Super-Powered Prose: Virals by Kathy Reichs

Super-powered fiction in prose form has come along way from Weird Heroes and Wild Cards first made the idea work in the seventies and eighties. Many writers have tried their hands at characters with super powers since, but it took even me by surprise when one of those names was Kathy Reichs.

If you do not recognize the name, you’ve probably not read too many forensic mysteries. Ms. Reichs has a successful series of books focused around the character of Temperance Brennan. Tempe sometimes goes by the nickname of Bones, or in the case of the successful television show based on the series, always goes by the name Bones. I have never really been a fan of the series in either form, but when I heard the concept for her new young adult book I knew I needed to give it a read.

Virals is the story of Brennan’s grand niece (she’s older in the books by a bit) Tory, a young girl living on a small island off the coast of Reichs’s home city of Charlotte. Tory only recently moved to the city following her mother’s death, but quickly finds herself embroiled in a mystery.

The story takes two interconnected paths as she finds a dog tag on the island where her father works for a scientific facility. It is while she investigates the tags that she discovers and rescues a captured dog in a remote lab of the facility. That rescue will alter Tory and her three friends Hi, Shelton, and Ben forever.

The dog has been infected with a lab-created parvovirus, designed to infect not just dogs but humans as well. The virus has unintended consquences for the four teenagers, as they all suddenly end up with powers closely linked to the animal they rescued.

While they all suffer through the transformation their new power brings to them, the dog tags lead them in to a murder mystery with huge ramifications for them and their city. In the end, only their powers will allow them the freedom and skill needed to uncover the secrets of the crime.

Ms. Reichs uses her background in forensic science to help shape the continuing story, but unlike the Bones novels never lets it overwhelm the tale. While I could nitpick about a few sudden (if minor) leaps in logic or the skills of the four teenagers being just a bit much to believe, none of that really matters in the end. Ms. Reichs crafts a quick, easy to read story that just flashes by page after page. The tale flows extremely well and makes the entire book hard to put down. I actually read the last two hundred pages in one sitting, an odd occurence for someone so used to reading different things at once. But Tory and friends’ tale is just compelling enough to keep you turning that page.

This book seems clearly set to be the beginning of a series (and maybe a set up for another TV pilot as I could definitely see it easily turned in to a overly-pretty-cast mix of Gossip Girl and Veronica Mars. Still on its own, Virals is an enjoyable read and that’s why it is Recommended.

Super-Powered Prose: Iron Man Femmes Fatales

When Iron Man heated up the box office two years ago, I expected a flood of mass market tie-ins over the next year or so. I got... a little. Lots of t-shirts, a few strange collectibles, and all the collections Marvel could figure out to produce.

It wasn’t until a few months ago that we finally got the first original Iron Man novel in over a decade. The author, Robert Greenberger, is probably familiar to long time comic fans as an editor at DC, most notably on their line of Star Trek comics. Since those days he has wrote several Star Trek novels, and that apparently made Del Rey and Marvel pick him as the best bet to write Iron Man: Femmes Fatales.

The first thing I want to say is I don’t really no the plural to femme fatale, but even if it is femmes fatales, that seems rather awkward. I would choose Femme Fatales and let those who know better nitpick while the rest of us don’t have to look at what seems like a very strange title.

That aside, Iron Man: Femmes Fatales, takes an interesting ploy to its production. It is cleary an attempt to tell an “untold tale” of the Marvel Comics Iron Man from very early in his career. He is helping SHIELD through its formation and armament which includes meeting the likes of Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, and Gabe Jones for the first time. This fits in to silver age continuity, albeit a bit awkwardly, as when SHIELD first appeared, Tony Stark was their weapons provider. But if feels very strange to establish Iron Man and the Avengers in a world where SHIELD hasn’t yet formed. Perhaps it’s the movie or Ultimates continuity twisting things around, but it seems like SHIELD should come first, but I digress.

Tony’s involvement with SHIELD brings Stark Industries under attack by two separate threats, both lead by a beautiful young woman in disguise. One is the woman known as Madame Hydra, a.k.a. the future Viper. She has taken control of a faction of Hydra in Strucker’s absence and is bent on bringing it as much power as she can muster. Meanwhile, Madame Masque uses her mastery of disguise to sneak in to Stark Industries and steal technological secrets for her father Count Nefaria and his Maggia.

