'The Unforgettable Logan Foster' Book Club: Day 2

"We make a good pair of misfits, you and I."

Welcome back to our Book Club Read-Along for The Unforgettable Logan Foster by Shawn Peters, the OwlCrate Jr book pick for our January 2022, ‘COMIC CRUSADERS’ box. Secret identities are revealed, government conspiracies abound, and the hits just keep coming!

Remember, this is a spoiler discussion for pages 89-187 of The Unforgettable Logan Foster. Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate Jr box, one per post!

Grab your mask and let’s jump back into the fray!

The Story Continues . . .

In a flash, Logan is hoisted into Margie’s arms and Gil is on the hoverboard, grappling the beefy, costumed man. Only, Gil is now also wearing a skintight suit. In the fight, Margie and Logan go flying out of the theater. That’s when Logan notices that Margie’s skin now looks like polished, silvery metal. It’s a fact: Logan’s foster parents are superheroes!

Margie is revealed to be Quicksilver Siren, a being from another planet whose body is made of molten metal. Logan knows about her from some of his comic books. Margie and Gil head back into the fray with Seismyxer, telling Logan to get as far away as possible, but Logan instead watches their battle from a little ways away. Unfortunately, part of Quicksilver Siren’s powers are broadcasting out persuasive thoughts and Logan is caught up in her telepathy, bringing his presence to Seismyxer’s attention. Margie and Gil save Logan before Seismyxer can get to him and zoom away to an underpass some distance away, questioning all the while how the bad guy knew so much about them. Logan demands answers to his many, many questions.

Gil reveals that he’s Ultra-Quantum, a new superhero. He’s essentially made of pure energy and has the ability to shoot force beams, move at impossible speeds, and even rearrange his atoms completely. As cool as this all seems, Logan is also hung up on Margie and Gil always mysteriously referring to them. Who?? His foster parents agree that it’s time to show Logan the truth, so Gil propels them all to Monolith Studios. They pass through a series of security measures all the while pretending Logan has done this before. When Logan asks a simple question, the room suddenly fills with armed soldiers. Colonel Gdula steps forward and introduces Logan to MASC, the Multinational Authority for Superhuman Control. Gdula is furious with both Margie and Gil as the two seemingly disappeared in the last few weeks amidst Seismyxer’s quakes. Gdula suspects there’s a mole in the organization and immediately moves Margie and Gil into another room to debrief them.

Logan is pulled aside by Dr. Francis X Chrysler, the top scientist of the MASC laboratory. Dr. Chrysler gives Logan a tour of the facility and explains how there have always been people with superpowers on the planet. When photographs and videos became the norm, they all went into hiding so as to not bring attention to themselves. At the end of World War I, the governments of the world convinced a few of the superpowered people to band together to become heroes. But then World War II began and the Nazis began recruiting their own superpowered people who had no inclination towards heroism. MASC knew they couldn’t stay on the sidelines any longer, so their solution to introduce their superheroes to the world was. . . comics. Comics were the perfect medium to blend fantasy with reality, allowing real superheroes to do their work and if they were spotted, they would simply be mistaken for dressing up as the character. The perfect disguise.

Dr. Chrysler goes on to describe MASC’s most dangerous archenemy, Necros. Necros has the ability to siphon life energy from anyone or anything she touches, which has kept her alive for centuries. Over the years, MASC has harnessed the powers of their heroes in many different ways, such as the Houdini chairs which were created by replicating Harry Houdini’s own power set and erasing the user’s memories. Colonel Gdula barges in just then, saying the latest intel states that Necros may be behind all the recent attacks so they still need Quicksilver Siren and Ultra-Quantum. Gdula decides they’ll throw Login into one of the Houdini chairs, wipe his memories of the past few weeks, and send him back to the orphanage to get Margie and Gil back on track.

Chaos erupts in the room as Margie and Gil come to Logan’s defense. An incoming transmission interrupts the shouting, and Gil whisks Logan to a catwalk above the control room before he’s taken away. Logan watches as Margie and Gil fight off an entire battalion of soldiers, and that’s when Seismyxer explodes into the room. In the confusion, Gdula mistakenly believes Margie and Gil are working with this villain and orders his soldiers to open fire on them all. Gil grabs Logan and runs out of the control room while Margie shields them.

