Wild At Heart: A Wild Cards Retrospective- Book VI: Ace in the Hole

"Wild Cards Book VI: Ace in the Hole" and it follow-up, "Wild Cards Book VII: Dead Man's Hand", are the series at its best. To talk about why, we need to talk a little bit about the history of the book. The original plan with Wild Cards Book VI was to structure it much like Book III: As a novel with multiple POV characters whose stories would intersect rather then the anthology format of the previous two books.

Book VII was conceived as a much more complex novel: with eight characters and seven writers divided up into two major plot arcs. Six of the stories would primarily deal with  the first major plot arc which would see Greg Hartman, the evil ace known as Puppetman, attempt to become the Democratic nominee for president. Two of the stories would deal with the second plot arc, a murder mystery of sorts where the heroes investigated the death of long time supporting cast member, Chrysalis.

It was, ultimately, to much to contain in a single book. (The original manuscript was supposedly over 1,000 pages long.) Fortunately, the two writers handling the murder mystery story had written enough material to fill a book on its own. And thus, what was one once one book became two.

This means that, unlike Book III, Book VI has the benefit of a singular focus: the heroes and villains of Wild Cards attending the 1988 Democratic Convention. Gregg Hartman, the emotion manipulating Puppetman, (written by Stephen Leigh) is finally making his play for the Democratic nomination. His public commitment to jokers' rights and his public persona as a compassionate politician have duped the heroic aces and convention delegates Jack Braun, aka, Golden Boy (written by Walter John Williams) and Dr. Tachyon (written by Melinda Snodgrass) into supporting him. Meanwhile, Hartman has sent his henchman, the intangible killer who calls himself Mackie Messer (written by Victor Milan) to tie up any loose ends that can expose his alter-ego. Unfortunately, he also has to deal with Sarah Morganstern (also written by Milan), a reporter who is one of the last living people to know his secret, and Demise (written by Walton Simons), an ace assassin who has been hired to kill him.

This book manges to effectively combine political thriller with superhero story, a combination that yields excellent results. It is the perhaps the only superhero book to take an in-depth look at the back room deals and compromises that go into selecting a presidential nominee. However, the book also doesn't skimp on the superhero action with multiple great fight scenes and an unconventional ending thats a little more nuanced then the usual "hero beats villain."

This is not to say that everything is great. Dr. Tachyon is at his worst here, willfully ignoring signs that Hartman is evil including several characters outright telling him so until you want to reach into the book and slap him. (His treatment of women, while never great also reaches an all time low here). Furthermore, the decision to split one book into two has an impact on the narrative structure: The discovery of key evidence against Hartman occurs during the murder mystery plot line which means that it is covered in the next book. In practical terms, that means that Book VI has a deus ex machina where a character who has not previously been in the book suddenly appears with an important plot device.


Really, this book is the villain's show the whole way through. In some ways, Gregg Hartman's greatest ability is not his super-powers, bur rather his ability to make other people believe he is a good man. This actually leaves the heroes in the position of having to oppose a beloved public figure, one whose defeat may ironically cause irreparable damage to aces and jokers alike, but whose victory would be even worse. This leaves the heroes genuinely having to struggle with a genuinely impossible choice.

However, the real stand out character this time is Demise. The eternally put-upon ace assassin has never been more relatable, operating by a twisted code of honor which renders him somewhat sympathetic while still being a completely irredeemable lunatic. (The fact that, by this point in the series, he only kills irritating people helps. One of the best sequences involves him disposing of a street mime in a hilarious fashion). He also gets a few moments which provide some insight into who he was before he became a killer and give him an oddly touching motivation for his actions in the story.

All in all,  the weaker parts of the book are minor and the excellent parts are really excellent.  This book is definitely one of the strongest book in the series. Book VI is a good read but would Book VII be able to keep up the energy. To find out, read the next part.

Addendum: To say too much would count as a spoiler. Really the only major character introduction of note is the ace Topper who can pull any item she needs out of her top hat. She appear in later books and play a major role in a story in the later book "Deuces Down."

