30 November 2017

Good Stories by the Right Type… Writer

Tom Hanks wrote a book. Yeah… that Tom Hanks. You know, the Academy Award-winner who is the closest to taking on that “everyman” actor mantle since the departure of Jimmy Stewart? And his book, Uncommon Type, is really quite fun.

Uncommon Type is a collection of 17 short stories. Like any anthology, the stories presented within are a mixed bag depending, of course, on the reader’s taste, station of life, and adventures that being on the road will take said reader to the place in time when this book is actually read. Some within are very good. So good, in fact, you don’t want them to end; you crave for the full novel. Some are charming enough to be enjoyable, but also be charmingly forgettable. Four of them, and thank Tom there are only four, are mortally terrible.

Tom Hank Uncommon TypeOf the very good, Hanks presents the following: Three Exhausting Weeks presents the fun tale of four friends, two of which decide to experiment with the old friends-with-benefits idea. Christmas Eve 1953 tells of a WWII vet who recounts his time overseas ten years back. A Month on Greene Street has a divorced mother encountering her possibly-flirtatious neighbor all set on a mythical suburban street in August. And These Are the Meditations of My Heart is a love letter to the typewriter, which is a theme Hanks carries throughout the entire novel as typewriters of all kinds make an appearance in each of his stories.

The very bad all involve a cranky writer named Hank Fiset who complains about technology and New York and coffee and wishes life could remain stuck in the 1960s American Midwest, which actually sounds like hell to me. And those stories are as close to that infernal realm as I chose to presently get. They are also mercifully short.

Full disclosure here. I listened to the audiobook, because I can listen to Tom Hanks speak for much longer than the ten hours spent enjoying this book. And for an auditory treat, Hanks, he’s an actor remember, adds certain flair to some of the stories. In Go See Costas, for instance, Hanks recounts the story of a Bulgarian-by-way-of-Greece immigrant coming to New York. Hanks plays up a mild accent for the role, which is a nice touch to a nice story that reminds readers that, oh yeah, America is still one great big melting pot, regardless of what “Those-In-Office” may otherwise think. He concludes with a radio-style play, complete with an appearance from bosom buddy Peter Scolari, that is painfully campy, but solid in heart.

Hanks knows how to craft a story; the man can tell a tale. And most of the stories within follow his everyman, and every-woman in a number of instances, ideals. Some of the stories let you get lost in the world he creates, while others are as uncommon as they are short, which is the ideal premise of what a collection of short stories should be all about. After all, didn’t Hanks once play a character that compared life’s choices to a box of… I dunno… something that comes in boxes… anvils? Right?


As Always,
theJOE

22 November 2017

Trinity

Trinty
Trinity
Bringing together DC’s Big Three for a world-saving spectacle is always an event and in 2003, comicbook-superstar Matt Wagner presented an “untold tale”, a “what-if”, a complete retcon actually, of the trio’s earliest adventures in Trinity. The story is big and bombastic as the heroes travel between the environs of gleaming Metropolis, dirty Gotham, and lush Themyscira, while fighting the combined villainy of the near-immortal Ra’s al Ghul, the Superman clone Bizarro, and a fugitive Amazon going by the handle of Artemis. Wagner’s art, always a pleasure to see, is fun as is reading early interactions between the Big Three… if one ignores the plot’s faults.

Wagner produced this three-chapter series at a time when his talents were focused more as a writer; having his stylized art appear in a prestige-format series was a treat for hardcore fans. Wagner’s Batman is a menace of solid muscle and fluid shadows. Superman is portrayed an icon, a sun god attempting to balance his humanity. His Wonder Woman is beauty personified in her pose and grace, set apart from mankind, yet not above. Likewise, Ra’s is dignified, taking pride in his arrogance and venom. Artemis is a punk, both shallow and young. Yet, there is not a complete confluence between the sets of three. Batman is angry for anger’s sake, yet somehow finds himself charmed by the gorgeous Diana. Similarly, at no time does Wonder Woman get a full stake of authority in the presence of her super boy friends. Artemis is never provided a backstory and then never heard from again as clearly this is not the same Artemis who eventually rises to the station of Wonder Woman herself. Even Ra’s one-track plan of global conquest through global genocide is as ever-changing as the sands of his birth; he never gets to one-up on the heroes, rather constantly changes his attack for the convenience of the plot.