Logan leads his foster parents to the row of waiting escape pods. As Margie and Gil argue over their course of action, Logan slips into the nearest pod and hits the launch button. The pod ejects Logan out of a dumpster just off Hollywood Boulevard, going unnoticed by the people running for safety amidst the ongoing shock waves. Logan sees Seismyxer getting away on his hoverboard just before Margie and Gil catch up with him, upset that he just took off without them. Logan explains that he has decided to return to ESTO seeing as MASC will never allow Margie and Gil to keep him. Margie doesn’t accept this, saying she only trusts herself and Gil to keep Logan safe.

Back at home, Elena offers Logan a ride to school. Before leaving, Margie and Gil assure Logan they believe he is special and amazing, and Logan begins to think they could become his parents for real. The school day is mostly uneventful, bullies and an earthquake aside, but no costumed superheroes or villains appear. At home, Logan finds a note saying Margie and Gil received a lead on Seismyxer and have gone off to investigate. Elena finds Logan waiting on his front steps and invites him over for dinner. Logan accepts, but his anxiety only gets worse when he can’t get through to Gil’s phone. Logan then reveals everything to Elena in the hope that she can help him in some way. Shockingly, Elena believes him. As Elena checks the news, Logan goes off in search of Gil’s laptop and discovers the hidden switch that transforms the garage into a laboratory. Logan locates the laptop moments before Elena calls out to him and shows him the news segment that reveals footage of two people escaping the disaster at Monolith Studios on a hoverboard.

Based on the clues left on Gil’s laptop, Logan and Elena take off in her mother’s car and head towards the Caltech Seismological Lab in Pasadena. Logan has deduced that Colonel Gdula was the other person on Seismyxer’s hoverboard, but is unsure if he was kidnapped or if he is the mole. They arrive at the lab and keep watch. Several hours later and after a brief discussion, Elena and Logan blend in with one of the field trips already heading inside. They ditch the tour after a little while and make their way through the halls, hoping to find the entrance to Seismyxer’s hideout. Although they don’t locate it, they do run into Dr. Chrysler, wearing a Caltech lab coat.

Dr. Chrysler and Logan are both equally shocked at the other’s presence and after a moment, Dr. Chrysler leads them down the hall to a private lab and promises to answer his questions. But just then, Seismyxer enters the room holding something in his hand, and then everything goes dark. Logan wakes up to find Elena and himself tied up and on a cart being pushed down a hallway. Dr. Chrysler walks them through the halls of this new laboratory with Seismyxer bringing up the rear. This lab resembles much of MASC HQ, but also holds containment units, each holding a superhero trapped inside. Logan even recognizes Genevieve as FemmeFlorance in one of the cells. In the final two cells are Margie and Gil, both of whom looked like they are suffering extreme pain.

Dr. Chrysler reveals that he betrayed MASC as he became disillusioned with their ability to manipulate, control, and coerce their heroes. Necros eventually approached him and he agreed to work for her, knowing that eventually there will be a war against humans and the superpowered, as well as for the chance to study her incredible powerset. Dr. Chrysler then leads Logan and Elena to their own cells, where they discover Colonel Gdula has been imprisoned as well. Gdula expects that he will soon be killed when Chrysler and Seismyxer realize that he’ll be useless to their plans.

Discussion Questions:

1. Houdini, Cleopatra, Mulan, and Paul Bunyan are just a few examples of famous historical and mythological figures that, according to Dr. Chrysler, were actually superheroes. As a bit of fun, tell us your favorite historical or mythological figure and what you think their powerset would be if they were secretly superpowered.
   
   
2. Logan’s narration is directed towards a sibling he believes he has. As we’re now halfway through the book, do you think this is true or just something Logan wishes were true?
   
   
3. There are some truly amazing superhero names in The Unforgettable Logan Foster. What would you pick as your superhero name and why?

Join us again on Friday, February 25th as we discuss the exciting conclusion of... The Unforgettable Logan Foster!

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