If the last book was about setting up the body-swapping Jumpers as major villains, this book is about revealing the full scope of their agenda. The previous volume revealed that the Jumpers are allied with Joker revolutionary known as Bloat, who has occupied Ellis Island and turned it into the Joker safe haven known as the Rox. In Jokertown Shuffle, Bloat and the Jumpers put their plan into action, a extortion scheme in which the wealthy are imprisoned in the bodies of Jokers with only two options: do the bidding of their captors or spend the rest of their lives as a deformed freak.
There are two interstitial stories in this one are "The Temptation of Herionomous Bloat" (by Stephen Leigh; starring Theodor Honorlaw/Bloat) and "Lovers" (by Melinda Snodgrass; starring Dr. Tachyon). We'll discuss "The Temptation" first since that's more pleasant of the two stories.
"The Temptation" give us a first look into the mind of Bloat who, in something of first for Wild Cards, is a major antagonist who is a sympathetic character. The Joker revolutionary is a teenager whose telepathic abilities come with the downside of being trapped in a gigantic immobile body. In this story, he has to navigate his tenuous alliance with the Jumpers while holding off the authorities as they attempt to reclaim the Rox. Meanwhile, his power is stating to grow in unexpected ways. It's a humanizing story for character who had been presented as a more repulsive character in the last book.
Unfortunately, it suffers by being intertwined with "Lovers." At the end of the last book, Dr. Tachyon's grandson, Blaise, had become a Jumper. In this book, he put his new power to use by trapping Tachyon in the body of a teenage girl and imprisoning him on the Rox. Even though Bloat personally admires Tachyon, he is powerless to prevent Blaise from going to truly repulsive lengths to get his revenge.
"Lovers" is the answer to the question what if The Accused was a superhero story. That rather glib summary is the best way I feel to discuss a story that delves into topics I would rather not discuss on this blog. Even if those topics are worthy of further analysis, the story itself is not. It offers very little other than Dr. Tachyon being tortured brutally, and at length, for several interminable passages. If I had to guess, the reason the fans of the series regard the Jumper arc as a low point is because they associate it mostly with this story which is just an unending painful slog to read though. Rating: "The Temptation of Heironomous Bloat" (1/5) and "Lovers" (0/5).
The other stories in this volume are:
"And Hope to Die" (written by John Jos. Miller; Starring Daniel Brennan/Yeoman): Since Book Seven, Daniel Brennan had been in semi-retirement from his career as the vigilante Yeoman. Unfortunately, this retirement is shattered when the Shadow Fist Society reemerges, leaving his lover, the Ace known as Wrath, in a coma. Yeoman's subsequent quest to heal his girlfriend ultimately leads him to a final confrontation with his nemesis Kien Phuc, fresh off of faking his death in the previous book. This story works fine as as a coda for Yeoman. It gives his personal journey a satisfying resolution and is the logical end to his character arc. Unfortunately, as the end of the long running Shadow Fist story line, it falls flat. The previous books have spent a lot of time building up the criminal organization as credible antagonists. To see them written out in a single story so that the series can deal with other subplots seem like all the setup went to waste. And don't get me started on Trace, the mysterious new character who is set up to be important and then is never seen again. Rating: 2/5.
"Madmen Across the Water" (written by Victor Milan: Starring Mark Meadows/ Captain Trips): The last book put Captain Trip through Hell as he lost custody of his daughter and became a wanted fugitive. Now hiding out on the Rox, the drug powered Ace puts in motion a rescue operation to break his daughter out of state custody while also having to contend with Blaise and the Jumpers. This is, by far, the best story in this volume. Trips and his alter egos are always fun and, unlike the stories in the early books which were more about introducing the character, this story has genuine personal stakes with the character having to make life altering decisions. I found Trips' attempts to bond with a young Jumper genuinely heartbreaking and, in a book like this, anything that can make me feel something is good. Rating: 4/5.
"While Night’s Black Agents to Their Prey Do Rouse" (written by Walter John Williams: Starring Neil Langford/Black Shadow): The second best story in this book. Way back in Book Five, it was revealed that a pair of background characters were actually the same person, false identities assumed by an unknown Ace. Here, the identity of that Ace is revealed as Black Shadow or "Shad", an Ace vigilante who briefly appeared back in the very first book. Wanted by the police for his vigilantism, Shad assumes multiple personas in his war against crime. In this story, a request for help from an old friend sets him against the Jumpers. Shad is a fun character and sometimes its nice to see a Wild Cards character who is more of an old school superhero, wearing a costume and fighting crime. It also gives us a look at how the civilians of the Wild Cards universe are impacted by the Jumper's extortion scheme which has the effect of humanizing the conflict. Unfortunately, Shad's relationship with the Joker Chalktalk has some disturbing consent issues (more on her end than his), which given the other stories in this book, ultimately make for an uncomfortable read and taints what is otherwise a good story. Rating: 3/5.
