Wild At Heart: A Wild Cards Retrospective- Black Trump

 Black Trump found the Wild Cards series in a strange place. For the first time since its inception, the series was about to find itself without a regular publisher. To give some perspective, before Black Trump, the series has been running continuously since 1987. After Black Trump, it would be seven more years before another book in the series was published.  As a result, the end of the Card Sharks series had the unenviable task of serving both as a coda to the ongoing series while keeping enough plot threads open so that Wild Cards could be resumed again in the future. Because of this the books in the series, this one is difficult to discuss without SPOILERS so expect them ahead.

The book itself pick up where the last one left off: The organization know as the Card Sharks has possession of three vials of the titular Black Trump, a lethal virus that targets people with the Wild Card virus. Senator Greg Hartmann (written by Stephen Leigh), trapped in the deformed body of a Joker at the end of the previous book, sets off with sympathetic human Hannah Davis to find the vials before they can be used.  Unfortunately, Hartmans' own Wild Cards powers are beginning to return and with them his evil alter ego, Puppetman, who has plans of his own for the pandemic. Hot on his trail is the Ace government agent Billy Ray aka Carnifex (written be John Jos. Miller) who has been sent to bring in Hartmann for questioning by a government more concerned with covering up the existence of the Black Trump than stopping it. Meanwhile, private detective Jay "Poppinjay" Ackroyd (written by George R.R. Martin) sets out on his own quest to find and destroy the vials while Mark Meadows, the transforming Ace know as Captain Trips (written by Victor Milan) is kidnapped by the Card Sharks and forced to use his biochemistry knowledge to help them perfect the Black Trump. Finally, young Ace Zoe Harris (written by Sage Walker) is forcibly recruited by the Joker terrorists know as the Twisted Fists to steal a nuclear bomb in a last-ditch attempt to threaten the Card Sharks with mutually assured destruction. 

As an ending to the Card Sharks triad, Black Trump largely works. The major story arcs are wrapped up; everything is tied up more or less in a neat bow at the end.  There are a few structural complaints: It's pretty clear that there were conflicting visions on the final fate of the Card Shark's leader, Dr. Pan Rudo. As a result, a new antagonist, Dr. Carter Jarnavon is unceremoniously introduced for the first time, primarily so that Poppinjay can have a mad scientist to face off in a long set-piece that call back to the very first Wild Cards story while Rudo was occupied in other plotlines. 

As for the plot-lines themselves, the standouts are the ones that focus on the long time characters with George R.R. Marin and Victor Milan's contributions being the best. Martin's story is an uncomplicated detective adventure tale while Milan gets to answer some long running questions from all the way Captain Trip's very first story. 

Stephen Leigh's  Gregg Hartman story is a strong third place with several unsettling sequences. Puppetman is a character whose escapades has always bordered on horror, and when he gets loose, it is suitably terrifying. Unfortunately, the story is framed as a redemption story for Hartman and, by this point, he's done too many terrible things even without his maniacal other self for that to really ring true. Furthermore, he spends too much time giving into Puppetman to make his final stand against his "darker side" seem authentic. Still, Leigh is a skilled enough writer that these flaws, while glaring, do not ruin the entire story. 

While Carnifex's plotline is serviceable, the real weak link here is Zoe Harris. It's pretty clear that there were at least tentative plans to have the character evolve from the wannabe hero shown in the last book to the next major Wild Cards villain. The problem is that the character is simply not sympathetic enough that the change comes as a major shock. (In all fairness, some of things Harris does were forgivable for a protagonist in the 90s but absolutely do not fly in 2022).  Furthermore, Harris simply doesn't make a credible villain. Compared to established antagonists like the Astronomer and Demise, her Wild Card abilities aren't that impressive and she lacks the resources of an organization like the Card Sharks. It's not really surprising that this storyline was abandoned and the character all but disappears from the books after this point. 

The end of the Card Sharks trilogy is --- good enough. It works largely as a wrap-up to major storylines and as a pause point for the series. Unfortunately, whether it was from the struggles with the publisher or just that the series had been ongoing for so long, there was a sense that the writers were running out of steam. Even though not everything is resolved, and future book are set up, Black Trump really does seem like a stopping point, like even the writers weren't sure where to go next. It would take two more books before the series found its new direction. 