Ultimately, Trinity is a showcase for the Big Three to stand in the sun together and rejoice in their triumph, and in their friendship. Wagner is successful at weaving in key characterizations from each of the heroes, yet some of his decisions, again, are merely opportunistic. The mindless Bizarro, used for brute strength alone, does not live up to his potential as the human Batman takes-on the creature, albeit in pre-Dark Knight Returns-esque Bat-armor. The brutal slaughter of Amazonian warriors by 21st Century war machines is both distressing and wholly out-of-place thematically. Artemis’ strength, as well as her prowess, fluctuates inconsistently. Even Diana’s dip into a Lazarus Pit mostly goes ignored as, thankfully, she is not resorted back as clay.

As a standalone, at face value, Trinity is a fun, action-packed tale of the world’s finest as they learn to be comfortable around each other. Wagner’s cartoony-art style amps the element of mirth; this is clearly a story to be enjoyed, not pondered upon. However, one cannot help but wish the plot went deeper and that more risks were taken, elevating what is a fun story to that of something spectacular.

Trinity has a lot to be desired when trying to determine its place within the established continuity of its three protagonists. If anything, Matt Wagner, when given the chance to create a new and untold tale, blatantly ignores post-Crisis, post-Legends continuity in order to fit the surroundings of his tale. Other than trying to answer, where would this story fit, one should ask if it even should.

A warning to all you readers, here below is where geeks reside.


Crisis on Infinite Earths ended with the original Wonder Woman devolving back to clay as the multiverse is reset. Heroes rise anew. Superman is launched in a birthing matrix from a sterile Krypton. A ten-year-old Bruce Wayne witnesses his parents’ murder as a string of broken pearls fall to the ground. Flashes and Hawkmen come and go. And the DCU is set for its age of Legends.

Crisis was followed up with the series Legends that forged a path for the characters who had since been rebooted to go forward anew and end with the reformation of the all-new, all-different Justice League. Legends also reintroduced Wonder Woman to the post-Crisis DCU. Now how much time actually passes for the characters until the events in Legends occur is debatable, as are all comic book timelines, but the Zero Hour timeline places a four year mark starting from the debut of super-hero mainstays such as Superman, Batman, Black Canary (the Post-Crisis Wonder Woman surrogate), Green Arrow, and Aquaman (more on him later), as well as second-tier characters such as the Elongated Man and Zatanna, up until Legends, and the debut of Wonder Woman. Meaning, a lot of time has already passed since the establishment of Superman and Batman and the so-called Heroic Age until these heroes meet Diana of Themyscira.

Wonder Woman Vol 2
Wonder Woman #1 (Feb '87)
Wonder Woman Vol 2 launched in February 1987 and aside from Legends, she remained mostly inclusive to her own title. Even the next multi-title crossover, Millennium, only sees sparse action from Diana. Aside from lending an assist to the Green Lantern Corps and a quick cameo from the League, her Millennium crossover issues primarily dealt with an established conflict internal to her own series.

Wonder Woman’s next participation on the grand DCU stage is her big “date” with Superman. Superman, at the time, had been dreaming of the Amazon princess since Legends. Comic creator John Byrne, who was the chief Superman architect since his Man Of Steel reboot, decided to tease the fans with a Superman/Wonder Woman romance. Adventures of Superman #440 (May 1988)
Adventures of Superman #440
Adv. of Superman #440
(May '88)
ends with the two meeting, and Superman immediately engaging with a lip lock worthy of his kiss with Lois in Superman II. That super-smooch directly leads into Action Comics #600 (May 1988), where fans realize that such a romance is not, nor will it ever, be. That issue also marks the change in the title’s format and becomes a weekly book (for the next 42 issues); prior to #600, Action was the designated Superman team-up book since Byrne’s reboot of the character. However, Adventures #440 also was important for another reason.

Superman #1 (Jan '87)
Starting in the rebooted Superman #1, Superman discovers a scrapbook containing press clippings of his earliest exploits; he then proceed to turn the book over to Batman to look into this mystery. The scrapbook, it was discovered, belonged to the Kents, proud parents of the soon-to-be Superman. And really, the scrapbook is irrelevant. However, it is in this issue that Batman learns Superman’s identity. As a result, Superman uses his x-ray vision and peeks behind Batman’s cowl, discovering the vigilante is Bruce Wayne. Four years of activity and knowledge of each other finally led up to this discovery – a first in the post-Crisis DCU. Superman files away and immediately lands in the arms of Diana.

Let’s now get back to Trinity, a story supposedly set during their early careers.

Throughout Trinity, Batman is shown in his gray outfit with the simple black bat insignia. This in itself is not the most glaring of continuity errors. Even though this story should be set in the time where Batman’s costume sported the yellow oval, there are plenty of creators that ignored such detail for what could be looked at as out-of-continuity stories, such as those presented within the Legends of theDark Knight anthology series.

