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Archive for category Superheroes

Who Can Save Us Now? by Owen King and John McNally (Free Press, 2008)

Jul 22

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Science Fiction, Short Fiction, Superheroes | No Comments

When I sat down to try and describe this anthology, I found myself at a loss for words. I tried to be witty, but nothing was working. I tried to be ironic, but that failed. I even tried to be dry and boring, but nothing came to mind. In the end, I decided, I might as well go for honesty. Who Can Save Us Now? is a collection of superhero stories, as written by what some might call “literary” writers, and by that, I mean that very few of them are what I’d consider to be household names. Looking at a list of over 20 names, I recognize a mere handful, including Graham Joyce, Jennifer Weiner, and David Yoo. None of them are known for tackling science fiction and fantasy, nor for comic books, and yet here they are, offering up their takes on superheroes and supervillains, aiming to create modern myths for a much more ambiguous, conflicted era. And the results are … well, I’m not going to leave you hanging in suspense. The results are mixed, and unusual. For those looking for four-color action and adventure, or bigscreen excitement, prepare to be disappointed. For those looking for literary entertainment, you’ll find plenty here to consider. But let’s look at some of the stories, shall we?

Stephanie Harrell looks at one particular superhero through the eyes of an outsider, in “Girl Reporter.” Like the quantum particles in the Heisenberg Principle, her hero is changed through the act of being observed, changing to fit expectations and losing his original identity in the process. There’s clearly some sort of Superman/Lois Lane commentary going on here, but it comes off as a bit dry and disassociated to really connect with the reader.

Sam Weller’s “The Quick Stop 5″ is a tongue-in-cheek tale, one of the closest this book comes to actual superheroics, and even then it falls a little short. When five employees at a convenience store/truck stop in Iowa are bathed in iodisel fumes, they gain amazing abilities based upon the common items they just happened to be holding, which range from chewing tobacco to beef jerky to a Slushie to a box of condoms, to marijuana. Unlikely heroes, or corporate tools? Sadly, this is just their origin, and we may never know what adventures await them. It’s a safe bet you’ll never see these guys in a mainstream comic.

John McNally’s “Remains of the Night” is told from the viewpoint of one superhero’s butler. Unfortunately, that superhero is the Silverfish, one of the creepiest heroes around, and the butler may just be losing his grip on reality. In the end, I’m not sure how much of the story is real, and how much is hallucination. Is there even a Silverfish, and if so, how much is true? It’s an oddly unsettling psychological piece, where the hero’s influence is felt more than the hero himself.

In “The Pentecostal Home for Flying Children,” Will Clark postulates that one promiscuous superhero might have had a number of children, all inheriting his ability to fly. Will his freewheeling nature also hold true, or will their religious, strait-laced upbringing prove dominant? It’s a classic nature versus nurture, with one small town feeling the brunt of things. Again, interesting, but the superhero is merely a backdrop for the effect he’s had on the world.

“The Thirteenth Egg,” by Scott Snyder, is about a former soldier, returned home a changed man after witnessing an atomic explosion during World War 2. While he might be superpowered, he’s no hero, not by the way we commonly define such things.

In “Roe #5,” by Richard Dooling, one woman learns, many years after the fact, that someone may have kept her unborn baby after an abortion, subjecting it to experiments. How will she react to the possible existence of her unknown superhuman children? And what’s the point of revealing it now? Again, there’s a certain unsatisfying lack of superheroes in this story.

Noria Jablonski’s “The Snipper” follows one young man, the scion of a family of Sea Monkeys (remember those ads?) who spends time as a nursing home for superheroes. There’s a serious problem in town: someone’s cutting up superhero costumes, and everyone lives in fear of The Snipper… You know, this story’s too strange to be described in any more depth. It’s interesting, but a little too clever for my liking.

“My Interview With The Avenger,” by Tom Bissell, is intriguing because it comes the closest to examining what a real-life superhero would be like, and indeed invokes some of the people who’ve donned masks to patrol the streets in the real world. Down-to-earth, logical, grounded in reality, practical, it’s refreshing for its straightforwardness.

In Sean Doolittle’s “Mr. Big Deal,” we come as close as this anthology ever gets to action heroes, as he focuses upon a cop with the unique ability to negate the superhiuman gifts of other people. There’s a lot of backstory, internal mythology and setting hinted at here, and of all the stories in the collection, this is the one I’d like to see expanded the most.

David Yoo looks at people whose powers are less than impressive, barely enough to qualify for super in the first place, in “The Somewhat Super.” When a frustrated writer is invited to write a book about the members of a support group for minor-league superhumans, he discovers just how normal, and abnormal they are … and learns about the hazards facing them should they ever go public. One of the more interesting concepts in the collection, its downbeat ending leaves something to be desired.

