Ome thing to remember: Gryphon and company do *not* write science fiction.
Let me repeat that. This is not science fiction.
What EPU writes is really incredible *space opera*.
Buck Rogers. Flash Gordon. The Shadow. Star Wars. The Lensmen. That's the legacy EPU's following, and doing it damn well, and if they're using other people's characters, well, they've managed to in most cases do it better than the creators have.
The characters are somewhat cut-and-dried because Good is Good, Evil is Evil, and the two sides are easily recognizable. While there may be some overlaps, everyone will have to come down on one side or the other in the end. Even given that basic restriction, though, none of the characters are two-dimensional cardboard cutouts; they're well drawn. They're quirky. They have *personality*. (The thought of Dr. Doom and Ben Grimm opening a detective agency together still leaves me giggling silently; but I digress.)
As for the relationships being a bit *odd*; lets face it. These are Heroes, in the operatic sense. *Nothing* they do is going to be Normal; that's just the way things are in Space Opera. There are weirder relationships going on in Heinlein and Spider Robinson's stuff; shoot, these are tame compared to twenty minutes surfing LiveJournal.com. (duane_kc.livejournal.com; check my friends list. {evil grin} Your mind will be blown. You Have Been Warned.)
Personally, I've read every word of all of EPU. There's some stuff that's incredible; there's some of the early stuff that leaves me scratching my head and going "what were they *thinking*?!?!" But it keeps geting steadily better, every chapter of every story, and I hope to keep reading it for a long time to come.
Let me repeat that. This is not science fiction.
What EPU writes is really incredible *space opera*.
Buck Rogers. Flash Gordon. The Shadow. Star Wars. The Lensmen. That's the legacy EPU's following, and doing it damn well, and if they're using other people's characters, well, they've managed to in most cases do it better than the creators have.
The characters are somewhat cut-and-dried because Good is Good, Evil is Evil, and the two sides are easily recognizable. While there may be some overlaps, everyone will have to come down on one side or the other in the end. Even given that basic restriction, though, none of the characters are two-dimensional cardboard cutouts; they're well drawn. They're quirky. They have *personality*. (The thought of Dr. Doom and Ben Grimm opening a detective agency together still leaves me giggling silently; but I digress.)
As for the relationships being a bit *odd*; lets face it. These are Heroes, in the operatic sense. *Nothing* they do is going to be Normal; that's just the way things are in Space Opera. There are weirder relationships going on in Heinlein and Spider Robinson's stuff; shoot, these are tame compared to twenty minutes surfing LiveJournal.com. (duane_kc.livejournal.com; check my friends list. {evil grin} Your mind will be blown. You Have Been Warned.)
Personally, I've read every word of all of EPU. There's some stuff that's incredible; there's some of the early stuff that leaves me scratching my head and going "what were they *thinking*?!?!" But it keeps geting steadily better, every chapter of every story, and I hope to keep reading it for a long time to come.