Count Geiger's Blues - Hardcover

Bishop, Michael

3.46

126 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312851995 ISBN 13: 9780312851996

Publisher: Tor Books, 1992

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An art critic for a great metropolitan newspaper reluctantly becomes a superhero in a novel of heroism. By the author of The Secret Ascension, Unicorn Mountain, and No Enemy But Time.

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From Kirkus Reviews:

Another distinctive fantasy featuring a dying protagonist (as in Unicorn Mountain, 1988), this one set in the mythical southern state of Oconee and its largest city, Salonika. After cultural-snob Xavier Thaxton, Fine Arts editor of the Salonika Suburbanite, swims in a pond whose waters (unbeknownst to Xavier) are contaminated with illegally dumped radioactive waste, his life takes a strange turn. He acquires a fashion-designer girlfriend and, much less welcome, a roomie, his retropunk nephew, the Mick, a dedicated fan of UC superhero comics. Following the launch of a new comic character, Count Geiger (he acquires superpowers after exposure to radiation), Xavier and the Mick quarrel over Xavier's condemnation of comics in general and Count Geiger in particular. Soon, however, Xavier develops a strange malady: culture--opera, literature, whatever--makes him sick; the only cure is a dose of lowbrow realism...especially the Mick's comics and rock music. In the hope that constant contact might alleviate his symptoms, Xavier takes to wearing a Count Geiger suit underneath his clothes. But then Count Geiger's creator, blaming Xavier's hostile column for his firing by UC, shoots Xavier--who, far from ending up dead, finds he can expel the bullets and heal right up! Days later, he defeats four would-be subway muggers in comic-book style: somehow, he has become Count Geiger! Not only that, but Xavier now approves of comics and rock music. He starts a crusade to heighten the social awareness of Salonika's stubbornly reactionary inhabitants. Then, as another shipment of illegally dumped nuclear waste comes to light, Xavier realizes that he is dying, though he lives to see the owner of UC comics convicted for masterminding the dumping. Social-conscience-tweaker, tear-jerker, environmental- consciousness-raiser, or just plain if ponderous fun? Witty, often admirable work but with a hidden agenda that grates. -- Copyright �1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

Xavier Thaxton, erudite fine arts editor at a great metropolitan newspaper, views himself as a "superior" man. Then he is exposed to radiation that endows him with powers far beyond those of mere mortals. Adopting the name and costume of a popular new comic-book superhero, he becomes Count Geiger; his exploits include saving women from muggings, stopping a particularly exploitative exercise at a local strip joint and generally inspiring all and sundry--until he starts to die of radiation poisoning. Nebula Award winner Bishop ( No Enemy but Time ) sets this amusing super-hero sendup in the fictional city of Salonika, capital of the southeastern state of Oconee (no doubt on the same map as the famed comic-book locales Gotham City, Metropolis and Central City). The plot is developed in leisurely fashion; Thaxton does not don the Geiger identity until the novel's midpoint. His efforts are dedicated to reforming criminals and bettering humanity's lot. Along the way Bishop finds time to criticize nuclear power plants, making his story politically correct as well as entertaining.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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