David Haynes’ “The Lives of Ordinary Superheroes” examines the power one man can have to influence his surroundings, as he follows the career of a quiet, well-spoken man dedicated to improving the world one person at a time. But again, is he a hero, or just a man doing the right thing?

There are plenty of other stories in this book, ranging from the utterly bizarre (Jim Shephard’s “In Cretaceous Seas”) to those that just didn’t grab me in the first place (Jennifer Weiner’s “League of Justice (Philadelphia Division)) but in the end, I read enough to get a good feel for Who Can Save Us Now? Ultimately, I was disappointed by what I found here. While it’s billed as a collection of short stories about superheroes, it seems as though half the time, the heroes don’t even make more than a guest appearance, with the author choosing to examine some aspect of their exietence or influence upon the world, or to tell a story only remotely related to the basic theme. When superheroes do appear, more often than not they’re muddled, ineffective, neurotic messes, or joke characters. This honestly strikes me as superheroes as viewed through a Woody Allen lens. Marvel Comics may have perfected the hero with feet of clay, but these stories take it a few steps further.
If these are the heroes for the 21st century, then I’ll stick with the old-fashioned 20th century heroes anyday.

If you’re looking for stories about honest-to-goodness superheroes, I can think of a number of more appropriate books, and that’s without getting into the Marvel and DC licensed novels. Perry Moore’s Hero, for young adult. Jennifer Estep’s Karma Girl or Hot Mama, if you want romance. The John Varley-edited anthology, Superheroes, remains one of the best original collections of superhero fiction I’ve ever run across. David J. Schwartz’s Superpowers is an honestly-engaging look at would-be heroes. Vicki Pettersson’s Signs of the Zodiac series is urban fantasy meets comic books. The Wild Cards series has been doing amazing things with superpowered characters for decades. That’s just off the top of my head.

The stories in this collection are well-written, and quality work, definitely. I even enjoyed reading some of them, and there’re a few authors I may check out in more depth later on. But I can’t help but feel a little betrayed; I picked up this book expecting four-color action and adventure, and what I found was something very different. Literary, yes. Thoughtful, perhaps. But these weren’t the superheroes I was expecting. Who Can Save Us Now? Not these guys, they can’t even save themselves. For all that this is an interesting, well-done anthology, it just wasn’t what the cover copy suggested, and I’m going to have to shake my fist angrily as a result. Not recommended to those seeking traditional superheroes and villains.

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Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book, by Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon (Chicago Review Press, 2003)

Jul 20

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Graphic Novels & Picture Books, Non-Fiction & Reference, Superheroes | No Comments

He’s a shameless huckster, an unrepentant storyteller, a charming old man, a never-say-die opportunist whose career has spanned decades, following the ebb and flow of the comic book industry in America. He’s a modern-day P.T. Barnum, part writer and part con man, but so loveable in his over-the-top mannerisms it’s hard to stay mad at him for long. He’s Stan Lee, and this is his story.

However, to tell the story of Stan Lee is to chronicle the history of comic books in America, starting in 1940 and continuing right up to the modern day. To tell his story, one has to also look at the other legends in the field: Jack Kirby, John Romita, Steve Ditko, and so many more. To speak of Stan Lee is to talk about Marvel Comics, and its earlier incarnations. For all of those stories are intertwined.

Who doesn’t know Stan Lee? His name was on every comic book to come out of Marvel for decades, as writer, as editor, as publisher, or as their ambassador to the world. “Stan Lee Presents….” was the tagline for Marvel back in the day, until very recently indeed. He’s been the guy to interview for just as long, the so-called creator of the Marvel universe, the creative genius who gave birth to Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and the X-Men. His catchphrases are legendary: “‘Nuff said!” “Face front, true believer!” and “Excelsior!”

But who is Stan Lee? Even he admits that the stories of his youth are a tad exaggerated, a touch fabricated at times. Never one to let reality get in the way of a good story, he’s rewritten his own history to play up his destiny as a writer. Certainly, reality is a little slippery where he’s concerned. What part did he really play in the history of comic books? How much of the Marvel Universe was his creation, and how much can be attributed to the other talents involved?

Those are all questions Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon set out to answer in their definitive biography of Stan the Man. Drawing from articles, interviews, and other sources, they’ve laid out the life and times of Stan Lee (born Stanley Lieber), weaving the threads of his story in with the evolution of the comic book field, from its glory days during World War Two, to the social repression of the Fifties, all the way through the dark days of the Eighties and Nineties, to today. This book is just as much about the comic field in general, and Marvel Comics in particular, as it is about Stan Lee. Fact-heavy and well-written, its engaging writing style keeps things moving right along, never bogging down in the details. Clearly, the authors know their material; it takes a certain amount of familiarity with the industry to properly convey the impact of a man who was there almost from the start.