Why should Batman have the yellow oval? Because as of Adventures #440, that was his established costume and that was when the heroes learned each others’ identities. Within Trinity, such secrets are already open as Clark Kent receives a ride from Bruce Wayne.

Another inconsistency is the appearance of Wonder Woman’s invisible plane. When the Wonder Woman title was rebooted, she was granted the ability of flight, so the need for such transport was irrelevant. Wonder Woman’s invisible plane does not make its official post-Crisis appearance until much, much later in the continuity of her title. Again, this can be possibly dismissed with a No-Prize worthy thought along the lines of… maybe the Amazons had it lying around the Diana wanted to take it for a test drive. Right?

An argument could be made that Trinity happens following the team-up in Action #600, after all, this would still be an early adventure as far as Wonder Woman is concerned. The only other allusion to how early an adventure this might be occurs during the heroes’ visit to the Batcave, where a young, dark-haired lad is shown. The boy is never mentioned by name but this could easily be Jason Todd, who was the active Robin at the time.

However, and in spite of all that has been referenced, there is one underlying factor that destroys any sense of continuity: Aquaman.

In issue 3, Batman is racing underwater in a Bat-sub only to encounter – for his first time – Aquaman.
Secret Origins 32
Secret Origins #32
(Nov '88)

Obviously, if Clark and Bruce are already hip to each other’s aliases, Aquaman would have been well established not to mention being a founding member of the Justice League ofAmerica. Aquaman’s appearance eradicates any semblance of post-Legends continuity. Boom. Good-bye. Welcome to the end of the map.

Maybe not all is lost. Let’s look back further then. Perhaps this could be a hidden story from a pre-Crisis Earth-1 detailing one of the first times Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, all met. Unfortunately there are continuity errors with that as well. Most noticeably, Bizarro, who is referred to as a clone multiple times. The Bizarro clone was introduced post-Crisis as an attempt for Lex Luthor to gain possession of a completely subservient Superman. In fact, Luthor, who is a corrupt businessman in the post-Crisis DCU, has his LexCorp Tower shown in the pages of Trinity. Yes, the pre-Crisis Bizarro was a Superman “duplicate”, also created by Luthor, but set more in vein as a Frankenstein’s Monster, albeit one who worked everything in reverse.

End result? Trinity is a fun read that is completely ignorant of any sense of continuity and really should have carried the Elseworlds banner, which was a DC imprint allowing top-tier creators, such as Matt Wagner, the opportunity to play with known characters in different, alternate settings. Trinity would have been perfect for this imprint and would have allowed Wagner the freedom push those relational boundaries a lot more than he did.

Trinity is fun, but also probably best forgotten.


As Always,
theJOE

20 November 2017

God 101

Biblical, and using that term generically, texts aside, author-scholar Reza Aslan charts the history – and the concept – of God, providing a fascinating follow-up to Zealot, where he de-constructed and then re-constructed a historical look at Jesus the Messiah. Here, Aslan does not solely present the Jewish/Christian/Muslim God, but theorizes how the idea of “god” is so prevalent with human history; a concept that either most people, devout or not, might have either taken for granted, or simply not have given an origin story much thought. After all, the God of the Big-Three never really required an origin as, in the case with those religions, In The Beginning… God… Right?

Within God: A Human History, Aslan presents a palatable historical journey that traces the idea of God starting from prehistoric times, where an all-encompassing spirit of nature was dominant, to the pantheon of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods, to how monotheism became dominant after the Babylonian conquest of Israel, through the birth of Christianity, and finally to the rise of Islam. The pacing skips ahead through history at an outstanding rate. Aslan devotes significant time to the prehistoric concept of God, pointing out the examples of the Trois-Frères caves of southwest France and the stone temple of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, but then rockets ahead to introduce the God of the Big-Three, yet spends startling little time in referencing why other cultures have been able to follow religious systems, such as Buddhism, without a deity at their center. Rather, he focuses much of his thesis at the idea of a humanized God.

Aslan approaches the topic as subjectively as possible and, as was bluntly noticed in Zealot, does so without the allusion of faith - for the most part. Aslan does present a beautiful illustration in showing that God is akin to a prism of light, where yellow and blue and violet can all be viewed as perspectives change, yet it is all light from the same source. As an open-minded Christian, this is a outlook I have long adhered to and appreciate the back-up in these conservative times. Aslan, however, goes several steps further with his personal enlightenment of pantheism – that “God” is present in all creation at all times and with everyone. This is his explanation on how one god could be capable of both good and evil, as the concept of “god” has been thoroughly humanized and personified. Aslan is committed in his argument, but such beliefs might be seen as heretical with his Christian and Muslim readership, while the less devout might placate such as hippy-dippy baloney.