Addendum: The British Ace organization, the Order of the Silver Helix, is introduced. We meet their leader Captain Flint, who will get his own story years down the line. Captain Trips ends the story having apparently permanently transformed into his Radical persona, who is now behaving erratically, which will be a big part of the later books. Gary Bushorn, the "Burning Man", who has a story in the next book makes a cameo appearance as pilot who  helps fly Gregg Hartman into Ireland.

Wild At Heart: A Wild Cards Retrospective- Marked Cards

The second part of any trilogy is always a tricky beast. By definition, it needs to move the plot forward without actually resolving it. If done well, it leaves the reader wanting more. If done poorly, it can stop the momentum of the story dead in its tracks and feel like the author didn't have enough material to fill three books. That's a hard task for a single author with a solid vision of where his or her story is going, let alone one with multiple authors all contributing their own ideas.

As a result, Marked Cards is a mixed bag creatively speaking. While none of the stories are exactly bad, some of them really don't seem to advance the story very much. That's not to say that this book is a complete waste of time. There are some good stories here but on the whole it is mostly average.

This time in there are two interstitial stories interspersed throughout the book:

The Color of his Skin (by Stephen Leigh) picks up right where the previous book , Card Sharks left off,  with the previous book's main character, Hannah Davis taking her evidence of the Card Shark's existence to Senator Gregg Hartman, formerly the villainous Puppetman. Seeking redemption, Hartman decides to help her cause, but finds that the Card Sharks have recruited the body-swapping Jumpers to their side and finds himself trapped in the body of a Joker and framed for murder.  What made Hartman an effective villain in earlier Wild Cards story was his ability to pose as a good person, even more so than his superpowers. This story raises the stakes by showing how Hartman copes when he is stripped of his greatest asset. Rating: 4/5.

Feeding Frenzy (by Walter Jon Williams: starring Neil Langford/ Black Shadow): Last time we saw Ace vigilante Black Shadow. he was being arrested after being framed for multiple crimes by the Jumpers. In this story, he breaks out of prison to settle the score. Unfortunately, the remaining Jumpers have thrown their lot in with the Card Sharks and Black Shadow soon finds himself fighting a conspiracy to body-jack the president of the United States.  This story is a good action story that makes a valiant attempt to tie in to the overarching narrative. The first half of the story begins with a villain prison break (one of my favorite genre tropes) and ties in with Senator Hartman's ongoing narrative. The second half of the story -- well -- it's hard to shake the feeling (SPOILERS) that "Feeding Frenzy" was more about making sure that the Jumpers never appeared in Wild Cards again. There was, by this point in the series, among both the fans and the writers themselves, the belief that the Jumpers sub-plot been around for to long. "Feeding Frenzy" definitively closes the chapter on these characters, in a way that reminds one of Poochie from the Simpsons. In the end the story isn't bad, (Williams is to skilled a writer) but it's hard not to be aware that the story is more about a bit of series housekeeping rather than advancing the plot. Rating: 3.5/5.

The one -off stories in this book include:

Two of a Kind (by Walton Simons, starring Jerry Strauss/ Mr. Nobody): When he  last appeared  shape-shifting ace, Mr. Nobody, was being swept away to his apparent death in a flooding tunnel. In this book, it's revealed that he survived his apparent demise and has gone into business with as a private detective, partnering with Jay Ackroyd aka Poppinjay. In this story, he is hired to investigate the Card Sharks only to discover a plan to steal a live sample of the Wild Card virus. As a Wild Cards story, this one is average: the superhero stuff generally works.  Unfortunately, on the character level, it's unsatisfying. Mr. Nobody's whole personality is that he is  chronically insecure and beset by girl problems. This whole schtick can be grating, and in this story, it's particularly annoying. In the end, not the weakest story in the book but not the best either. Rating: 3/5.