Let’s lay it on the line. Stan Lee’s been in the business a long time. He combines the best and worst aspects of a sideshow barker, a used-car salesman, a Hollywood producer, and a writer. He’s spent so long hyping himself that he’s actually begun to believe it. Though he was instrumental in creating some of the best-known comic characters of the past forty years, he’s been milking the same cow for decades; all of his more recent attempts to capture lightning in a bottle have met with failure. Even his recent work for DC Comics, reinventing their characters, felt old, as though he was rehashing the past. At the same time he fronts for Marvel, acting as a spokesperson, he’s suing them for more money based on the results of certain blockbuster movies. He’s the trickster god of the comic geek pantheon, adept at playing himself on the silver screen (such as in Kevin Smith’s Mallrats) and always looking for the next big thing. Cursed with a short attention span, he can spew out comic plots, but can’t write a book. He’s been a hero in the comic industry, and he’s been a villain. He’s done some things he’s not proud of, and burned a few bridges along the way, alienating creative partners and industry professionals, and yet somehow, it’s never his fault. Much. He’s just Stan Lee.

And that’s what Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book is all about. The authors don’t shy away from pointing out the inconsistencies, the feet of clay, the mistakes he’s made. Even though they treat him with respect, they’re not afraid to point out Lee’s bad moments. Did he create the Marvel Universe, or just steal all the credit? Is he a genius, or just a guy in the right place at the right time with a knack for tapping into the right thing?

I’m a comic geek at heart. My collection takes up a significant part of the basement. I thought I knew a lot about the history of the field, and about Stan Lee. After reading this book, I know a lot more. Spurgeon and Raphael have done an excellent job of drawing from numerous sources to present a cohesive, coherent narrative covering the career of Stan Lee, and the ebb and flow of the industry he’s been an integral part of. For those who like comics, this is a great history book. For those who don’t know a thing about the field, this is a great introduction. Frankly, I was impressed with just how accessible it was overall. I recommend this book, and it’ll find a valued spot on my shelf with other comic reference books.

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Wild Cards XVI: Deuces Down, edited by George R.R. Martin (iBooks, 2002)

Jul 20

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Science Fiction, Superheroes | No Comments

Welcome back to the unpredictable, exciting world of the Wild Cards. After far too long a hiatus, George R.R. Martin has once again assembled a team of top-notch writers to tell some of the stories of a world where nothing is quite like it should be.

A quick primer for those who are new to the series, or who might need their memories jogged: In 1946, an alien virus was detonated over New York City. Thousands died instantly, thousands more were changed forever, and the world with them. Nearly sixty years later, the virus known as the Wild Card has struck every corner of the globe. For every hundred cases where the “card turns,” ninety die horrible, agonizing deaths, their bodies twisted and reshaped in unspeakable ways in what has become known as the Black Queen. Nine of those who survive the initial manifestation become Jokers, permanently disfigured and mutated, the world’s new most visible and least accepted minority. One out of every hundred survive intact, and are granted superhuman powers. These lucky few are the Aces. Of those Aces, only a few are gifted with the spectacular powers of a comic book hero. For many, the powers are trivial, minor, even inconsequential. Some are granted Joker appearances with Ace abilities. For these, they’re simply called Deuces. Got it? Good. There’ll be a quiz.

When the world thinks of Aces, they think of Golden Boy: unaging, invulnerable, superstrong. Or the Great and Powerful Turtle, the world’s most powerful telekinetic, so long as he uses his powers from within his trademark floating shell. Or Cap’n Trips, whose ingestion of certain chemicals transforms him into five other Aces, each inspired by a popular rock song. Or even Croyd Crenson, the Sleeper, who sleeps for weeks at a time, waking each time with a new and unpredictable power and appearance, sometimes an Ace, sometimes a Joker… For every Ace, there’s at least a handful of Deuces, and a greater number still of Jokers. The first fifteen books in the Wild Cards series (reviewed and summarized in Installment #23 of Peregrine’s Prerogative) have primarily dealt with the Aces and Jokers. Now, at long last, the Deuces have their day.

