The White Ribbon Runs the Red Lights (Signal City) by Blake Michael Nelson

I don't like superhero novel that read too much like Young Adult novels or seem like just an excuse for a fantasy writer to sell books on the back of recent superhero blockbusters. This one doesn't fall in those categories, even if the protagonist is a young guy.
What is evident here is that the writer really loves superheroes and comics. Main heroes Skirmish and The White Ribbon may owe just a bit to Robin and Marvel's Cloak but mainly they are pretty original heroes and not the carbon copies of Batman or Superman we often encounter in these books.
Set in Signal City we read how Skirmish, martial arts expert and sidekick to hero Quarterstaff gets involved with the theft of magical weapons and meets the young female mystical hero The White Ribbon. In his investigations he has to face his darker past at an assassin school.
I really loved how fast-paced this novel was. It's not too long and the scenes move along quickly with very well written action scenes.