Riders (written by Lewis Shiner: Starring Veronica): In the previous book, former prostitute Veronica lived through the death of her girlfriend and discovered that she is an Ace. Now armed with the ability to suck the life from men, which is a bit on the nose, Veronica falls in with the radical feminist group WORSE, acting as a vigilante to right wrongs against women. However, she soon becomes suspicious of WORSE's motivations and, much to her horror, discovers that they have a connection to the Jumpers. This story is better then Veronica's last outing. Unfortunately, it's a pretty bland read, as it is mostly watching Veronica discover things and learn things the audience already knows. It feels like the author's heart wasn't in this story. In fact, claiming it is a story is a little generous as it is more like set-up for the next story, ending on cliffhanger that leads directly into---
Nobody Does it Alone (written be Walton Simons: Starring Jerry Strauss/Mr. Nobody): In the last book, Jerry Strauss, the shape-shifting Ace also known as Mr. Nobody discovered that crooked lawyer, St. John "Loophole" Latham was Prime, the leader of the Jumpers. Unfortunately, Jerry failed to his attempt to kill Prime, barely escaping with his life. In this story, Jerry returns for Round Two. On one hand, the story does conclude the character journey that Mr. Nobody began in One Eyed Jacks. However, one can't shake the feeling that this story would have worked better in the previous book where Mr. Nobody was arguably the central character where here he's relegated to a short story -- and even that story is the direct continuation of another character's story. "Nobody Does it Alone" doesn't have enough space to breathe with all the subplots in the book and thus, Jerry's story kind of get lost in the shuffle. Rating: Riders (2/5) and Nobody Does it Alone (3/5).
In addition, two more stories were added when the book was republished in 2019:
The Unintended (written by Cherie Priest: Starring Leo Storgman/Ramshead): When he first appeared in the 2011 Wild Cards novel, Fort Freak, horn headed Joker policeman Leo Storgman a.k.a. Ramshead was an old man on the verge of retirement. Like fellow character, the Magpie, this made it easier to insert the character in stories set in the past when the earlier books when they were republished. Here, the younger Storgman investigates the aftermath of incidents shown in other stories in the books, only to discover that his precinct had been infiltrated by Jumpers. This story is a welcome addition to the book, showing how genuinely unsettling the Jumpers can be as Leo has to determine which of his co-workers have been replaced. Furthermore, Leo relative lack of superpowers means that he has to rely on ingenuity and luck to triumph, enhancing the suspense. Rating: 4/5.
Unravelling (written by Caroline Spector: Starring Joanne Jefferson/Lady Black): A direct sequel to the Lady Black story from the last book, this story details the energy absorbing Ace's continued investigation into the happenings at the Rox. More of a character piece than the other stories in this volume, "Unraveling" doesn't add much to the overall narrative except for some additional insight into Bloat's background. Although Lady Black works for a government super-hero team, her professional woes are all to to grounded in real wold concerns: As an African-American woman, her insights and concerns are overlooked by her white supervisors. While its a topic worth exploring, unfortunately, the story didn't do much for me. I don't feel like it added much that was new to the overarching storyline and it wasn't super compelling as a stand alone story. Ultimately, I feel kind of indifferent to it. Rating: 3/5.This book is the series low point and that is largely due to "Lovers." It's a overly violent slog of a story filled that filled with brutal violence against a female-bodied character. In fairness, gendered violence is one of the flaws of the series, especially in the early books but, even so, at least those books had other things going on in them. "Lovers" makes it the primary focus of the story and the fact that it was written by female author does not make it better.
Unfortunately, because "Lovers" is the story on which much of the central narrative is predicated it winds up dragging the rest of the book down. Many of the stories wind up connecting to it in some way which means that none of them can escape its shadow. Even the good stories aren't good enough to make up for how bad "Lovers" is. Fortunately, there is light at the end of the tunnel as the next book takes the series to a whole new place.
Addenda: Not much in this book. Zelda, one of the jumpers, is paralyzed which sets up her status quo two books down the line.