In Michael Cassut’s story, “Storming Space,” we learn the truth about the real first manned mission to the Moon, one achieved by a handful of Deuces and nats (natural humans) in secret. This builds upon his previous story in Book XIII, Card Sharks, which detailed how the first space program, utilizing Aces, collapsed through treachery and catastrophe. The space program in the Wild Cards universe has always been a little ahead of our own, ever since the alien Takisians came to Earth in 1946, and the hideous Swarm invaded in the ’70s. Now, though, we find out how things almost could have been a lot better, thanks to Cash Mitchell, whose power could replace the need for huge booster rockets.

John J. Miller brings us to the early days of a popular supporting character, Digger Downs. In his adulthood, he’s a pesky reporter for the tabloid “Aces” who seems to know just when someone’s got the Wild Card up his sleeve. In “Four Days in October” we see how he first discovered and honed his talent to literally smell Wild Cards. Assigned as a boy to cover the 1969 World Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Baltimore Orioles, he becomes obsessed with discovering what hidden Ace is responsible for the Dodger’s astounding success this season. The answer will surprise everyone, hinging as it does upon a minor but profound change of destiny for a real world political figure. Digger will learn the value of a hidden Ace, explaining a lot about his behavior later on in life. (To say Digger is unpopular with the people he reports on is an understatement.)

Walton Simons explores a pair of Deuces working at a comedy club, in “Walking the Floor Over You.” What good is the power to make someone laugh? What use is the ability to become a protoplasmic puddle? And how will it help against giant ape attacks, or mobsters? In 1977, the Great New York City Blackout hid a lot of secrets… This story guest-stars the ever-popular Croyd Crenson, whose true Wild Card power, I’ve always sworn, is to be present for almost every major event in the series’ history. Also featuring the Great Ape, a Deuce whose power spun horribly out of control, once upon a time.

In another example of history taking strange turns, Melinda M. Snodgrass looks at a Hollywood where Grace Kelly never married Prince Rainier of Monaco. When she vanishes during the filming of The French Lieutenant’s Woman, only one man can crack the case: Joker-Deuce and everyone’s favorite centaur, Bradley Finn. Unraveling Hollywood backstabbing and politics, “A Face For The Cutting Room Floor” is unique among Wild Cards stories for also daring to tackle the ticklish issue of… Joker porn. Some days it desn’t pay to ask.

In Daniel Abraham’s “Father Henry’s Little Miracle,” a priest who can turn water into wine faces off against the deadly Demise, a man who came back from the dead out of sheer spite. At stake is a lot of money, and the life of a common prostitute. It’s just another day in Jokertown, especially for the poor priest, who’s really just filling in. This story takes place during Book Four, Aces Abroad, while the regular Jokertown priest, the beloved Father Squid, is touring the world.

Stephen Leigh picks up the story of a minor character from Book XV, Black Trump, a pilot with an affinity for fire whose involvement with the wrong people turns him into an international exile. The only place he’s safe is on Rathlin Island, which serves as a leper colony for the Jokers of Northern Island. There, a man who can’t go home again will find a home among people who have no home anywhere else. But will he be safe nonetheless? “Promises” is a love story with a tragic twist.

Finally, Kevin Andrew Murphy picks up in the modern day with a tale of Deuces in the spotlight. Swash, a Joker-Deuce with ink in his veins and pens for fingernails, is all in favor of his brother’s band, the Jokertown Boys, making their MTV debut at the newly-reopened Club Chaos. But things go awry when he’s dragged in to help a pretty girl find a very specific top hat. This story focuses on Topper, the Ace who can pull anything at all out of her grandfather’s top hat, and Cameo, who can channel a dead man’s Ace power, if she has the right personal effect. Guest-starring the fabulous Jokertown Boys, it’s a comic romp with surprises and Deuces galore in “With A Flourish And A Flair.”

Deuces Down is a change of pace for the Wild Cards series. The series had been growing progressively darker and bloodier, with main characters suffering, retiring, or dying left and right, and a worldwide conspiracy spelling certain doom and genocide for those touched by the virus. All in all, it was getting downright depressing. However, the stories in this volume seem to collectively aspire to more upbeat tones and endings. Sure, people die, people get hurt, but it’s not the unrelenting bleakness that had descended upon the world before. Maybe Deuces just live better, but in the majority of these stories, hope wins out and romance is at hand, making for a much more satisfying read in general. Perhaps the freedom to focus on these supporting and minor characters has helped inspire the authors to inject more optimism into the series. This is especially relieving, since in many ways this represents a new start for the Wild Cards books.

The bottom line is, Deuces Down is one of the best Wild Cards books in the series, certainly topping (or is that trumping) many of the later volumes in terms of story, quality, and sheer enjoyability. If we see some of these characters again, I won’t complain in the least. Certainly, the characters in Kevin Andrew Murphy’s story are all likable, brimming with potential and whimsy. They could most likely fuel an entire book on their own.

