Escape Clause

by Jeffrey R. DeRego

Buy directly from ENC $13.00 America of superheroes and super villains is not the romanticized world of your childhood comic books. Here, people with superpowers—or, as they are known, Supers—are taken from their families and given a they can get trained to become superheroes and live out their lives to mirror the comic books that share their likeness, or they can spend a lifetime of isolation in Antarctica. Those who choose training receive a new identity, get brainwashed, and live according to a complex set of rules designed to protect regular people, the Normals, from the Supers, and the Supers from the Normals. There’s no way out of the contract.

A mosaic novel that uses comic-book imagery in prose, Escape Clause tells the stories of the Supers who make up the Union of Superheroes; not the benign, PR-approved tales that American kids read in their comics but the grittier truth about the beginnings and goals of the Union, about superheroes who can’t catch a break whether they try to follow the rules or go rogue, and about what really happens to those who have the misfortune to be born with a little too much talent.

Set in the framework of our legalistic society, each tile of the mosaic shines a new light on the relationships between powerful lobbies and the government, between those who make the rules and those the rules are made for, between people who are different from one another. Superpowers or not, Union members have to cope with the same sort of frustrations that any employee or civil servant would instantly recognize.

And, as Supers and Normals alike learn again and again, when bureaucracy and superpowers collide, nobody wins.

Genres: Science Fiction

220 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2012

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The part of this review that's only relevant if you're already familiar with the Union Dues universe and you're specifically looking for more information about this book's exact contents.

Because the ENC Press website has maddeningly little information. Which is annoying, because I really enjoyed Jeffrey R. DeRego's Union Dues stories on Escape Pod; the first time one came up after I started listening to the weekly feed, I went back and downloaded all of them. So I would have gladly paid $13 for these stories in book format, if only because I certainly owe JRD at least $13 worth of entertainment. So, ENC Press, just tell me that these are collected Union Dues stories, or at the very least clarify that this is a collection of short stories, rather than blurbing it as a "Union Dues novel" on the cover and finessing that by calling it a "mosaic novel" in the synopsis.

So for what it's worth, here is the Table of Contents:

1. Cover Page
2. The Baby and the Bathwater
3. Cleanup in Aisle 5
4. Iron Bars and the Glass Jaw
5. The Sum of its Parts
6. Off-White Lies
7. Send in the Clowns
8. Tabula Rasa
9. A Handshake, a Gold Watch, a Candle
10. All About the Sponsors
11. All That We Leave Behind

As far as I know, there are only two original publications here ("Cover Page" and "A Handshake, a Gold Watch, a Candle"). It is interesting to read the stories in this order, which is significantly different from their Escape Pod publication order.

For reference, as much as to clarify my own thoughts, the Escape Pod posting order was:

1. Iron Bars and the Glass Jaw
2. Off-White Lies
3. The Baby and the Bathwater
4. Cleanup in Aisle 5
5. Send in the Clowns
6. All That We Leave Behind
7. Freedom with a Small f
8. The Ballad of Kitty Momoiro (posted on Clonepod)
9. The Saga of Tam Suji (posted on Clonepod)
10. Tabula Rasa
11. The Sojourn of Taizen Kiro (posted on Clonepod)
12. All About the Sponsors
13. The Threnody of Johnny Toruko (Clonepod-intended story posted on Escape Pod)
14. The Sum of its Parts
15. Sidekicks in Stockholm

I imagine "Sidekicks in Stockholm" is missing because it's the most recent. I understand why the Clonepod (Team Shikaragaki) stories are missing (although I think that's a mistake I'll get to in a minute) but don't understand the omission of "Freedom with a Small f" (one of my favorites). One possibility is that "Freedom with a Small f" is the only adult Union Dues story to reference the existence of the YA Team Shikaragaki stories, but that could have been tweaked if it was a huge issue. In my fumbling around the internet to see if I could find a table of contents while I waited for this book to show up in the mail, I found a comment from JRD somewhere that said the stories had been slightly re-edited; I haven't gone back to compare them to the audio versions or anything but I do think that oblique references to other events in the universe have been made more specific so that they can be recognized as parts of other stories in the collection -- a throwaway reference about Skeleton Steele in, uh, "Send in the Clowns," I think, is made more specific by mentioning his MallMart disaster so it's clear that this refers to the events of "Cleanup on Aisle 5."

