March
14,
2008
So I’m reading Brian Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man, vol. 19: Death of a Goblin
, and I realize that I really haven’t been giving Bendis enough credit for this title. The thing is, the guy is just so prolific that he inevitably writes some mediocre (or even just plain awful) stuff, and it’s tempting to dismiss him as a hack. But he’s really not. At his best — which he has been consistently through the 117 issues of this series so far — he’s one of the best superhero writers ever.
And in fact, I’m going to go so far as to say that if you evaluate a series by average issue quality over its run, Ultimate Spider-Man may actually be the best superhero title of all time, and that’s nearly certain if you restrict it to titles with more than 100 issues. Everything that comics do wrong, Bendis neatly avoids; everything they do right, he amplifies and expands on to make it even better.
So hats off to Bendis for a remarkable sustained accomplishment. (And oh yeah, there’s also a different artist in this volume, only the second artist of the series’ entire run. He’s fine.)
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March
14,
2008
Matthew Hughes’ Fools Errant and Fool Me Twice
are prequels to his Henghis Hapthorn books.
Only not really “prequels” because they were written before the
Hapthorn books, but I’ve never gotten anyone to give me a word that
means the opposite of sequel, so let’s just go with prequel for now.
As far as actual reading order goes, either way is fine; if you read
these first, the Hapthorn books will illuminate certain facets of the
world that were glanced over here; if you read those first, vice
versa.
I mentioned in my entries about the Hapthorn books that Hughes was
writing in a milieu reminiscent of Vance, and that’s doubly true with
these books. Structurally, Fools Errant is basically
Eyes of the
Overworld
, featuring a hapless/clever protagonist gadding
about the world and getting into episodic adventures in strange and
unusual lands — but where Cugel was amoral and left destruction in his
wake, Filidor Vesh is a kind-hearted fellow who leaves improvement and
beneficial change in his wake. Different too is that Hughes’ books
have more narrative cohesion and character development to them.
They’re not just series of episodes, they’re episodes that
build up to larger revelations and developments in a way that Vance
never quite did.
Hughes may not have quite the stylistic verve and rampant
originality of Vance, but who does? Setting aside that imposing and
unfair comparison, Hughes is a great stylist and incredibly original.
If you’re looking for a light, witty adventure story, a guilty
pleasure without the guilt, you’ll want to track these books down.
(They’re out of print, but not hard to find; there’s also a book club
omnibus version, entitled Gullible’s Travels.)
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March
14,
2008
Jo Walton’s Ha’Penny
is the sequel to her WW2 alternate history English countryside murder mystery,
Farthing
. I didn’t say a lot about that book in my booklog entry for it, because it’s the sort of book whose impact can be dulled even by knowing the general shape and tenor of the story, where even talking about what genre it’s in can tell you more than you should really know.
(And man, talking in circumlocution is difficult. Just go read it and make life easier for me already. I miss my proper nouns.)
Anyway, Ha’Penny. In a lot of ways, it really is Farthing II: The Revenge; it’s a very direct sequel (happening nearly immediately afterward), it features some characters from the first book and some other characters who are reminiscent of the characters in the first book, and it has similar concerns and themes. But it is ultimately a different book entirely. The genre is alternate history crossed with intrigue thriller, rather than the alternate history crossed with countryside murder mystery of the first novel; the new characters are, despite superficial similarities, different from those of the first; and the shape and feel of the story is very middle-bookish. Farthing felt like a stand-alone novel, but this one feels incomplete without both that first book and the upcoming third.
Ultimately, “middle book of a great trilogy” is an accurate (if optimistically forward-looking) description of this book. If you’ve read and liked Farthing, I can’t imagine a reason not to read this; if you haven’t, you should.
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March
1,
2008
As much as comic books and superheroes are historically tightly associated, comic books sans superhero pop up all the time these days. But what you don’t see very often is superhero sans comic book, which makes Austin Grossman’s Soon I Will Be Invincible
a bit of a novelty.
The book tells the tale of a super-villain who breaks out of jail and tries to take over the world via an elaborate and cunning plan, and the team of superheroes who try to stop him. It’s a first-person narration, split between the supervillain himself, and a second-tier hero who’s recently made the big time and joined the team. I expected the book to be self-aware, wink-and-nudge metafiction, and there was certainly a solid amount of that; but what’s remarkable is that, along with all the meta stuff, Grossman ultimately is telling a straight-up story about a super-villain trying to take over the world. That’s unexpectedly nifty.
That said, I can’t bring myself to rave about the book. It’s apparently Grossman’s first novel, and it shows. There are some awkward patches of dialogue where it’s not clear who’s saying what; there’s a lot of meandering and repetitive reflection that throws off the pacing and gives the impression of an incomplete revision; and some of the thematic stuff just doesn’t quite work, all setup and no payoff.
Ultimately, my verdict is that if you loved Watchmen, you’ll like this. It’s doing a lot of the same stuff Moore did, but not as well (though admittedly with more comedic verve, which is never really Moore’s strong point). Good, but not great.
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