My only quibble with this book, and it’s a minor one, is that you must be able to suspend disbelief, enough to accept that even after fifty years worth of radical social change in the form of superheroes, supervillains, mutants, monsters, aliens and more, Britney Spears still becomes a pop star. Truly, there is no justice.

If you’ve ever enjoyed the Wild Cards series, but perhaps found the later books in the initial run to be a bit bleak, this book is the perfect reintroduction. If you’re a new fan, or have never tried the series before, you can start with this one easily. Though it does feature characters from other books, and pick up after earlier sequences, it stands on its own quite nicely. Inventive, imaginative, and innovative, Deuces Down truly represents the best of what the Wild Cards universe has to offer. Check it out today.

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Spider-Man (2002, Directed by Sam Raini, Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko)

Jul 20

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Film & TV, Science Fiction, Superheroes | No Comments

With great power comes great responsibility. It’s the guiding mantra behind one of the 20th Century’s greatest heroes. But before he was a hero, he was a young man. A confused teenager like every other, with a crush on the most beautiful girl in school, a loving family, and a reputation as a loser, geek, nerd… you name it.

Spider-Man reinvents the classic comic book character for the big screen, remaining as faithful as possible to the source material. We follow the evolution and growth of Peter Parker from tormented geek to daring hero. All the classic elements are in here. He’s bitten by a genetically-manipulated spider (it was radioactive in the comics), and his body chemistry is radically rewoven, granting him (proportionately) the powers of a spider: super-strength, flexibility and acrobatics, a near-psychic ‘spider-sense’ to warn him of danger, the ability to spin webs from his wrists. He’s still being raised by his loving Aunt May and Uncle Ben, with whom he’s lived ever since his parents died in a plane crash early in his life. There’s the prettiest girl in school, Mary Jane Watson, who dreams of becoming an actress. There’s the class bully, Flash Thompson, football hero. There’s even Harry Osborn, rich kid with overbearing businessman father Norman.It’s all there: The spider. The public appearance of Spider-Man as celebrity. The burglar. The death of someone important to Peter. The vengeance he seeks that changes into a need for justice. The red and blue costume. And the maniacal, deadly Green Goblin, who circles Peter and Spider-Man, capturing them both in a web of his own design, threatening to kill our hero if he doesn’t join the Goblin.

Long-time readers of the comics will be familiar with the Goblin’s origin. For those not in the know about who lives, who dies, who the Goblin is, and who lives happily ever after, I won’t spill the beans. I will say this: Spider-Man hits the mark. It is easily one of the best comic book derived movies ever, taking the source material faithfully, adapting it only where one needs to compress and distill forty years of back story down into one story. This is actually a mixture of two classic Spidey story lines, his origin, and the Death of Gwen Stacy. For those of you scratching your head and wondering who Gwen Stacy is or was, don’t worry… She’s dead.

This is one of those movies that couldn’t have been done properly without the advances made in CGI and special effects. Thanks to technology, Spider-Man finally moves like he should: fast, agile, triple-jointed, almost alien in his patterns and flexibility. The Goblin, in his technologically-enhanced suited and ominous glider, is equally impressive. We can follow their aerial battles, or even just the sheer adrenalin rush of swinging at breakneck speed through the city canyons on a thin strand of webbing, and feel like part of the action.

Yes, where Spider-Man hits the mark is with faithfulness, story, and image. It bogs down here and there with improbable coincidences (how can one person have so much bad luck in his life?) but such things have always been part of the story. Sure, questions arise, like what about the -other- genetically-enhanced spiders, the ones that didn’t bite anyone? But hey, no film is perfect.

Willem Dafoe is perfect as Norman Osborn, conveying a bizarre sense of duality and growing, desperate madness as the story progresses, eerily reminiscent of Jack Nicholson’s performance as the Joker in Batman. He really does manage to portray fatherly love and cold detachment with equal aplomb, and when he goes all out as his alter ego, he goes all out.

Tobey Macguire does a credible, even enjoyable job as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. He definitely pulls off the geek-turned-hero vibe quite nicely, capturing that spirit of adventurous joy that comes with someone given a release for their emotions for the first time in their life. He may need to grow into the part, but he has the basic spirit down.

Kirsten Dunst does nicely as Mary Jane Watson, although she never quite throws herself into the role with the zeal needed to carry off the devil-may-dance attitude of the comic book variation, but she doesn’t disgrace the role either. Given more time, she’ll undoubtedly sizzle in the role. Unfortunately, the chemistry between Peter Parker and Mary Jane never quite works for me. There’s something a little wooden, as though they don’t connect on the level they should, quite yet. That’s okay. In the comics, it took months before the two even met, and years before that spark truly came to life. The interaction between Peter Parker and Norman Osborn, and Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, is much more intense.

