Sidekick: The Red Raptor Files - Part 1

by Christopher J. Valin, Jonboy Meyers (Cover Illustrator)

THE CITY'S GREATEST HERO HAS DISAPPEARED and it's up to his teenage sidekick to find him. But Red Raptor isn’t prepared for the challenges he must face when he has to go up against their most dangerous foe without his partner. Sawyer was starting to get a little bored being Red Raptor, the sidekick of The Black Harrier. Since his power allows him to copy anything he watches, he’s followed his partner into numerous battles and come through virtually unscathed. In fact, his problems living at home with an alcoholic single mom and being bullied at school are worse than anything he’s faced as a crime fighter. And then there's this girl... For the first time in his life, Red Raptor is forced to test the limits of his abilities and come to grips with what it means to be a hero.

Genres: Young Adult, Superheroes, Fantasy, Ebooks

204 pages, Paperback

Published January 22, 2016

About the author

Christopher J. Valin is a writer, artist, teacher and historian living in the Los Angeles area with his wife and two children. He has written stories of all kinds since childhood, including novels, short stories, comic books, and screenplays. In 2009, his biography of his 5x great-grandfather, Fortune’s Favorite: Sir Charles Douglas and the Breaking of the Line, was published by Fireship Press. In addition to writing and inking for independent comic book companies and writing screenplays for production companies, Christopher has had numerous short stories published in anthologies such as Beyond the Stars: At Galaxy's Edge, Clockwork & Capes: Superheroes in the Age of Steam and Alt. Chronicles: Legacy Fleet.

Reviews

[TJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received from: Christopher J. Valin
Received Via: NetGalley.com

THE REVIEW

Why this book?
I love books about sidekicks and superheros

What I thought

This book was kickass. It reminded me of Sidekicked and The Rise of Renegade X two books that I love. Sawyer is a sidekick to the hero The Black Harrier when he's not too busy getting grounded. Filled with humor and lots of action, this book will entertain you until the very end.

[Marium · Rating 1 out of 5]

Many thanks to NetGalley for the copy

I really, really wanted to like this but nope. Nope I skimmed the last half of the book. There's no point in me putting in effort into something that quite obviously 0 effort went towards.

This is such a blatant ripoff of the Batman mythos I'm actually a little insulted that it was even published.

I could deal with the Black Harrier being a Tesco brand rip off of Batman and Bruce Wayne, who had a drinking problem and none of the life discipline that Bruce has. I could deal with Sawyer being a stupider, more girl crazy and honestly kind of creepy Tim Drake with Jason Todd's terrible home life. I could deal with Osprey being a poor man's Stephanie Brown.

But the ripoffs kept coming and coming. Bane, the Joker, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, the goddamn Justice League for God's sake! At this point I'm just waiting for "Feline-Lady" to show up as Black Harrier's on-off sometimes hero sometimes villain lover.

The author doesn't even have the gall to pretend this is something original. The characters are copy pasted from their better counterparts in DC. A strange thing happens when your characters are unidimensional ripoffs of other character's archetypes, which is that I will not care for any one of them. Which obviously sucks for a character driven story.

Doesn't help that Sawyer is so whiny and unlikable.

The end tried to be reminiscent of the Killing Joke but there was no poignancy or emotional connection. It was just stupid.

I'm on the older side of teenage so obviously this book isn't meant for me but I'm certain that young teenage me wouldn't have liked this either. Honestly just read the pre-new52 Red Robin run it was 10,000 times better.

Tl;dr: There is not an original bone in this book's flimsy body. Literally anybody who has not lived under a rock their entire lives will see right through this for the Batman and Robin fanfiction that it is.

[Dionne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool story!

I saw this book and bought the sample but the minute I finished it I ended up buying it completely. So now I have both. It was so good I couldn't stop reading it. The author has a wonderful imagination and I hope there are more to come later.

[Leesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the Red Raptor isn't out fighting crime as the Black Harrier's sidekick, he's Sawyer, a high school kid facing bullies at school and dysfunction at home. Even Harrier can be a jerk to him sometimes. Lately though, Harrier hasn't been around. No one seems to be all that concerned about it, so it's up to Red Raptor to find out what's happened, despite whatever obstacles come his way.

Valin writes mostly toward the younger teen in this story, but there's some good topics to explore here for everyone: finding your own identity, navigating real life problems, doing what's right even when life deals you a crappy hand, and being gracious to those who help us on our journey. And while the focus is on Sawyer and the problems a young man deals with, there's also a strong female role model who not only doesn't need rescuing, but instead rescues Red Raptor when he gets in over his head (I'd like to read her story next!).

Last but not least: what a great cover!

Disclaimer: the author gave me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Aletia · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Kick-Ass, or, the Watchmen, I think you may enjoy this YA story. It is well written in the language of a teen, but you feel like you're right there in the scene. I got a bit of a Batman vibe too. Totally looking forward to the next part!

