Wild At Heart: A Wild Cards Retrospective- Deuces Down

The Wild Cards format has changed a lot over the series. Originally conceived as a series of trilogies with every book written by multiple writers, the series had abandoned that by the sixth book in favor  of  longer arcs interspersed with the occasional novel written by a solo writer. But the one thing they all had in common is that --- they were novels. Even  in the books with multiple stories, those stories interlinked to make a larger narrative. 

Deuces Down is different. For the first time, there is no overarching narrative through line connecting the stories together.  The stories stand on their own as single pieces. The only thing connecting these stories is a) they cover the history of the Wild Cards universe, with the first story taking place in the 1950s and the last in present day and b) they all focus on Deuces, people whose infection with the Wild Card virus gave them unimpressive or useless abilities. In other words, Deuces Down is the first Wild Cards book that is just a straight up anthology.

As with any anthology, the stories are going to be a mixed bag. Fortunately, the stories aren't really connected so, unlike in other books, one bad story doesn't drag down the whole. And, this book contains "Promises"by Stephen Leigh, one of the all time best Wild Cards stories. But we'll get to that in due time as we go through the stories.

"Storming Space" (by Micheal Cassutt, starring Cash Mitchell): Once again,  Michael Cassutt has written another one of his trademark stories about how the Wild Card virus affected the history of the space program This one focuses on Cash Mitchell, a small time smuggler with the ability to lessen gravity on any object he gets a grip on.  Unfortunately for him, he finds himself involved with a small time criminal who plans to set up an operation travel to the Moon and needs his power to do so, a series of events that leads to Cash being part of the first lunar mission. I have to admit this story kind of left me cold. Cash is not the interesting of a character (lovelorn "nice guy" protagonists are not exactly uncommon in this franchise) and the story is not all that exciting. A merely serviceable story in an anthology full of them. Rating: 2 out of 5.

"Four Days in October" (by John Jos. Miller, starring Digger Downs): Tabloid reporter Digger Downs has been a character in Wild Cards since the books first started. Blessed with the ability to literally smell people who have the Wild Card virus and very little in the way of journalistic ethics, Downs has used his powers to enrich himself and make a name for himself as reporter. This serves as an origin story for him, as a young reporter for a school newspaper  named Thomas Downs discovers that someone on the 1969 Brooklyn Dodgers may be an ace. The story has some enjoyable parts; Downs, even as a child, is entertainingly sleazy and we see the backgrounds of some established characters (theres an even a blink and you miss it origin story for minor series antagonist, Wyrm).  The downside of the story is that it is overly focused on baseball. There are long paragraphs where the story just kind of stops to deliver a long play-by-play description of various baseball games. What's worse, these are long descriptions of fictional baseball games. (In the real world, the Dodgers had already moved to Los Angeles). For baseball fanatics only. Rating: 2.5 out of  5.

"Walking the Floor over You" (by Walton Simons, starring Robert "Bob" Cortland): Another story focusing on a new character,  "Walking the Floor over You" introduces Bob Cortland, a comedy club owner with the rather unimpressive ability to turn into a puddle and Carlotta DeSoto, a comedian who has the power to make people laugh involuntarily. When Carlotta is kidnapped by her vengeful ex-husband, Bob gets dragged into the wider world of Aces when  e hires Croyd Crenson, the Sleeper, to get her back. This story derives a lot of its power from nostalgia; there are cameos by all sorts of Wild Cards characters that haven't been seen in a while (like Hiram Worchester and Peregrine). Unfortunately, the most memorable parts of the story are the callbacks to older stuff; Bob is another nice guy with girl troubles, a  blander version of Cash Mitchell from earlier in the book. Ultimately, without a strong protagonist, the story just has to coast on references to more interesting characters. Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

"A Face for the Cutting Room Floor" (By Melinda Snodgrass, starring Dr. Bradley Finn): Before he was a doctor, Bradley Finn, the Wild Card universe's local centaur, was an actor, using his appearance to serve as a living special effect in low budget fantasy movies. Meanwhile, his movie executive father happens to be producing a new film starring Grace Kelly, who, in the Wild Cards universe, is apparently blessed with an unaging appearance and never retired from acting. When  her personal makeup artist disappears, Kelly suddenly goes into seclusion and Finn's father asks him to investigate the disappearance. This is an odd little story, more about subverted expectations. It's more of a homage to noir films minus the violence and the mystery at the center is easy to figure out. A nice detective story but nothing too special. Rating: 3 out of 5.