J.K. Simmons, as J. Jonah Jameson, irate newspaper publisher and Peter’s sometimes boss, is dead-on perfect for the role in terms of looks and attitude. This is the Jolly Jonah we’re used to, the one dismissing the pictures as crap, but buying them anyway and taking Peter on as a freelance photographer. Thus setting up the irony: Peter takes pictures of Spider-Man and sells them, while J.J.J. uses the pictures to terrorize and blast Spider-Man in the Daily Bugle. Some days you can’t win.

Cliff Robertson, as the fatherly Uncle Ben, and Rosemary Harris, as the sweet but occasionally frail Aunt May, do justice to the roles, as does James Franco as Harry Osborn, Peter’s friend and later roommate.

Overall, I loved Spider Man. Where it’s good, it’s very very good. Where it falls down, it doesn’t so much disappoint as it fails to match the rest of the movie. As far as pure story goes, it’s primal Spider-Man, essence of character boiled down for a new audience, and that’s what matters. Go see this and have some good old-fashioned superheroic fun.

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Spider-Man, by Peter David (Ballantine, 2002)

Jul 20

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Film & TV, Science Fiction, Superheroes | No Comments

The story has become a modern day myth. A young man is granted extraordinary powers through a chance accident, and becomes one of the greatest heroes of his generation. Twist it a little, and it could be a Greek myth, or an Arthurian legend.

But instead, this is a new myth, one for the 20th century, concerning part of a new pantheon of brightly colored gods.

How many people don’t know the basics of the Spider-Man origin? Peter Parker, left an orphan after the death of his parents, moves in with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, who raise him as though he were their own child. Weak, bespectacled, considered a geek and a nerd by his classmates, he takes refuge in science and school. Then, one day, he’s bitten by a radioactive spider, and his world changes.

He’s granted the proportionate powers of the spider: strength, speed, agility, the ability to stick to walls, a mysterious sixth sense warning him of danger, even the ability to spin superstrong webs. Fashioning a gaudy costume, he first tries to go into show business, but all of that falls by the wayside after a moment of selfishness on his part lets a burglar escape … a burglar who later kills Peter’s beloved Uncle Ben.

In a single instant, Spider-Man dedicates his life to heroism, under the motto, “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.” And decades later, he’s one of Marvel Comics’ best-loved and most popular characters, the star of comics, TV, and now film.

The book in question, Spider-Man, is the official novelization of the soon-to-be-released major motion picture starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and Willem Dafoe, directed by Sam Raini. The hype has been huge, the anticipation great, especially after the popularity of the last two films based on Marvel comic books: X-Men and Blade.

I have to say, Peter David was a perfect choice for taking on the task of turning the movie about a comic character into a successful novel. Spider-Man is essentially two steps removed from his origins at this point, having been run through the filter of a screenplay and then into prose form. This isn’t your parents’ Spider-Man. This is a reinvention and reexamination from the ground up. Not having seen the movie, I can’t judge how true he is to that presentation, but that doesn’t matter. Peter David turns in one of the finest, most pure interpretations of Spider-Man done in the past few decades.

The characters are all there, and recognizable: Peter Parker. Aunt May. Uncle Ben. Mary Jane Watson. Norman Osborn. Flash Thompson. J. Jonah Jameson. Familiar names all to those who follow the comic. Well, let’s just say that if I wanted to start someone on the character, I could do little better than to give him a copy of this book. Now only does Peter David hit the characters just right, he gives them depth, going into details above and beyond what the movie can convey. Aunt May is caring, a little frail, but tough enough to take care of a rambunctious teenager. Mary Jane is the beautiful, carefree girl everyone wants, hiding her pain deep within. Harry Osborn desperately seeks his father’s approval, even as Norman descends into madness. Peter struggles with loneliness and guilt, and then the confusion and later euphoria of his newfound powers.

The action scenes are pure gold, as cinematic as if they truly were on the big screen. You can see yourself right there in the middle of things.

The only drawback, and this isn’t even a drawback at all, is that Peter David, long known for his humorous writing, slips in no few in-jokes, in the form of sly comments or cleverly named supporting characters. For those in the know, it’s a forehead-slapping moment. For those not in the know, it’s a tiny speedbump. However, we can allow the author his minor quirks, in exchange for such a good story. He spent quite some time writing Spider-Man comics, and it’s obvious he hasn’t lost that innate feel for the character.

I can’t comment too much on the plot without giving away what I assume will be the plot of the movie. But all the basics are there, and Peter David has accomplished the unenviable task of turning a novelization into a true novel.