[Jeremy Rodden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I Think Boys May Enjoy This

I must say off the bat, the only reason I took off a star for this from a 5-star rating is that it felt way too overtly a Batman & Robin fanfiction, albeit from Robin’s perspective. From the Black Harrier’s character (both the superhero and the alter ego billionaire playboy), the fact that Sawyer is the third Red Kite (or, Raptor) putting him in the Tim Drake position of Robins (the first being Dick Grayson, who comes back as Nightwing… or Redhawk in this story). Even the two biggest bads, Pierrot (killer clown – Joker) and Deadeye (sharpshooter assassin – Deadshot) feel they are fanfic variants of DC villains. The plot itself felt eerily reminiscent of The Killing Joke, Alan Moore’s famous Joker-tries-to-destroy-the-Batman-psychologically graphic novel.

Now, all that being said, the story is no less enjoyable or well written even if it is very obviously (and perhaps intentionally by the author) borrowing a lot of facets from the Batman mythos. To be fair, it’s kind of hard to write any type of “comic book” story without seeing pieces from formerly published material. So unless you’re going obvious parody (think of the Big Daddy character in Kick-Ass), there will be familiar elements.

A story being told in first person present tense is USUALLY something that bothers me. In this type of fast-paced comic book story with a lot of fight scenes and action, it really helped keep the pace moving and I blew through the story fairly quickly. Valin moves us through the plot rapidly and doesn’t waste a whole lot of time with setting scenes and such (again, this is a positive thing in this story, we wanna get to the next fight/twist/plot point).

All in all, it was a super fast read and I definitely hope that after this first book Valin tries to spin away from the obvious Batman influence and into some of his own unique spin on things. Sawyer is a great POV character and the “big twist” at the end was kind of unexpected (I don’t know if I missed some foreshadowing or if he truly intended it to be a no-warning twist) but it didn’t feel out of place. It closed out this first book on a nice note and does make me interested in seeing where the heroes go from here.

Content/Appropriateness

Your typical comic book fare, for the most part. Sawyer is a teen boy so there is the “paying attention to girls” aspect but nothing really overtly sexual other than some minor innuendo. The violence is predominantly comic booky in nature with a few “on screen” deaths with description, but not majorly gory. There are no major language concerns outside of what one would here from a typical comic book movie or TV show. Overall, very appropriate suited for the pre-teen/teen crowd along with most of your mainstream comic books/shows/films.

Rating

4/5 Giant Cartoon Mallets from Toonopolis, The Blog's Books for Boys Review on 2/26/18: http://www.toonopolis.com/2018/02/26/...

[Bonnie Dale Keck · Rating 5 out of 5]

kindle unlimited but got it when it was on amazon freebie day

THE CITY'S GREATEST HERO HAS DISAPPEARED and it's up to his teenage sidekick to find him.But Red Raptor isn’t prepared for the challenges he must face when he has to go up against their most dangerous foe without his partner.Sawyer was starting to get a little bored being Red Raptor, the sidekick of The Black Harrier. Since his power allows him to copy anything he watches, he’s followed his partner into numerous battles and come through virtually unscathed. In fact, his problems living at home with an alcoholic single mom and being bullied at school are worse than anything he’s faced as a crime fighter.And then there's this girl...For the first time in his life, Red Raptor is forced to test the limits of his abilities and come to grips with what it means to be a hero.

Sidekick: The Red Raptor Files - Part 1
Superteam: The Red Raptor Files - Part 2

[John #Audible · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a pretty blatant spin from the Batman mythos, I don't get the deal with all the 5 stars. Maybe the youngsters reading this have never read ANY of Batman or the family. I am shocked that WB hasn't come down hard and pulled this book.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging simple read. Pseudo Batman trains a pseudo robin that is a cross of genius and Jackie Chan. Nice plots, not to obvious, but with some twists that invite the story forward. I would guess tailored towards young teenagers, but the story has too many references to adult themes.

[Matt Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it fast - so you know it’s good

Love the characters and settings. Even if they do follow a ‘Batman’ sort of theme, it was still a lot of fun and kept you guessing.

[Jennifer Linsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good look at an alternative Batman & Robin. Well written, well executed, interesting characters.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sidekick: The Red Raptor Files Part 1 by Christopher J. Valin was right up my alley. I’m a self-admitted comic book geek and love reading books that are set in that wonderful, make believe kind of world. We meet Sawyer an incredibly smart and gifted young man who just turned 16 fighting a group of gangbangers. Sawyer isn’t an ordinary teen, he’s also a superhero called Red Raptor. Red Raptor’s power is the ability to copy anything he watches, this comes in handy as the “sidekick” to the Black Harrier the city’s greatest hero, a position that Sawyer isn’t too happy with at the moment. He’s feeling put upon and disregarded, unappreciated...you know, typical teen stuff. It doesn’t help that he has problems at school and at home and then there’s Osprey, a young female super-hero who Sawyer is a teensiest bit obsessed with. Sawyer’s opinion about his place as a superhero and sidekick to Harrier is put to the test when Harrier disappears and he has to use all of his abilities and ingenuity to find and save his partner. Sidekick: The Red Raptor Files, part 1 was a pretty fast read and a decent introduction to a new series. I would’ve like to have had more background on the relationship between Sawyer and Harrier. But I thought the main characters had good enough personalities that you can build on, even though pretty much all of them weren’t all that unique. I wasn’t as impressed with the world building, I guess I expected a little more detail. I think the author was going for a Batman vibe because as I was reading the Batman mythos kept popping into my head. I think this book would work for teens age 13-16...it’s not a complex story, there's lots of action and there is a hint of romance.