The new arrangement and the tweaked references to other stories (which don't feel clunky, I do think they were existing references that have been slightly more detailed) does create a more cohesive linear narrative, and it's enjoyable to re-read the stories in this order. Unfortunately, I think this ends up weakening the two new additions: "Cover Page" is very clearly a direct prologue to "Iron Bars and the Glass Jaw" and "A Handshake, a Gold Watch, a Candle" is "Off-White Lies" from an alternate POV.

The part that might be slightly relevant to you if you haven't already read/listened to the Union Dues stories, wherein I natter on about the stories before eventually just derailing into my favorite topic, histrionic and excessive identification with portrayals of gayness in popular culture.

I'm not an avid superhero comic book reader, so I'm sure the superhero team as evil fascist corporation is not a new concept. But I did always enjoy these stories' commitment to this bizarre corporate structure. One great example of this is the post-hypnotic suggestions that are planted in the minds of the supers, triggering them to give stock answers to specific questions about the Union and also suppressing memories from their lives before. And this is really interesting as a plot device, but when you read a whole collection of stories about characters who are brainwashed into not being able to remember anything about their personal history, it starts to get in the way of character development or emotional connection with the reader.

Particularly the problem for me is that the first Union Dues story I ever listened to was "The Threnody of Johnny Toruko," the last of the Team Shikaragaki stories, which are kind of a YA spin on the Union Dues universe. It seems like these were less well-received by listeners (possibly because the first three were posted on ClonePod and read by less-than-articulate teenagers), but I really loved them, and I think one of the reasons is that -- although it's not explained why, which is a little weak -- the Team Shikaragaki supers don't have the same type of brainwashing as the characters from the other stories. I feel like this lets much more emotionally-connected characterization shine through.

I loved "The Threnody of Johnny Toruko" because I'm a sucker for young gay coming out stories (on Pop Culture Happy Hour last week, one of the guest panelists really touched on why these stories can punch you in the gut, saying something like "it's not just 'does he like me?' but 'could he like me?'") and Johnny Toruko's story is killer, where his Latino Catholic background and his sexual identity intersect to create the event that causes his super manifestation. And there's this moment at the end where the younger supers' teacher is trying to tell Johnny about the benefits of unrequited love and you can both feel as a reader that Johnny feels comforted but also see that she is being manipulative as shit, and that one scene is a thousand million times more effective than any of the post-hypnotic suggestion exchanges in any of the stories that were actually published in Escape Clause.

[Edward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Escape Clause is a fantastic little novel. It is set in a not-too-distant future where superheroes are common, and their lives are governed by a frustrating bureaucracy known as the Union of Superheroes. Normal people take the heroes for granted, and the heroes resent their responsibility; when their powers first show, they are forced to either join the Union or live in quarantine in Antarctica.

Each chapter of Escape Clause is narrated by a different Union member, and we learn about the very human and very relatable frustrations that these heroes endure. As the novel progresses, we learn how the world came to be populated by people with superpowers, and how the Union was created.

DeRego uses comic book imagery and dialogue, and parodies comic book clichés to create a playful and engaging tone. However, I was struck by how emotionally engaging and complex the characters turned out to be. They experience jealousy, fall in and out of love, squabble over job promotions, and experience loneliness and regret. DeRego quickly drew me into each new episode and kept me reading.

Escape Clause is also interesting because it is a thoughtful comment on the nature of bureaucracy. The union was created with the most idealistic intentions, but over time, the leaders lost sight of the way the growing organization affected individuals. Even superheroes become powerless when their lives are controlled by an enormous, faceless organization. I think the book was such a success because the situations and conflicts were surprisingly realistic, even with such fantastic subject matter.

Overall, I highly recommend Escape Clause, not only to anyone with an appreciation for comics or pulp fiction, but to anyone who appreciates a sharp satire.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Debating between 3-4 stars. The story and characters are amazing, the structure and style of writing are a bit off making it weird to read. I really liked it though. Super sad ending...