Spider-Man is one of the best looks at the character I’ve seen in a long time. Rebuilt and streamlined from the ground up, this is pure modern-day myth featuring several gods of the pop culture pantheon. I’m well and truly looking forward to the movie.

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SuperWhat? By Jax Abbott (Dorchester Smooch, 2004)

Jul 16

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Science Fiction, Superheroes, Young Adult | No Comments

When Jessie Drummond develops superpowers during English class on the first day at her new high school, she figures her social life is doomed. After all, she was supposed to be the normal one in a family of secret superheroes, the only one in seven generations not to serve the cause of truth and justice in her spare time. Heck, she’d even gotten used to the idea of life as one of the Normals. But in an instant, it all changes. Now she’s forced to deal with her new powers (among them X-Ray vision, superhearing, superstrength, and superspeed), which means putting up with the overly strict standards of the League of Justice, at the same time she’s trying to figure out what guy to take to the Junior Prom. High school was never like this before!

SuperWhat? is a teen romantic comedy with a superheroic twist. It’s cute, and fun, and Jessie’s laid-back teen attitude is a refreshing contrast to the adult sensibilities of the heroes supervising her. In some ways, it’s as if The Princess Diaries met the Justice League. Thanks to the groundwork Abbott lays for future books, I’m looking forward to the sequel, and to Jessie’s further adventures in the world of teenage superheroism.

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Super 16, by Jax Abbott (Dorchester Smooch, 2005)

Jul 15

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Science Fiction, Superheroes, Young Adult | No Comments

Welcome to the life of Jessie Drummond, teenage superhero-in-training. Just a few days shy of her sixteenth birthday, she’s the only person she knows who has to juggle a social life and training to get control over her emerging superpowers. The superstrength, superspeed, superhearing, and X-Ray vision are all nice, if a bit inconvenient at times, but she really could do without the scrutiny of the League of Liberty, whose standards of behavior are, shall we say, a bit overbearing and old-fashioned at times. Either she gets control of her abilities and passes her tests, or they’ll take her away for remedial training… which would seriously destroy what social life she has. She’s got a new boyfriend to get used to, friends who are seriously weirded out by her less-than-normal behavior of late, and did we mention the arsonist wandering around town? Or the totally evil orthodontist? It’s not easy being a teenager with these sorts of commitments. Luckily, Jessie’s willing to give it a shot.

Super 16 is a cute teenage romantic comedy, and it makes for fun, if somewhat inconsequential reading, with a style best described as “light and fluffy.” The best part of the book has to be the characterization of Jessie, and the way she expresses herself in her League-mandated blog, where she can let her tendency to drift off-topic run wild. (Hair-strengthening ray guns? Anyway…) As books of this ilk go, Super 16 is thoroughly enjoyable, though very clearly aimed at a specific audience. I hope we’ll see more in the series, as I suspect we’re far from done with Jessie’s story.

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Wild Cards: Deuces Down, edited by George R.R. Martin (iBooks, 2005)

Oct 21

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Science Fiction, Short Fiction, Superheroes | No Comments

After a significant hiatus, the popular Wild Cards series of shared-world anthologies and novels returns, with an all-new collection of tales drawn from the sixty-year history of a world gone mad. In 1946, an alien virus is released over New York City, killing the vast majority of those it infects, and transforming the rest either into hideously deformed beings (Jokers), or super powered people (Aces). However, a third category has long fallen between the cracks: those whose deformities or powers are so mild as to make them near-inconsequential, people known as Deuces. For the first time, they’re getting the spotlight, as some of the authors best associated with the Wild Cards series reveal the cards up their sleeves.
Michael Cassutt tells the untold story of the first men on the mood, John J. Miller looks at a World Series that never was, Walton Simons looks at the great New York blackout of 1977, Melinda M. Snodgrass approaches the subject of a centaur in Hollywood, Daniel Abraham addresses the matter of faith in a world gone insane, Steven Leigh takes us to Ireland for a look at a modern-day leper colony, and Kevin Andrew Murphy asks what happens what you lose the one thing your powers depend upon.
For those who were already fans of the Wild Cards series, this will be a welcome treat, delivering the same complex stories as before (with a more upbeat tone to them!). For newcomers, this is the perfect jumping-on point, as it’s kept relatively free from past continuity, and explains the premise succinctly enough.