My Sweet Lord (by Victor Milan: starring Mark Meadows/ Captain Trips and J. Robet Belew/ The Mechanic): By the end of his last appearance, Captain Trips, the hippie Ace with transforming powers, had made the unlikely transition from fugitive to President of South Vietnam, with the enigmatic Mechanic acting as his consigliere. The two Ace's tenuous alliance is disrupted when the illusion casting guru, Ganesh,  begins to pull Trips into his cult, causing him to neglect his responsibilities. When the Mechanic discovers Ganesh's horrible secret, he has to convince Trips of Ganesh's true intentions before it's too late. My least favorite of Victor Milan's Trips stories: One of Milan's talents has always been writing Trips, who leftist politics Milan clearly disagrees with, sympathetically and heroically. In this story, Trips is just weak willed and willing to abandon his responsibilities to an obvious charlatan. There is some attempt to justify it but ultimately it feels hollow and Trips comes off as an unlikeable idiot. Still, Milan remains a very good writer even when misfiring. Rating: 2.5/5.

Paths of Silence and Night (By Leanne C. Harper: starring  Suzanne Melotti/Bagabond): Leanne C. Harper's animal-controlling heroine Suzanne Melotti has not appeared since way back in Book Five, since she left for Guatemala. Now, nine books later, we finally check back in with her to see what she's doing.  It turns out the answer is living in a small village, having completely abandoned her Bagabond persona. Unfortunately,  this changes when a photographer who has found evidence of the Card Shark's ultimate plan arrives in her village on the run from the Guatemalan Army. Suzanne has no choice but to become Bagabond once again in order to lead the photographer to safety before he brings trouble down on the village. This is actually my favorite stand-alone story in the book. Bagabond has never been a particularly pleasant character and the decision to send her off to Guatemala had the effect of preventing her from appearing in any major stories.  However, Harper uses the time away to give Bagabond some much needed character growth. The character presented here, while still battling inner demons, is more sympathetic than she has been in past appearance.  This allows "Paths of Silence and Night" to be an adventure story with a flawed but still likable heroine. Rating: 3/5.

Breath of Life (By Sage Walker; Starring Zoe Harris): This story introduces Zoe Harris, a disgraced former CEO ousted from the company she founded due to trumped up embezzlement charges. This forces Zoe to move back in with her parents - who are both Jokers living in Jokertown. Zoe herself is secretly an ace with the ability to animate objects by breathing on them.  Worried about escalating violence in Jokertown, Zoe turns to original generation Wild Cards hero, the  Great and Powerful Turtle, for help mastering her powers. This story works best as a piece of world-building rather than as a stand-alone story. It illustrates just how desperate thing have gotten in Jokertown and and the story builds to a genuinely upsetting climax. On the other hand, I don't think it works well as a stand alone story. The ending seems abrupt more like set-up for the next book. While many Wild Card's stories end on cliffhangers, I would argue that there's a a difference between a cliffhanger ending and a story feeling half-finished. Unfortunately, "Breath of Life" falls into the latter category. Rating: 2.5/5.

A Dose of Reality (By Laura J. Mixon and Melinda Snodgrass: Staring Dr. Bradley Finn and Clara van Rensaeller): In this story, the centaur-like Joker Dr. Finn has to deal with two bit of bad news: First, he has been passed over for the coveted position of Chief of Medicine at the Jokertown Memorial Clinic. Worse, the position has been given to Clara van Ransaeeler, who is secretly an agent of the Card Sharks and is using her position at the Clinic to aid them in their master plan: the development of a bioweapon that targets people infected with the virus. Van Ransaeeler soon finds her loyalties divided however due to a burgeoning attraction to Finn and mysterious connection to the snake-like Joker, Lamia.  It's an adequate story, never quite overcoming the fact that Dr. Finn and Van Rensaeeler are just not that interesting. A story that's so important to the plot deserved better lead characters. Rating: 2.5/5.

The problem with Marked Cards is not that it's bad exactly. It's that it's mediocre. Some stories are better than others, of course, but none ever really exceeds "pretty good, all things considered." The book really suffers from being the middle part of a trilogy. It's mostly marking time between books until the next one starts. It's not the worst book in the series: it's far from the best. It's just kind of there. 

