t matter. Carmen is tantalizingly close to fulfilling her dream of writing a superhero book. That dream is nearly a reality when one of the Triumph writers enlists her help to create a new character, which they call “The Lethal Lynx”, Triumph's first female hero.

Ever since she could walk, Homicide Detective Deena Pilgrim followed in her father's footsteps. A man with a badge, Waldo Pilgrim surrounded himself with what Deena believed to be the cream of the crop when it came to serving and protecting. These days, Deena won't discuss her father or the life she left behind in Atlanta years ago, a life before she partnered with Christian Walker to investigate homicide cases in a city where perps and victims boast incredible, dangerous powers.

You may think being a superhero is all about dodging bullets, fancy armor, secret identities, and thwarting supervillains - but not in Spire City. Here, you have to deal with crazy shamanic visions, and Nazi butchers brought to USA after World War II. Need we mention the malevolent thought forms and gangs of freakish mutants? Modern city life is tough enough, but in Spire City even the superheroes are stretched to the breaking point when the villains have better lawyers.

1904: Railroad City, Missouri. A case is in need of solving. A detective is hired, here, in the Rail, where the military holds sway and superhuman persons are persecuted. David McLane is man paid to find a stolen item. What he will find instead, is the truth of what's going on, and the truth about himself.