The Unstoppable Wasp

June 1, 2020
Maggs (The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy) continues the adventures of Hungarian Russian “new American” Nadia Van Dyne, the Unstoppable Wasp, with this story of a superhero who also happens to be a busy, bipolar, genius teen. Though Nadia, 16, enjoys the support of her stepmom, former Wasp Janet Van Dyne, and works alongside friends at New York City’s Genius in Action Research Labs (GIRL), she has questions about her birth parents. Along with fighting nefarious scientists, coming up with a science project to showcase, and trying to be a “Cool American Teen,” Nadia also works to maintain her mental health through therapy and meds. To stay on top of everything, she turns to a self-learning AI assistant invented by a female tech exec. When her friends grow involved with their own lives, it takes a crisis that can only be faced by the entire GIRL team and their adult allies to bring them back together. Nadia’s to-do list can sometimes overwhelm the narrative, which further bustles with character cards and pop culture references, but Maggs successfully centers mental health and life-balance concerns to create an inclusive story accessible to readers beyond the Marvel fan base. Ages 12–up. Agent: Maria Vicente, P.S. Literary.

April 15, 2020
The Wasp fights a hive mind in this Marvel tie-in novel. Sixteen-year-old Nadia Van Dyne has a superpowered suit, assassin training, and an infamous father but also wants to be a Cool American Teen. Following her escape from the Soviet Red Room and a life-changing bipolar diagnosis, Nadia strives to control her mental health and form her own family. She's got her friends and lab partners--Priya Aggarwal, Taina Miranda, Shay Smith, and Ying Liu--and an awesome stepmom, former Wasp Janet Van Dyne, but yearns to know more about her real parents: scientist mother Maria Trovaya and Ant-Man father Hank Pym. Yet in her quest to forge connections and advance science, Nadia follows the standard superhero comic-book arc: befriending bad people, alienating allies, and almost unleashing an apocalypse. Incorporating Nadia's canonical origins, powers, and problems, Maggs focuses on mental health issues and gender inequality. Nadia is a white Hungarian Russian �migr�e, and her teammates are diverse in ethnicity, physical ability, and sexual orientation. By opting for prose over graphics, this too-long tale sacrifices some of the best elements of comic books, with once-brief fight scenes taking place over pages, not panels; lengthy dialogue substituting for succinct speech and thought bubbles; and repetitive character and place descriptions replacing visual shorthand. Non-English words are italicized. An overly busy girl-power adventure. (Action. 12-18)

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