State of the Union

 Taking a break from Wild Card for a post primarily because I just finished the newest Marvel comic book series, The Union, and anytime I am filled with an urge to fling the comic book I'm reading as hard and fast I can at the nearest wall, it is worth discussing. (Don't worry, book lovers. I didn't do it. I just really wanted to). It was a bad suffice to say; failing as a good comic but also exposing a deeper flaw that goes to the heart of today's comic book industry.

In order to provide some background, The Union is a  miniseries from Marvel Comics starring that rarest thing: a largely new cast of characters.  These new characters are heroes drawn from every member state of the United Kingdoms. The team gets thrown into turmoil when their leader, Britain's greatest hero, Britannia gets killed and is replaced by the working-class British hero, Union Jack (the only established Marvel hero in this comic).

The writer on this series is Paul Grist, a British comic book writer and artist, whose love for the character of Union Jack is well known. His most well-known series, Jack Staff, is basically a Union Jack comic book with the serial number filed off. The problem is that this the same thing is true for The Union. Instead of developing the characters who, you know, are supposed to be the main characters, Jack is clearly the main character and most of the time, the Union kind of stands there in the background while he does his thing.

Some of this is clearly the work of pandemic. Originally, the Union was going to be part of Marvel's Empyre crossover only to be hastily rewritten to be part of The King in Black crossover when COVID-19 disrupted the publishing schedule. Strictly speaking, only the first issue crosses over with The King in Black with rest of the series time skipping to after the event, ostensibly to set up the characters and their world. Still, we have a work that was supposed to be part of one story hastily rewritten to be part of another.

Except it doesn't work out that way. Ironically, The Union might have been better if it had just stayed a straight crossover because at least having generic space aliens as the villains might have given the series more space to focus on The Union. As it stands the main characters of the series in this order: 1) Union Jack, 2) a British parliamentarian attached to the team (seriously this guy is the secondary protagonist), 2) a z-list British super villain, 4) a tech billionaire who is helping to finance the Union and who, to no one's surprise, will turn out to be evil, and 5) The Union --- you know, the characters who the book is named after but who don't actually do much. 

And I think this is the problem: As I read more, I get an increasing sense that some people has Marvel has kind of thrown it's hands up and given up on creating new characters. Which from a sales point of view I can kind of understand. The comic book market has traditionally been unkind to new character ideas. Why do anything new, when you can have success doing 100 versions of the same character. (See the Flash, Spider-Man, Captain America, and Ghost Rider for particularly bad offenders though pretty much every major superhero has a backup version).  

But part of me wonders if it this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It does not strike me as a coincidence that all the A-list talent is put on books with established characters and books with new characters get, well, writers and artists who are not as polished. These books don't sell as well, the executives say new characters don't sell, and thus only put  their least experienced writers and artists on what few books do feature new characters. In the case of The Union, Paul Grist is, admittedly, an experienced comic-book writer but he is also know for having a highly experimental writing style and, more importantly, drawing his own comics. In other words, putting him on a traditionally written comic which he is not drawing was not exactly an ideal choice. 

I have to get The Union credit for one thing. At least, it tries to give the character's their own corner of the Marvel Universe complete with an original supporting cast and rogue's gallery. If The Union's flaw is spending to much time on everyone but the main characters (and it is), at least it's better then some of  Marvel's other recent attempts to launch new characters where not enough time is spent on creating original characters to populate the heroes world. For instance, recent series Mosaic and, even more so, Monsters Unleashed seemed to spend a lot of their time having the protagonists fight established Marvel villains and bumping into established Marvel heroes then taking their characters into new territory in their limited time. 

So how to fix this? It might be interesting if someone at Marvel wnet up to one of the A-list writers and  "Pitch us something original, your own idea for a superhero." They could even sweeten the pot a little: offer some sort fo profit sharing or royalty program.  Jonathan Hickman or Jason Aaron ultimately can only do so much with the Avengers and the X-Men: I'd like to see what they'd do with characters who don't have such a massive weight of continuity on their back. But thats only possible if the publisher's don't settle for yet another new Spider-Man and are willing to take a chance on finding the next Spider-Man.

