This is a book that is likely to save someone's life. By having an openly trans heroine and her origin story, I can't help but compare it to the impact that X-men had on a lot of kids in the early days, that they could be outcasts from society or considered freaks and yet still be heroes or find acceptance for who they are. There are others who can and no doubt have delved into representation and why it matters with much more eloquence and insight than I ever could, so I don't want to focus solely on that, but it is an essential part of the protagonist's conflict.
We've all seen superhero origin stories before, and this one follows a similar pattern, but Daniels does it well enough and with enough empathy that I wasn't bothered by that. I couldn't help but feel for Danny as their home and social life collapsed around them due to a lack of acceptance and understanding. If you've ever seen the image of a survey saying essentially, "I want to protect it, I want to see it grow up and be healthy," that's the feeling that gripped me as I read through it. At some points things may have lacked subtlety, but with from the point of view of the protagonist, a relatively young outsider who is still trying to figure out how to express their true self, it's valid and feels like it fits in well in the four colored worlds of superheroes. It reminds me of the roleplaying game MASKS, in which even though the players are superpowered individuals that could jump buildings or bend steel, because they are young their personalities and characters are still in flux and in fact being heavily influenced by the adult presence in their lives.
There is a bit of freshness injected into the tried and true origin story with some discussions about legacies and essentially using child soldiers on the superpowered war on crime, and I would have liked to have spent a little more time on that. There were a few other places where things felt a little rushed, such as establishing the relationship with Danny's best friend, I don't feel like we spend enough time with them to have the impact that we should have by their behavior later on in the story. The other super characters besides Calamity and Doc Impossible end up not being explored much either. There are glimpses of deeper characterization for the side characters, but we simply don't get time with them before things come to a head.
In the end though, there's a reason that there's a formula to superhero origin stories, and using a trope isn't a bad thing if it's done well and lets us make those cognitive shortcuts to understanding a situation without needing additional pages of explanation. Dreadnought does it well, and the focus on Danny's emotional state makes her relatable as a character even if you don't share her exact struggles. And if this lacks anything in innovation of plot, it more than makes up for it in characterization for the protagonist and strong action scenes that I could easily see as straight out of a comic. So while not perfect, it's an exciting read and with its representation of a trans superheroine, as I said earlier, it's a book that could probably save someone's life.
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