Cloak of the Shrouded Man

Cloak of the Shrouded Man
by Tony Laplume
(3/5 stars)

Since I'm familiar with the author's love of comics from his blogs, I was really expecting more from this book.  This is as they say a "hot mess."  After about 35%, the Eidolon, Cotton Colinaude pretty much disappears from the book.  Wasn't he supposed to be the main character?  That last 65% is largely a bunch of philosophical dialogues that cause the story to grind to a halt.

It's hard to do a plot summary because so much of the plot is murky.  When it starts off there's a Batman-type hero named Cotton Colinaude who goes by the hard-to-pronounce handle Eidolon.  (I was glad to be listening to this on the Kindle so I would know how to actually say it.)  There's another hero called Godsend who's a Superman-type.  Godsend does not approve of the Eidolon's methods, especially as he goes after someone referred to as "the Cad."

And then...I have no idea.  The middle section seems similar to Grant Morrison's "Batman R.I.P." though I think this book predates that.  Then it turns into the Iliad.  Throughout it there's a lot less action than you would expect and far more philosophical rambling.

To say something positive, it's obvious the author spent a lot of time assembling the world's mythology.  There's a lot of background information on the characters and the city of Traverse, Alabama.  There just needed to be less background and less philosophy.

That is all.