These two incidents cause repeated problems for both Tony Stark and his alter ego of Iron Man, but one of this novel’s biggest flaws is that the threats never seem big enough. Iron Man has been established as immensely powerful, but he rarely fights anything past skilled soldiers and terrorists in this book, A more powerful or technological threat would have done wonders.

The other flaw is the huge continuity hole Greenberger acknowledges in his afterword. Despite being a clear attempt at insertion in to regular Marvel Comic, Greenberger decided to drop Tony’s secret identity, much like the film did at its completion. In the comics, Tony would not reveal his identity for several more years (or decades in real world time). It comes off as very disconcerting for any long time comic reader.

Iron Man: Femmes Fatales is a mixed bag. The storytelling is good and Greenberger can write spy intrigue quite well. But the meat of the plot and character progression feels hollow at best. The story’s tendency to wander between characters at random occasionally causes problems as well.

All in all, Femmes Fatales isn’t a bad novel, but it never really strives to achieve any level of greatness. If you’re a true blue, dyed red and gold, Iron Man fan I would say go get this one. Otherwise go pick up one of the new Wild Cards novels instead. Not Recommended (unless you’re an Iron Man fan).

Super-Powered Comics: Diamond Destinations for March 2010

I have wasted not an ounce of time this month and can proudly say I have brought my monthly Previews recap to you literally a day after its release. Here are the new and continuing superhero series I find most notable, as well as some of the zanier item you might come across. As always, your comments are welcome.

p. 56: Ghost 12” Action Figure: A beautifully sculpted figure, but I can’t really say I see a lot of demand for a comic character Dark Horse hasn’t even published for the better part of ten years. Especially with a $100 price tag.

p. 73: DC Universe Legacies 1 (of 10): This is Len Wein’s new take on the History of the DCU aiding in the first issue by Andy and Joe Kubert. The art is sure to stun, but Wein’s writing left me flat recently on Human Target and Justice League of America. This could be really hit or miss.

p. 82: Mighty Crusaders Special 1: “The Red Circle” has been hit or miss so far. Sales haven’t been too good either. But DC is trying to push the line further with this special. I actually hope that we don’t get a Crusaders team out of this book. I think many of the reimaginings DC has created have been weak at best, and neither Inferno nor Hangman seem designed for super-team use. I hope this book succeeds and for $5 for 56 pages, it seems to be a pretty good deal.

p. 83: Legion of Super-Heroes 1: My only complaint with this issue as with the debut of the new Flash book is that they didn’t resume the old numbering. But Levitz made this team what they are today and if anyone can keep that spirit alive, it will be him. Yildiray Cinar is a great artist. His work on Noble Causes was nothing short of amazing. This book has the potential to launch him in to superstardom, much as the Legion did for Olivier Coipel several years ago.

p. 113: I, Zombie 1: I am still not sure what to make of this book. The story in last years House of Mystery Annual didn’t give much of a hint of the book’s direction. But with Mike Allred art for $1, no one should pass up the first issue of this!

p. 148: Shadowhawk 1: The dead have risen in the pages of Image United and it seems in the aftermath of that event, Paul Johnstone, the classic back-breaking Shadowhawk is back. The book promises to almost certainly have a dark tone as horror writer Dan Wickline and former Violent Messiahs artist Tone Rodriguez are the creative team. Steve Niles and creator Jim Valentino provide the back-up story. I would have preferred a full book from Valentino, but this book definitely has an interesting concept behind it. How it plays out will determine how long this new take on the character can survive.

p. 154: Astounding Wolf-Man 25: It is by no means the book to start reading the title with, but the adventures of Wolf-Man come to an end with this issue. Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard did some crazy things with this title, but I don’t think it ever reached the heights that most of Kirkman’s work can reach. Instead it just felt like Invincible-light. But even Invincible-light is better than many of the books on the stands. Goodbye, Wolf-Man. Let’s hope Kirkman & Howard’s next project can top you!