"Father Henry's Little Miracle" (by Daniel Abraham, starring Father Henry Obst): Unlike the other stories Deuces Down, this story actually takes place during the events of a specific book, specifically the gang war between the Mafia and the Shadow Fist Society in Book 5. Father Henry Obst is a Catholic priest with the job-appropriate ability to transmute water into wine. Unfortunately, that power is all that he has to rely on when a young woman in possession of stolen heroin comes to him for help. Worse both the Mafia and Shadow Fists are after the drugs and the Shadow Fists have hired Demise, the Ace whose looks can kill. "Little Miracle"is essentially a Demise story told from another character's point of view.  This has the effect of emphasizing how terrifying Demise's power is to the average person on the street while still showcasing the character's propensity to be injured in comical ways. A nice throwback to old school Wild Cards. Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

"Promises" (by Stephen Leigh, Starring Gary Bushorn/ The Burning Man): I won't lie. This story made me tear up. The first story to take place after the Card Shark trilogy, we find out what happened to Gary Bushorn, a minor character from the previous book. Gifted with an unusually high body temperature,  Gary's activities in the previous book have left him a wanted man. Trapped on the joker colony of Raithlin in Ireland, unable to leave without risking arrest, Gary meets Caitlyn, a young woman whose Wild Card abilities are slowly killing her and her daughter,  Moira, a young girl whose Wild Card hasn't turned yet leaving her a ticking time bomb. "Promises" is an exploration of love and loss set against the backdrop of the Wild Cards universe. It's actually the first story, I think,  that really deals in depth with  the fact that for most of the people who get it the Wild Card virus is a death sentence. Plus, the ending is utterly devastating.  Rating: 5 out of 5.

"With a Flourish and a Flair" (by Kevin Andrew Murphy, starring Sam Washburn/ Swash): The collection ends on a high note with this story, a straightforward superhero adventure. Deuce artist Swash, with abilities that transform him into the ultimate sketch artist, gets roped into assisting Ace magician/heroine Topper when she loses her hat, which she requires to use her powers.  As the search intensifies, more and more familiar faces from the Wild Cards universe get roped into the mayhem. We see familiar characters like Mr. Nobody, Cameo and Peregrine while meeting new characters like the Jokertown Boys, a rock band made of Jokers, Aces, and Deuces. It's a nice reminder that although the Wild Card Universe can pretty dark there is room for fun as well. Rating: 4 out of 5.

And that would be it but as I was writing this piece, Tor Books published an expanded rerelease. This rerelease added three more stories, including a frame story attempting to link each piece into an overall narrative. In service of this, it rearranged the order of several stories, breaking the chronological theme. However, to be completely fair, the stories were already so disconnected that this decision winds up having no practical effect on the book's overall structure.  

The new stories are as follows:

"Age of Wonders" (by Carrie Vaughn: Starring Raleigh Jackson):  The new framing story follows Raleigh Jackson, the daughter of minor Wild Cards character, Aurora, as she goes to work at magazine Aces. While there she get her big break, being assigned to write a series of articles about Deuces and other forgotten Wild Cards, which form the  other stories in the book, while also undertaking a personal quest for the identity of her biological father. While the story starts promisingly enough, it is full of subplots that don't really go anywhere. The search for Ralieigh's father fizzles out as does a later subplot about her work upsetting members of the Mafia. More unforgivably, "Age of Wonders" inadvertently spoils the ending of "Promises" which robs that story of much of its punch. Rating: 1.5 out of 5 (2 out of 5 without the spoiler). 

"Tasty" (by Mary Ann Mohnaraj: Starring Retazos): Joker repairman Retazos is having a bad week. His girlfriend is cheating on him. A local gang is intimidating some of his friends. And his attempt to make a patio for his grandmother inadvertently releases an alien monstrosity that devours everything in its path. You know, a normal crappy week. "Tasty"explores one of the theme of the "Wild Cards" universe: What exactly makes a superhero? In a universe, where a large portion of the population has a funny name and powers, even a repairman with less than impressive abilities can save the day once or twice. One criticism I have is that Retazos' girlfriend is a two-dimensional character going from loving companion to cruel harpy as the plot demands. Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

"Dry to the Touch" (by Caroline Spector: starring Joe Belenky/ Joe the Cleaner): This store is a loose follow up ( and dark reflection of) to "Storming Space" covering some of the open plot threads left by that story. The protagonist is Joe Belenky, whose ability to turn human bodily fluids into dust has led him to be forcibly pressed into service by the Mafia as an unofficial clean-up man for mob hits. However, when the chorus girl he has a crush becomes the target of his superiors, Joe winds up having to take a stand to break free of his bosses once and for all.  This is my favorite of the new stories.  With "Storming Space" and "Walking the Floor  Over You",  Deuces Down  already had two stories that involved a schlubby man coming to the aid of  a beautiful women who then falls into his arms as a reward. This story inverts that with a much bleaker  and more emotionally honest ending that comes as a gut punch to the reader that stays with you after you read it. Rating: 4 out of 5.