Wild At Heart: A Wild Cards Retrospective- Card Sharks

The Card Sharks triad is a bit of a contradiction for the series: at once, a departure and a return to form. One one hand, it was the first storyline since the original novels to confine itself to only three books. It also follows the traditional Wild Cards structure in that the first two books are made up of interconnected short stories with the third structured as a straightforward novel.  

On the other hand, this was the first volume in the series from Baen Books rather than the series' long running publisher Bantam Books. In fact, instead of continuing the volume numbers from the previous book, Card Sharks was billed as the first in a new Wild Cards series. (In addition, somewhere along the line someone decided that the cover to each book should look as much like a bad Harlequin romance novel as possible).

In keeping with the idea of this being a new trilogy, the frame story The Ashes of Memory (by Stephen Leigh), is told from the perspective of new character, Hannah Davis, a civilian arson inspector. Hannah is assigned to investigate when the Church of Jesus Christ, Joker, the local Joker church is firebombed.  Unfortunately, her hopes of resolving the case quickly are dashed when she begins to discover a connection to a far reaching conspiracy against anyone with Wild Card Virus.

It's an interesting choice, telling the story from the perspective of someone outside the world of Jokers and Aces set up in the last several books. And, to me, it's one that largely works. Having the protagonist be an ordinary person means that there is an excuse to provide exposition to new readers, but is also adds to the suspense as she realizes just how far over her head she really is in a world of super-powered intrigue. (Teleporting joker-ace Quasiman makes a welcome reappearance as a supporting character meaning that there are still super-heroics to be found in this story).

The other stories in the book are told in flashback as Hannah interviews various leads in her investigation: They are, as follows:  

Till I Kissed You (by William F. Wu, starring  Chuck Tanaka/ Chop-Chop): Like Hannah, Chuck Tanaka isn't a super-hero. Unlike Hannah, Tanaka is a Joker, disfigured into a racist character, resembling the comic-book character from which he takes the name "Chop-Chop." Unfortunately, his relatively peaceful life is upended when he meets a beautiful girl with a dark secret:  a connection to a plot to burn down the Jokertown in New York. Now, Chuck has to get help from a pair of small-time Joker criminals to prevent his home from being destroyed. While this story is a fine film noir riff, it never really rises above that. It's well told and doesn't do anything wrong but it's also relatively self-contained and does the least to contribute to the overall story of the anthology.  Rating:3/5.

The Crooked Man (by Melinda Snodgrass, starring Dr. Bradley Finn): First introduced back in Book Five, Dr. Bradley Finn, the centaur Joker working at Dr. Tachyon's clinic, finally gets his own story as he recounts his days in the Peace Corps, working to vaccinate Joker children in Kenya. During his stay, Finn gradually becomes aware of external force sabotaging his vaccine campaign and that his mentor, Doctor Etienne Faneuil, is keeping an awful secret. This is the story where the stakes begin to become clear. Not only does it introduce a major recurring villain, it shows how formidable the conspiracy is. On the down side, Finn is not as interesting a protagonist as Snodgrass's previous hero, Dr. Tachyon. Though Tachyon could be annoying and often unlikable, the fairly straightforward Finn comes of as bland by comparison. The villain's plan, once revealed, is almost comically evil, usually something I enjoy but it gives this story an anti-vaccine subtext that has become, if anything, more cringeworthy as time has passed.  Rating: 3.5/5.

A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitude (by Michael Cassutt): Michael Casutt's stories in Wild Cards have always focused less on the superheroics and more on how the existence of aces would affect the course of history. Here, he tells the story of an attempt by the US government to use aces in the space program, a project that went disastrously wrong. This story makes it clear early on that the whole affair will end in disaster. The narrative plays out as an old-fashioned tragedy as the narrator, a  scientist, is ultimately manipulated by forces he is unaware of and his own petty jealousy into destroying his life's work. "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitude" is a cautionary tale about how scientific advancement can be destroyed by prejudice and small-mindedness, a theme which has only grown more resonant with time.  Rating: 4/5.