p. 172: Velocity 1: I am usually generous with Top Cow, but this book is a load of crap. Over two years after being selected for Pilot Season, over a year since Joe Casey and ChrisCross were unceremoniously dumped from the project while somewhere on issue two, Top Cow introduces the four issue limited series with the new creative team of Ron Marz and Kenneth Rocafort. While I like most of Marz’s Top Cow work, his previous Cyberforce work felt phoned-in. And I just cannot get behind the art style of Rocafort. He may be someone’s cup of tea, but he isn’t mine. And to make me just a little more grumpy, we included ChrisCross cover from the previous series as the variant. Classy, Top Cow. Classy. (FYI: When this comic was solicited fifteen months ago, the ChrisCross cover was the regular cover and the Rocafort was the variant. Glad to see they didn’t let them go to waste.)



p. M8: Astonishing X-Men: XenoGenesis 1 (of 5): The idea of running this book as a series of miniseries is a good one, but that isn’t the reason I posted this. I mostly wanted to show off the cover image by series artist Kaare Andrews. While the vagina-exposing costume of the White Queen seems a bit preposterous, I have much respect for the return of mohawked Storm. Bravo, Mr. Andrews. Bravo.

p. M34: Atlas 1: In case you haven’t heard (and if you are a comics fan I can’t imagine how you missed it), May begins the Heroic Age at Marvel. They have promoted a whole bunch of new titles for this month, but the one everyone really needs to buy is this one. Agents of Atlas was probably the greatest concept Marvel has released in the last five years, and the death of the last book still irks me. Now here is your chance to rectify that mistake. Go buy the new book, complete with new member 3-D Man! Finally everyone can experience the awesome.

p. 232-233: Green Hornet Strikes 1 and Kato Origins 1: Hi, Dynamite, nice to see you today. I have something to tell you for the sake of honesty. You may be producing too many Green Hornet titles. With these two books, the total comes up to five. And honestly, we all know Kato does not need two books. Now let’s get it under control, especially since you seem to think they are all worth $4. (They’re not.) Thanks for your time, see you later.

p. 242: Wild Cards: The Hard Call 6: Damn it, it may be over a year later, at a new publisher, and a $1 more expensive, but I have much respect for Dynamite when they made sure they got this book out. I dreaded the thought that I would have to get a collected edition just to read this, so despite my mockery of your Green Hornet obsession above, thank you, Dynamite Entertainment.

p. 277: Tales of the TMNT 70: This right here is it. The end of TMNT as we know it. The final issue of Mirage’s book takes us back to the time of the epic “Return to New York” storyline. The issue is totally standalone, so I highly recommend everyone go out and buy it, just to celebrate the decades of Turtle action Mirage has given us.

p. 292: WWE Heroes 3: Did WWE not learn when Benoit died that having a death storyline in a world where death comes far too often isn’t so hot an idea? Apparently not from the look of this cover.

p. 319: May looks to be a good month for super-powered fiction with two new titles, the steampunk hero of George Mann’s Ghost of Manhattan and Chelsea M. Campbell’s super-villain fueled Rise of Renegade X. So be sure to flip to the Book section and give these titles a once over.

p. 380: Tru Blood Soda: Proof that there is such a thing as too many marketing tie-ins. And it’s only $6 a bottle!

Super-Powered Prose: Busted Flush A Wild Cards Novel

I have just wrapped up reading Busted Flush the latest book in the quintessential series of super-powered fiction, Wild Cards. The nineteenth book in the franchise follows directly after the events of last year’s Inside Straight, and continues to look at the stories of the new young heroes that have formed the UN’s official super-team, The Committee.

For the most part, this book maintains the short story format of previous formats, but each story interacts with the other stories to produce an ongoing narrative that advances the shared unvierse forward once again.

Though the series is nominally edited by George R. R. Martin (whose name makes up the largest text on the cover), Martin’s hand in this process seems negligible. He didn’t contribute a single tale to this volume, and (I assume just like earlier volumes) Melinda M. Snodgrass’s assistant editing consisted of most of the busy work on the project. But if GRRM’s name helps sell books, more power to them. I would like to see the revamped franchise continue for some time to come.

The aformentioned Ms. Snodgrass produces the book’s framing sequence and main story featuring her new character Double Helix. Able to teleport and change shape, she plays a part in just about every major story of the book, from strife in Africa, a battle over oil in the Middle East, or flood damaged New Orleans, Double Helix is a player in it all as she plays multiple sides of the world’s government.