All in all, it's hard to have an opinion on the book as a whole. Though the new edition may have added a frame story, the book was originally an anthology and the stories largely stand and fall on their own merits.  The book's variety of tones something here for every reader but it also lacks the fun of different narrative threads coming together that some of the other books have. It's a good book for a casual fan of the series: if one story doesn't work, another one will.

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. 

Wild At Heart: A Wild Cards Retrospective- Book XII: Turn of the Cards

In a lot of  ways, Book XIII - Turn of The Cards can be compared to a long running TV show trying to regain it's footing after a lackluster season. After the Rox Triad extended to four books, one of which was a series low point, it was time for Wild Cards to take some time and catch its breath.  Turn of the Cards by Victor Milan, the second novel by a single author in the series, marks a sort of breather for Wild Cards wrapping up plot threads from the previous storyline and transitioning to the next arc.

The Rox Triad has seen Milan's hero, Mark Meadows a.k.a. Captain Trips suffer multiple traumas. One of the more versatile characters in the series, Trips could transform himself into five other Aces, each possessing their own powers and personalities, through consumption of illegal narcotics. Unfortunately, this power had left a wanted fugitive on the run from the DEA and separated from his daughter Sprout. Worse, during Trips's last adventure, one of his Ace personas, Starshine, was "killed" and he is having increasing trouble keeping his remaining alter egos under control.

After several fraught encounters with the law, Trips takes refuge in Vietnam where the government is recruiting Aces and Jokers to use as soldiers. Offering his services, Trips balks at an order to wipe out a civilian village and soon finds himself leading a rebellion. Meanwhile, the mysterious Ace known only as the Mechanic has his own agenda for Trips, hoping to recruit him into his own private war.

Victor Milan, the sole writer of this volume, was known as an author of libertarian science fiction. While his point of view has been present in the earlier stories , this book is where it become undeniable. For instance, the DEA agents pursuing Trips are all cartoonishly evil and bumblingly incompetent. (Their ultimate humiliation is particularly cringe inducing in these more enlightened times). Furthermore, the Mechanic is an avatar for the author's political views: A intelligent conservative who quotes Eastern philosophy and kicks ass in the name of freedom.

Fortunately, the Mechanic isn't the main character of the story: Trips is. It is a clear the Milan thinks Trips leftist political views are naive and misguided. Yet, despite this, he write Trips as a good person who has internal strength of character and his own powerful sense of right and wrong. Furthermore, he resists the temptation to give Trips' a political awakening where he realizes the error of his ways. It takes a certain amount of skill to write a hero you deeply disagree with any amount of sympathy and Milan certainly succeeds in that.

What's less forgivable is Milan's overt political stance regarding the Vietnam War.  How overt? Milan felt the need to include a disclaimer at the back of the book denying any political subtext.  However, since the book is a groups of white American super-humans basically refighting the Vietnam War and winning, the author would seem to protest to much. While I thought the book was good enough in other respects to make up for this problematic aspects, other readers might disagree.

In terms of the series as a whole, "Turn of the Cards" serves as a transition point between the previous story arc and the next. It follows directly on from the "Rox Triad" and sets up threads that will be important in the  upcoming "Card Sharks" trilogy. At this point, it was just what the series needed: to jump directly to the next big story line would have been too rushed after the lengthy "Rox" triad. "Turn of the Cards" gave the readership time to pause and catch their breathe as it were. Plus, taken on it's own merits it's a good read: not the best book in the series or even the best novel but certainly in the Top Ten. 

Addenda: This book introduces J. Robert Belew, the ace known as the Mechanic, and his rival, non powered CIA agent, O.K Cassidy. The Mechanic's power make him a neat variant on the cyborg superhero: He can cut off various body parts (which eventually grow back) and replace them with whatever machinery is at hand making him into a DIY cyborg. It is established the Cassidy is part of an organization devoted to wiping out people with Wild Card virus.  Captain Trips transforms into his evil alter ego, Monster, for the first time.

Wild At Heart: A Wild Cards Retrospective- Book XI: Dealer's Choice

It's been a much longer time than I thought between blog posts.  Given the state of the world right now, I thought it might be in poor taste to continue a series about books that deal with a deadly virus. But the current troubles haven't put the book series on hold so I decided to continue with this blog retrospective during these tense times.