Wild at Heart: A Wild Cards Retrospective - Book V: Down and Dirty

Since the last Wild Cards book went all the way around the world, Wild Cards Book V: Down and Dirty returns the action to New York to check in with members of the cast who weren't in the last book. This means we get to check in on  long standing heroes like the Turtle, Yeoman, and the Sleeper, among others. We also get introduced to our first joker super-hero, Quasiman, and the events of this book would, for good or ill, change the direction of Wild Cards forever, setting up the long running "Rox" storyline that ended the series' initial run.

For now, however, the series was on the second part of the "Puppetman Quartet." Ironically, the villain this storyline was named after is barely in this book. Instead, the set-up this time is that a gang war has broken out between the super-powered Shadow Fist Society criminal organization and the Gambione crime family. When this war threatens the people of Jokertown, Dr. Tachyon assembles of group of joker-aces, jokers with super-powers, to fight off both gangs.

Or that would have been the plot if the publisher hadn't rejected it out of hand for being to derivative of similar plots in other works begin published at the time. Thus, George R.R. Martin amended the pitch to include a second overarching plot. In addition to the gang war, the new plot would see Croyd Crenson, the Sleeper, become a carrier for the Wild Card virus, infecting and re-infecting anyone he came into contact with. This causes a massive outbreak in the middle of the city that the aces have to deal with. These two plots come together with mixed results as we will see.

In a big change from previous books, the interstitial stories take up the bulk of the book this time. They are:

Only the Dead Know Jokertown (by John Joseph Miller, starring Daniel Brennan/Yeoman): The return to New York begins with the re-introduction of non-powered vigilante, Yeoman, as he goes undercover to takedown the Shadow Fists from within. The story has some questionable choices, most notably Yeoman's decision to impersonate an Asian man as part of his disguise. Still the question of how far Yeoman will go to get his vengeance on the Fists makes this story compelling. Furthermore, it is is the rare story that suggests that a vengeance-obsessed vigilante might be able to move past his trauma which makes the upbeat ending a welcome surprise especially given the grimness of the rest of the book. Rating: 4/5.

All the King's Horses (by George R.R. Martin, starring Thomas Tudbury/The Great and Powerful Turtle): The last time we saw the Turtle, at the end of Book III, he had barely survived the Astronomer's attack on New York's aces. With his armored shell destroyed, Thomas Tudbury, the Tutle's alter-ego has decided to retire. That is, of course, until he gets caught up in the Sleeper's Wild Card outbreak. This is, to put it bluntly, not George R.R. Martin's best work, which means it still a pretty good story if a bit predictable. If you read any comic book story where the hero decides to retire, you know how its going to end. Unfortunately, "All the King's Horses" never really lets us see the Turtle in action, saving that for later volumes, so his inevitable decision lacks even the emotional impact of the stories it emulates. Rating: 3/5.

Concerto for Siren and Serotonin (by Roger Zelazny, starring Croyd Crenson/ The Sleeper): The hardest story to review and also my favorite in the volume. It starts of with Croyd Crenson, the Sleeper, the ace whose appearance and powers change every time he wakes up, being recruited by the Gambiones as muscle. Unfortunately, midway through the book, it becomes apparent that everyone Croyd is meeting is getting infected with the Wild Card. Even worse, by that point in the book, the narcotics that Croyd relies on to regulate his sleep habits have rendered him paranoid, causing him to rampage throughout the city when the authorities try to bring him in for treatment. This is Roger Zelazny's best Sleeper story perhaps because it is more central to the books main plot then Zelazny's other contributions. I've mentioned that I find that Zelazny had a habit to talking about, rather than showing, the deleterious effects of Croyd's drug use on his mental state. This story rectifies that, showing Croyd at his worst. In a way, the superhero the Sleeper owe the most to is the Hulk: Sometimes on the side of the angels but just as often a force of destruction. Rating: 4/5.