[Rob McClellan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this book over at The Leighgendarium blog and decided to give it a try. I knew nothing of Christopher J. Valin before that, but have since learned he is a fellow comics enthusiast, which certainly shows in the book.

The Red Raptor Files follows the adventures of “The Red Kite” who is the sidekick to “The Black Harrier” — both of which are taken from Robin and Batman, pretty much in every detail. There are other heroes and villains as well, all with a Gothamite doppleganger. Because of these similarities, one could almost say this is a Batman fanfic piece – and it may be. But, it’s also a VERY good one.

The book is a page turner — I finished it all in one sitting, unable to put it down. The style was light and engaging, and the plot moved at a rapid pace. Almost movie-like. If you’re familiar with comics, you’re going to love this book.

Whenever I read books like this (and I don’t read many), I always think of the novelizations of popular DC storylines that I see in the B&N stacks. I was never that impressed by those books, despite the usual star power writers attached to them. They just seem clunky, or overdone somehow. That the magic of the comic storylines just weren’t able to transfer to the prose.

Not so with this book. It is a comic story written in prose — and a darn fine one at that.

I definitely recommend it and I’m looking forward to the next one.

[Sebastian H · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining, fast-tracked, short and awesome novella into the mind and life of the sideki... partner of The Harrier, where any resemblance to a dark knight of sorts and his robin is, probably, wholly intended.

This one really proves how a homage can be successfully made to work without trespassing into parody or, Stan Lee forbid, plagiarism. You wear your influences (and your heart) on your sleeves when it comes to such a subject. And make it read like it all takes place in an alternate Earth, where the heroes and villains we know (Batman, Robin, the Joker, even Superman) are taken on a different, yet fetchingly familiar, spin.

The ending is wholly satisfying, and the novel is so filled with references to its alternate Earth counterpart (because this is precisely how I'm choosing to view it) that it's a true comic-book-fan delight to spot them throughout the well-paced plot.

All in all, a very recommended read to fans of the genre. It won't break any new ground, but it's damn good at what it does and a pleasant surprise to boot.

[Trisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful superhero young adult book. This is especially awesome for those young adults who as middle graders loved John David Anderson’s books.

The Red Raptor (Red Kite, long story, but hey you need to read it) is the Black Harriers sidekick. When Black Harrier goes missing it is up to the Red Raptor to find him. Only problem is he is a teenager, a very grounded teenager, and now must find a way around his mom and other obstacles to save his mentor and friend.

This is a great action packed book, I had the audio version narrated by Michael T Hafen who does an awesome job with the character voices and personalities. He really gave the story a pulse. The book, which ever version you choose, was wonderful and I can’t wait many more Red Raptor Files.

[Henry Lazarus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christopher J. Valin tells of a Sidekick (paper from CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform) to a Batman like hero, The Black Harrier – a billionaire by day and crime-fighter at night. Age sixteen, Red Raptor has the ability to memorize fighting moves from just watching them, and hides his ability to his alcoholic single mom, and from his classmates Then the evil crown Pierrot kidnaps his boss, another young heroine, Osprey, starts helping him. And his arch-nemesis in school, Logan, attacks him where he can’t show his abilities, in school. There’s a solid ending. I can’t wait for the next adventure.Review printed by Philadelphia Weekly Press

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transport to another world

While I was reading this book I kept thinking comic book, it needs to be a comic book! The descriptions of characters and situations were described so vividly that I was carried right along with the story. Now I want to read part 2. I would and have recommended this book to friends and family.

[PJ Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story from the view of a superhero's sidekick. A very insightful look at the underdog, his emotions, hopes and dreams. Lots of action scenes vividly described, the characters all worked well together too. I can just imagine this as a graphic novel, maybe even a movie. Looking forward to part 2.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well worth the read. A very enjoyable read, filled with excitement and adventure. Obviously, it's a direct correlation to the Batman mythos, but who cares, It's well-written and fun.

Received an advance copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Laune · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red Raptor (Sawyer) is trying to find his own identity at the the same time he is fighting crime. The book is full of adventures and excitement from the Red Raptor fighting moves to Sawyer dealing with an alcoholic mother and bullies at school. It is fast moving and entertaining.

[Angel Ludwig]

Quick, fun read

Not great lit, but fun. Several tried and tired superhero tropes, especially among the backgrounds, but well written otherwise (and well edited, my personal peeve area). Worth giving a shot.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introducing the (new?) Birds of Prey: Black Harrier, Red Raptor, and Osprey.