God: A Human History is successful in showing the importance of God, which is the true underlying factor in tying humanity together.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read Aslan’s latest and consider this review my recommendation for others. Read it for the history, for the viewpoints, for the opinions, just keep your faith on hand as a bookmark.


As Always,
theJOE

08 November 2017

A Little Too Much

Thomas Mullen certainly gives his readers the service they want with Lightning Men. Building off the previous novel, Darktown, Mullen goes deeper into the plight of Boggs and Smith and their careers as Atlanta’s first African-American police officers. He builds on the story of Officer Denny Rakestraw, a white officer who is not totally opposed to the idea of black officers, but finds himself living in a transition town – white suburbia now threatened to become another Darktown. Mullen’s plot twists and turns with real estate deals, moonshine and marijuana, and tensions between the always-incompetent KKK and their threatening successors, the Colombians. All and this more is breached cover-to-cover in one of the very few times that the old adage once made famous by Sir Mick about too much never being enough is unfortunately not true as Lightning Men suffers from that dreaded curse of sequelitis.

You know, that stigmata is not entirely fair. Lightning Men is a compelling, well-written, and highly entertaining read. Mullen fleshes out 1950s Atlanta and presents the attitude of the city and the blatant bigotry throughout. Mullen digs deeper with his plot, tying various, complicated threads to key characters and letting the reader watch it all unfold. Yet, some of this plot is too obtuse. The map presented sprawls and rambles as long and as wide as Peachtree Street. Maybe Mullen binge watches Game of Thrones and as such, gives too much importance to the B-, C-, and D-story arcs, thus taking away the importance – and the very relevance – of the A-story. Crime novel readers don’t want a ramble down a shady lane in the sun. They want a punch to the gut. Hard punches. With a blow to the nose and a killer uppercut to knock you out. Lightning Men doesn’t have enough punches, but plenty of weaving and feints.

Lightning Men is a worthy follow-up and is successful in structuring, then embellishing, the characters’ arcs. However, too many new characters are introduced and with that comes a level of convenience in working the plot around these new characters and as a result, the story suffers.

Just a little. But just too much.

Yet not enough to keep me away from my next visit to Darktown.


As Always,
theJOE

02 November 2017

Revenge Served Cold

Following the Empire Strikes Back-sized cliffhanger that ended Poisonfeather, Matthew FitzSimmons’ messed-up ex-Marine hacker Gibson Vaughn returns after an eighteen-month absence and is looking for revenge. And although Gibson wants a heaping served ice cold, his thought processes are similarly frozen. His interactions with PTSD-originated ghosts clearly show is not on the top of his game as he was in the debut The Short Drop. FitzSimmons does a fantastic job at getting into Vaughn’s complicated head and makes him sympathetic voice as the reader commiserates with his on-going stress. For all the internal conflict, however, the first act narrative suffers.

If Cold Harbor was season 3 of the Gibson Vaughn drama on FX (and not a bad idea actually, you paying attention Mr. Landgraf?), the network would be hard pressed to ramp up new viewers without the benefit of binge-watching. The novel has a similar circumstance where the familiar reader must fight to play catch up, yet rewards loyal readers to the very end. For someone new coming in who just happens to pick up a copy at the neighborhood Barnes & Noble? Fuhgeddaboudit. FitzSimmons works in backstory and allows a catch-up with the on-going mythos, but initially the reader can be just as confused as the story’s protagonist.

FitzSimmons weaves together action with a hearty bit of internal self-loathing and angst. Gibson’s conversations with his ghosts are not merely metaphorical, but a plot device that, thankfully, does not overstay its welcome, and, contrary to the standard cliché, borders on the detrimental.

Plot-wise, FitzSimmons picks up on the pseudo-cliffhanger from The Short Drop and has Gibson go after the missing George Abe, who was completely MIA during Poisonfeather, while reuniting with cast members from both previous books, strengthening this creator universe. Another strength that gets focus is Vaughn’s humanity and his tendency to doubt, his own fallibility. A hacker by trade, Gibson is by no means the super-genius Cisco Ramon from The Flash, nor do his skills present the ultimate deus ex machina in planned contrivances. He’s good with code, not so much with relationships, and striving to better at both.

Cold Harbor, named for the Blackwater-ish PMC ne’er-do-well, brings a fitting conclusion to the Gibson Vaughn trilogy. FitzSimmons has created a likable character with an enjoyable series. Vaughn is cocky, but knows his limits, more introverted than a one-line joker, and deserves a return engagement. Get working, Matt.


Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the advance proof, for not only Cold Harbor, but introducing me previously to The Short Drop and Poisonfeather. I have certainly enjoyed the ride.


As Always,
theJOE