Breakdown, Takedown, and "What Rough Beast ---" (by Leanne C. Harper, starring Suzanne Melotti/Bagabond): Since Book IV took place outside of New York, it meant that we didn't get to see either of the sewer dwelling ace heroes, Bagabond and Sewer Jack. That was probably for the best as the two characters never really seemed to mesh well with the other Wild Cards characters, kind of occupying their  own corner of the universe. The three interconnected stories, "Breakdown", "Takedown", and "What Rough Beast ---",  focus on Bagabond, the ace who can talk to animals, as she must ultimately choose between her friendship with Rosemary Muldoon, the head of the Gambione crime family, and her friendship with Sewer Jack and his niece. This story had the potential to be the emotional core of the book when the war between the Gambiones and the Shadow Fists was the main plot. However, with the decision to include the Sleeper storyline, Bagabond and her problems seem low-stakes compared to what's going on in the rest of the book.  Rating: 2/5.

Blood Ties (by Melinda M. Snodgrass, starring Dr. Tachyon): A counterpart to "Concerto for Siren and Seratonin", this story shows Dr. Tachyon struggling to raise his newly-discovered grandson after Book IV. When the conflict between the Shadow Fists and the Gambiones spills into Jokertown, Tachyon assembles a group of joker-aces into a neighborhood watch to keep the peace.  Very quickly, however, this gets sidetracked by the new Wild Card outbreak and Tachyon's goal soon shifts to using the team to bring in the rampaging Sleeper. The story continues the unfortunate regression of Tachyon's character, including one ridiculous scene where he literally has a temper tantrum like a five-year old, making it hard to root for him. However, once the Wild Card outbreak plot kicks in the story picks up, with Tachyon's efforts to capture the Sleeper providing a good counterpoint to the Sleeper's misadventures in his own story. The two stories work together provide most of the narrative weight for this outing. Rating: 4/5.

As always, there are also stand-alone stories which focus on other characters in the Wild Cards universe:

Jesus Was an Ace (by Arthur Byron Cover, introducing Quasiman and the Reverend Leo Barnett): For the first time in Wild Cards (not counting stories retroactively inserted into older books), we get to see a Joker hero: the teleporting hunchback Quasiman. Quasiman's power's cause him to fluctuate in both time and space, meaning that he owes almost as much to Billy Pilgrim as to other monstrous heroes like the Hulk and the Thing or even even his obvious antecedent, the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Quasiman's deal is that, as the groundskeeper at the Jokertown church, he is often sent to use his abilities to help others at the behest of the joker priest, Father Squid. Sent to prevent an assassination that will escalate the war between the Shadow Fists and the Mafia, Quasiman comes into contact with radical anti-Wild Cards priest, Leo Barnett. Barnett crates an interesting counterpart to Quasiman. Even though he is prejudiced against joker's and is not at religious as her pretends to be, he's not mindlessly evil and genuinely thinks he's doing the right thing. Unfortunately, this was Arthur Byron Cover's only story for Wild Cards and all of  Barnett's character nuance was ignored by later writers in favor of a more outright villainous portrayal. It's a shame because the character we meet is interesting. Rating: 4/5.

The Second Coming of Buddy Holly (by Edward Bryant, introducing starring Jack Robicheaux/ Sewer Jack and Cordelia Chaisson): Edward Bryant is a fan of Buddy Holly. He really wants you to know how awesome Buddy Holly is. And that as far as I can tell is why Buddy Holly is alive in the Wild Cards universe for no adequately explained reason. He just is and no attempt is ever made to explain why. The plot theoretically centers on were-alligator Sewer Jack begin asked to work security at a comeback concert and there's some vague attempt to connect it to the rest of the book but mostly this story is there to remind of us how awesome Buddy Holly is. And then, for no reason, it ends with a brutal sexual assault scene that comes out of nowhere and is tonally at odds with rest of the story. This is not the worst Wild Cards story I have ever read but it is close. Rating: 1/5.