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Dull Boy, by Sarah Cross (Dutton Books, 2009)

Oct 20

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Science Fiction, Superheroes, Young Adult | No Comments

Gifted with the powers of super-strength and flight, Avery struggles to put them to good use without giving away his secret identity or becoming any more of an outcast than he already is. Things seem to improve when he meets other teenagers also possessing superhuman powers, but personality conflicts threaten to tear them apart, especially after the beautiful, manipulative Cherchette attempts to recruit them for her own mysterious purposes. As Avery and his new friends attempt to find their own place in the world, they tangle with Cherchette and discover the secrets behind their powers. Cross’s debut is a strong one, with a cast of memorable characters and a thoughtful look at how being different can either alienate or unite people.

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Path of the Bold, edited by James Lowder (Guardians of Order, 2004)

Aug 6

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Science Fiction, Short Fiction, Superheroes | No Comments

I have a weak spot for well-done superhero fiction. Done properly, it can capture the best aspects of the comics, while adding a whole new level of narrative sophistication. That’s why I was pleased to see this collection, a followup to Path of the Just, the first anthology based on the Silver Age Sentinels role-playing game. Fifteen stories in all explore a world where four-color superheroic action is an everyday occurrence. Mostly set in the mythical game setting of Empire City, these tales examine superheroes on and off duty, looking at them as icons and as fallible beings. One of the best aspects of this collection, in fact, is that it just as often deals with the effects superhuman beings have on the world around them, as it does with world-shaking crises.
This mixture of stories gives the authors a wide range of themes to choose from. For instance, Dennis Detwiller’s “Real Life” looks at the changes a smalltown superhero with a single, simple power, must make when he moves to the big city and ends up at the bottom of the hero hierarchy. What makes a hero when they have so little to offer? Steve Crow’s “Timelines” asks the same question from a different viewpoint. A man with the ability to study multiple timelines has forseen something tragic, which only he can stop, but the cost may be more than he can handle.
David Snyder’s examination of teenage angst and parent-child relations in “Capes and Corsages” is both entertaining and all too familiar. Take away the capes, and what child of a single parent hasn’t worried about their parent remarrying? Superstrength or teleportion can’t fix that sort of problem. James Lowder presents us with a skewed look at heroes, villains, and the comic book industry in “Fanboy,” a somewhat offputting tale about a young man with too much enthusiasm, an exceptional power, and a distinct lack of patience and maturity.
Whitt Pond delivers unto us a delightfully snarky, if somewhat deceased, heroine and her bizarre batlike companion in “Dead Girl Talking.” The interaction between the two, and with the real superheroes they encounter, is priceless. Lucien Soulban’s contribution, “Forever Young,” adds a strangely literary and fantastical element to a superheroic world, mixing Russian myth with a flying youth named Pan, and shaking things up quite a bit. In “Sidekicked” by Jim C. Hines, a rookie superhero is forced to come into her own when her mentor/partner is temporarily laid up out of action. “Monsters” by Christine Morgan is an introspective tale of someone whose monstrous exterior has given them nothing but a hard life, at least until they’re given a new chance.
Mike W. Barr’s “The Judas Silver” is actually a detective story, a whodunnit, with superhero trappings, and a few red herrings. John Sullivan’s “One Step From The Light” explores the nature of revenge, and the value of vengeance, as well as the impact one life can have on many. Even among superheroes, there are levels of acceptability and accountability. In “The Shield of Little Italy,” Alex Kolker’s protagonist is forced to make some difficult decisions involving his chosen protectorate. For years, The Shield has guarded one small section of the city exclusively, but then he’s called upon to serve a greater purpose. Will he turn his back on his home to save the city? Stewart Wieck’s “Either Will Suffice” looks at the heroes and villains of risen Thule, a newly-resurfaced lost civilization. (This is, I assumed, something described and explained in the game itself, since this anthology doesn’t go into too much detail about its origins.) “Enter, The Eradicator!” is a story about strange alliances by Robert Weinberg, featuring his character Sydney Taine (last seen in Nightside, a miniseries published several years ago by Marvel Comics.) Joe Murphy’s “R.A.O.K.” unites three very different people into a team that is definitely stronger than any of its components. John Kovalic examines the impact real superheroes would have on the comic book industry in “SF,” ending the volume on a rather wry note.
Path of the Bold is stronger than its predecessor, with more satisfying stories, and a better range of exploration in general. It proves that it’s still possible to produce good superhero fiction, hopefully paving the way for more like it in the future. Again, my only complaint is that sometimes I don’t get enough feel for the setting itself, which strikes me as the bastard child of New York and Vancouver, if such a thing is possible. Also, the “signature characters” they allude to on the back sound fascinating, and yet the stories within barely touch upon them, which might be frustrating for a reader who hasn’t also read the RPG source material. That aside, if you like comic books or superheroes, and larger-than-life stories, this is a near-perfect collection.

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