Caroline Spector brings back the Amazing Bubbles from the last volume as does Carrie Vaughn with Curveball. Neither really produces much character development over the course of the story, but Spector does give us an interesting new(?) character in the form of Hoodoo Mama, an ace that can summon corpses in great number to form her own zombie army.

Ian Tregillis and Walter Simons team up to introduce the sad characters of Niobe and Drake, but both actually play greater roles in other stories than their own.

Some of the older characters like Kevin Andrew Murphy’s Cameo and Victor Milan’s The Radical (who debuted in the first Wild Cards book) come back in new and different ways. One plays an important role in the Committee while the other becomes a major player in the WC universe.

S.L. Farrell gives us another lackluster tale of Drummer Boy, and just like the previous volume he remains a more compelling character in other writers’ hands.

Another old-school Wild Cards writer John Jos. Miller returns with a tale of Carnifex. Billy Ray is now in charge of SCARE, the organization responsible for arresting rogue American aces. The tale is all right, but bland by his usual standards.

Though the book is riddled with some long winded and unnecessary sections, overall the product maintains quality. The new and improved Wild Cards universe still seems weak compared to the first six or so volumes of the franchise, but the characters finally start coming in to their own in Busted Flush. The book never excels, but it does give a solid piece of super-powered fiction we can all enjoy. Hopefully the third (and I pray not final) book, due next year, should give us some more insight in to the new generation of heroes. Until then, make sure to check out Busted Flush; it definitely ranks a solid Recommendation.

Super-Powered Prose: Witchblade A Terrible Beauty

So I finally got around to reading Witchblade: A Terrible Beauty, the second half of the Witchblade Combo book. I reviewed the lackluster Talons, the book’s first half a few months back.

While Talons seemed to be about a sort-of-werewolf, John J. Miller’s A Terrible Beauty takes us in to the underbelly of New York City’s voodoo culture. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away as I actually recommend this half of the book, but it revolves around a string of murders affecting the Haitian community. Sara and Jake go to investigate, which gives them a lot of insites in to the culture while they also begin to fall deeper and deeper in to the dark happenings of the culture.

The Witchblade almost becomes a character of its own in this story, as it constantly whispers to Sara. But she only rarely acts on its suggestions. The weapon barely gets used in the course of the novel, almost as if Miller grafted it in to his already half-prepared script. Even so, A Terrible Beauty is a good book. Super-powered fiction and Witchblade fans should check it out when they get the chance.

Super-Powered Prose: Witchblade Talons

I picked this one up at my local Half Price Books (to which I suggest anyone in the area of one immediately go check out for their awesome selection of old goodies). It came in a two book “combo” with another Witchblade novel, which I will cover sometime when I finish it.

Talons is written by John DeChancie whose name sounds familiar, but I really couldn’t remember from where. (A quick Amazon search makes me realize I remember him from a so-so Castle Falkenstein novel from years back. Not exactly the best pedigree for good super-powered fiction.)

The novel is a strange blend of the below average Witchblade TNT series from a few years back and the above average Paul Jenkins-era comic series. It works in some ways, but in others not so much.

Sara Pezzini, bearer of the Witchblade, finds herself embroiled in a mess of a story involving the Triads, the Russian mob, a hitman, an interdimensional cult, a dragon, a techno-sorceror named Merlin, and semi-regular villians/allies Ian Nottingham and Kenneth Irons. All this is slammed in to a two hundred fifty page story that sees Sarah framed for crimes she didn’t commit. It isn’t a bad story, but it falls flat on its face as too many disparate elements try to connect but never really manage it.

The witchblade itself barely plays a role in most of the story, only popping up for the big battle at the end with a surprise legendary villain. She ends up using the weapon in one of the worst thought out ideas I think I have ever seen: to (somehow) fly. I know the witchblade is impressive in its power, but that definitely isn’t anything I have ever seen it due outside this book. And let’s all be honest with yourselves, if the magical artifact grafted to your arm could make you fly, you would almost certainly use it more often.

Talons isn’t a bad book, and considering I got it and A Terrible Beauty in one collection for three and a half bucks, it was a pretty good deal. But I think ibooks, who in their day made some far better licensed super-powered fiction in their time, could have made a far better first effort than this one.

Here’s hoping Wild Cards veteran John J. Miller can give us a little more to work with for the next book.