The Hue of the Mind (by Stephen Leigh, starring Misha/ the Kahina and Greg Hartman/Puppetman): This volume's Puppetman story is harder to judge. At the end of the previous book, several people had discovered the secret of Senator Greg Hartman's alter ego. In this story, he sets about dealing with that problem with the aid of his new henchman, the homicidal ace Mackie Messer. Despite this being a Puppetman story, the character appears only briefly and the story is primarily told from he perspective of the Kahina, a Muslim ace with precognitive powers. Thus, Puppetman is more of hidden presence who preys on the characters from off screen before appearing for a bloody climax. Like the previous story, this story does end with a rather brutal scene of sexual assault, a trope I must confess I am not fond of. Here, at least, it feels organic to the characters and not simply gratuitous violence for violence's sake. I'm docking it a point for that but its its not enough to ruin the story for me. Rating: 3/5.

Addicted to Love (by Pat Caddigan, starring Jane Lillian Dow/Water Lilly): This story is probably even more horrific than the "Hue of a Mind." The hydrokinetic ace Water Lill gets her first story since book two. Unfortunately, it sees her become a "mount" of the joker, Ti Malice. We got to see the revolting parasite in Book IV but here we get a better idea of how his powers work: the people he preys on literally become addicted to his vampiric kiss and, thus, essentially become his slaves. This is a fairly obvious metaphor for drug addiction but it's well done. The lengths that Water Lilly goes to under Ti Malice's influence are harrowing especially with a character who had been a hero in previous volumes. (Nor is she the only hero to suffer under Malice's ministrations). This is an upsetting story but it's supposed to be. My main complaint is that it ends by setting up plot threads that are never paid off because, like many other writers, Pat Caddigan never wrote another Wild Cards story. Rating: 3/5.

Mortality (by Walter John Williams, starring Modular Man):  Walter John William, in my opinion, is the MVP of the Wild Card writers. "Witness", from the first volume, remains my favorite Wild Cards story and his stories maintain a consistent quality.  Basically, I'm always glad to see his name in a book. In Book III, William's android hero, Modular Man was another hero who came out the worse from a fight with the Astronomer.  In Book V, the rebuilt Modular Man has to deal with the trauma of "dying" as events conspire to being him into conflict with the Sleeper. Of the one-shot stories, this one has most to do with the main plot and even contains the climax of the Sleeper arc. It's also the most straightforward superhero story in the book which is not a criticism. A good solid story in a wildly uneven book is nothing to sneeze at. Rating: 4/5.

Book V just has too much going on in it. The storyline about the gang war competes for space with the Wild Card outbreak which competes with all the writer's trying to advance the individual characters story which competes with a bizarre hagiography of Buddy Holly. It's far from the worst book in the series (that's Book IX)  but it is one of the most uneven.

Furthermore, there really should be some long term changes to the Sleeper's character as a result of this story, especially since a) the outbreak he inadvertently kills thousands of people, and b) his story ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger. Other characters in the series have to deal with the consequences of their actions, but next time we see the Sleeper, he's back to his old self and everyone seems to be fine with that. This creates a strange discontinuity in later books where  the  Wild Card outbreak and his role in it are constantly mentioned but no one actually seems to blame him for it. ("Hey, man, remember the time you literally unleashed an alien virus in the middle of New York?  Crazy times, right, man?")

But that's all right as the next two books are the series at it's best. The end of the Puppetman storyline would begin in earnest with the next book, Ace in the Hole.

Addendum: The Sleeper outbreak affects several characters in different ways. Modular Man's creator, Dr. Trevnacek, gets turned into a joker and loses his intelligence. A minor character in this book, Shadow Fist lawyer, "Loophole" Latham, gets exposed to the virus, as does the protsitute Veronica. (This would be followed up on in the "Rox Triad" that begins with Book VIII).  As for important character introductions, in addition to Quasiman, the book introduces the Oddity, a joker-ace who is literally three people fused together, and Lazy Dragon, a Shadow Fist ace with the ability to animate carvings of animals that he makes himself. They'll each get a story later.  The book also introduces Mr. Gravemold, a joker-ace with cold powers, and the Wall Walker, a minor ace mentioned back in Book III, but quickly establishes that they are the same person. Why there is a new ace with multiple identities will be revealed in Book IX. We see more of Dr. Tachyon's grandson, Blaise, and get more confirmation that he's going to be a problem in the future. Finally, the book contains with Sewer Jack and Bagabond's last hurrah as viewpoint characters for a while.