So, back to the books... After the first true novel in the series took a detour, it was time to get down to business. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are finally at the concluding novel of the "Rox Triad" with Book Eleven: Dealer's Choice.

While Book Ten dealt with wrapping up Dr. Tachyon's story in space, Book Eleven returns to Earth to deal with the other dangling plot threads. In Books Eight and Nine, the joker terrorist known as Bloat  had transformed Ellis Island an independent Joker nationstate known as the Rox. To this end, he had allied himself with the Jumpers, a street gang who had been gifted with ability to steal peoples bodies by the criminal Ace known as Prime.  In Dealer's Choice, the US government assembles a group of Aces to invade the Rox and take out Bloat once and for all.

As is the case with most story arc finales in Wild Cards, the finale blends multiple perspectives together to tell a single story. The immobile Bloat (written by Stephen Leigh) find himself fighting a war with the outside world just as his ability to literally make his dreams reality begins to spiral out of control. Unfortunately, fighting for his people means allying himself with some unsavory people such as Zelda, a Jumper introduced in previous books, who has returned as that organization's new leader, the psychotic Bodysnatcher (written by George R.R. Martin).

On the other side of the equation, two strike teams of Aces are sent to invade the Rox. The Great and Powerful Turtle (also written by George R.R. Martin) is part of a group of flying Aces sent in from the air while Carnifex (written by John. Jos. Miller) joins another group of Aces on a stealth mission to find Bloat himself. Meanwhile, the android hero Modular Man (written by Walter John Williams) starts off as part of the Turtle's group. However when his creator choses to side with Bloat, Modular Man's programming forces him to defect to the other side. Finally,  a third party emerges as the Australian aboriginal ace Wyungare (written by Stephen Bryant) comes to the Rox on a mission to prevent Bloat's increasing powers from going out of control.

As wrap ups go, this ending is better then the "Rox Triad" arguably deserves. By this point, the Rox storyline had gone on for over four books including series low point, Book Nine. I'm pretty sure that at this point, the writers and the readers were both anxious for this storyline to be over.

Of the story threads, the Carnifex thread is the stand-out. The character has appeared since Book Three and, although he is a hero, up to this point in the series his function has mostly been to be manipulated into fighting other heroes. This book takes his perspective for the first time and fleshes him out some. While the character remains the violence-loving fighter of the earlier books, he is also shown to have a sense of morality that he abides by which,. paradoxically makes him one of the more honorable characters in the book.

Book Eleven is permeated with a sense of moral ambiguity. While the heroes of Wild Cards are hardly paragons of virtue, the villains usually compensate for that by being undeniably and irredeemably evil. However, Bloat is merely fighting back against a system that dehumanizes and degrades people like him. On the other hand, the book doesn't let him off the hook completely, pointing out that Bloat and his allies have harmed innocent people and left a large body count in their wake. Even relatively traditional heroes like the Turtle wind up crossing moral lines in this story and more outright evil characters like the Bodysnatcher are given sympathetic moments.

In keeping with this theme, while Bloat and his cohorts are the main "antagonists", it becomes clear that there's a greater evil hiding in the shadows.Various government official and powerful men begin showing an unusual interest in the proceedings. As it turns out, the true villains aren't super-powered terrorists like Bloat and his colleagues but rather seemingly ordinary men who use power and privilege to harm the powerless.  (Actually come, to think of it, this part of the book has aged really well).

As to what doesn't work, there are, of course, plot threads that are never paid off in later books. Furthermore, a subplot where various mystic Aces attempt to stop Bloat doesn't really work. Mostly, this is done to justify Wyungare's involvement in the plot. This is unfortunate, because Wyungare is really not that interesting.  His role is giving the other characters sage advice and helping them out of tight spots. The character has no agency of his own which is a little problematic. Also, I'd like to point out that having Buddy Holly be a) alive and b) one of the mystic Aces is just kind of weird and off putting.

Overall, this book is the best part of a bad storyline. Lest I be seen as damning with faint praise, I should clarify that even on its own, it's a good book, and taken as the end of a trilogy, it does its job admirability. I just find myself wishing that the buildup was worth the payoff.

Addenda: One of the new aces introduced in this book is Cameo, an ace medium who can channel the spirit and personality of dead Aces. Another new hero that is introduced it Legion, an Ace with a single consciousness and multiple bodies. Important government officials like George G. Battle (a thinly veiled version of G. Gordon Liddy), Dr. Pan Rudo and others offer assistance to the Aces in their fight against Bloat but are implied to be serving their own agenda. Mr. Nobody from Books Eight and Nine reappears, having apparently become a private detective since we last saw him.