A Wind from Khorasan (by Victor Milan, starring J. Robert Belew/ The Mechanic): Ever since the first book, Wild Cards has alluded to a failed attempt by Jimmy Carter to use Aces to resolve the Iran hostage crisis. Finally, readers get to see what happened in a story told from the perspective of J. Robert Belew, the Mechanic, who lead a rag-tag group of Aces on that doomed mission. As is standard with Milan, their are some well-done action set-pieces, but the flashback format proves to be a double edged sword, On one, hand, "A Wind from Khorasan" gives us insights into the past of several long running Wild Cards characters like Poppinjay and Carnifex. On the suspense is undercut by the fact that four of the Aces are character we have seen in stories set later in the timeline and three of them are characters we've never seen before. (It's--it's not hard to figure out who isn't making out of this one in one piece). Rating: 3.5/5.

The Long Sleep (by Roger Zelazny, starring Croyd Crenson/ The Sleeper):  This was the last story Roger Zelazny write  about the ongoing travails of Croyd Crenson, the Sleeper. In this story, Croyd details his visits with hypnotherapist, Dr. Pan Rudo, in an attempt to finally control his ace ability. Unfortunately, it becomes clear that Rudo may have his own plans for his patient.  As you may have guessed from the title, "The Long Sleep" is a noir riff in a book that already has quit a few of them. It also has the distinction of being Zelazny's last Sleeper story before his passing. The story is a relative high note introducing major characters and revealing the backstory of one of Wild Card's trademark Capital-E Evil villains. My main complaint is that Croyd receives several clues to Dr Rudo's true agenda but ignores those clues until it is too late. Technically, the hypnosis provides an in-story reason for this, but it's poorly explained and Croyd winds up looking like an idiot as a result. Rating: 3/5.

Cursum Perficio (by Kevin Andrew Murphy, starring Nic Williams/Will-O-Wisp): Speaking of noir-riffs, "Cursum Perficio" can best be described as Sunset Boulevard with superheroes.  In this story, Ace medium Cameo uses her abilities to channel the sprit of Nick Williams, a deceased detective operating in 1950s Las Angeles, as he tells the story of the events that led to his demise. William's last case begin when he is hired by Orson Welles to protect an upcoming film project from sabotage. Unbeknownst to his new employer, William is juggling multiple secrets, the least of which is the fact that he is an electrical Ace who, somewhat reluctantly, operates as the vigilante known as Will-O-Wisp. As things gets dicey for the picture, Williams encounters several familiar faces, not only character from Wild Cards, but historical figures like Marilyn Monroe and Hedda Hopper. This is my favorite story in the book: the 1950s LA setting is used well, and the noir and the superhero tropes are combined almost perfectly. Rating: 4.5/5.

The Lamia's Tale (by Laura J. Mixon, starring Joan Van Renssaeler/Lamia): The last story in the book is that old Wild Card's  (and superhero) staple, an origin story. This time the story details the transformation of Joan Van Rensaleer, a self centered socialite caught in an unhappy marriage, into the snake like Joker, Lamia. Like many origin stories in Wild Cards, this story is more of a character study: However, it manages to integrate itself into the ongoing narrative surprisingly well, due to the lead character's personal connection to the central conspiracy at the heart of the whole book. In addition, for long time readers, there is one effectively creepy scene involving an old school Wild Card villain that sets up the twist ending of the book. Rating: 4/5.

Although far from the best book in the series, Card Sharks is a good start for the a new triad in the series. "The Ashes of Memory" works particularly well as a framing story, connecting all of the different tales in the book into a coherent narrative.  The flashback formant serves as a good set-up for the new group of villains, showing how they impacted various events throughout Wild Cards history, which creates a sense of menace and illustrates the scope of their plans. Furthermore, long-time readers of the series will be rewarded with a genuinely shocking twist ending.

Addenda: SPOILER WARNING!! DON'T READ AHEAD IF YOU HOPE TO AVOID SPOILERS. By the end of the book, it is clear that several minor characters who have been introduced in the Rox Triad are part of the an anti-Wild Card conspiracy known as the Card Sharks.