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I had been looking forward to reading Bitter Seeds ever since Cory Doctorow mentioned it earlier this year.  It explores an alternate Earth that is largely the same until 1920, when a Nazi scientist called Von Westarp takes a number of war-orphaned children and turns them into super-men—super-monstrosities in some cases.  By the time they reach adulthood, Germany has a secret weapon to use against the British.  They are out-gunned as World War II begins, until a Scottish warlock shows up who can help turn the tide. 

Any work of fiction that involves super-beings has my interest piqued, but this book delivers a whopping good story because the setting is rooted in a historical event that we are familiar with, and Tregillis did a fair bit of research in that time period.  The super abilities and magical powers are also believable, because they have defined limitations.  The Nazis have only a handful of supers, and they require a battery power pack, connected by wires going into their brains (that Von Westarp was a twisted genius), to fuel them.  The warlocks work their magic through extra-dimensional beings who require blood and sacrifice.  The greater the magic they want performed, the greater the sacrifice must cost.

I had fun trying to match some of these characters against comic book counterparts.  Klaus can turn intangible like the Vision, able to reach into someone’s chest and squeeze their heart.  Kammler is probably the most powerful, a stammering telekinetic who needs to be controlled like a dog on the leash—his personality reminded me of the Hulk.  Klaus’ sister Gretel is probably the most frightening character in the book, with her ability to see into the future, and shape it according to her will.  There are many such characters, but Destiny from the X-Men came to my mind first.

The other thing that adds realism to Bitter Seeds is the fact that both sides do things that are great and terrible in service to their country.  Marsh and Stephenson, on the British side, will pay just about any price to keep the Nazis from invading.  Klaus is shown to be merciless on the battlefield, but has streaks of kindness regarding his sister and Kammler.

I couldn’t get enough of this book and didn’t want it to end.  When I read the last word on the last page, I thought my e-book edition had somehow been truncated.  Like the last episode of the Sopranos, the ending was intentional and appropriate. Fortunately, Tregillis wrote this as a trilogy (the Milkweed Triptych), and the second volume Coldest War will come out early 2011. Nuff Said!

Link:  Ian Tregillis web site.

Link:  Ian Tregillis Inteview on Sword and Laser podcast.

Any fan of Marvel Comics, especially characters like Spider-Man, will enjoy the adventures of Harry Dresden.  I’ve heard about Jim Butcher’s series for a long time, but never sure what the fuss was all about until I read the first book in the series, Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1).  After reading the debut novel, I gobbled up the next 4 books very quickly: Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2), Grave Peril (The Dresden Files, Book 3), Summer Knight: A Novel of the Dresden Files (The Dresden Files, Book 4), Death Masks: A Novel of the Dresden Files (The Dresden Files, Book 5).

The Marvel connection to Harry Dresden is spelled out in Book 5 when he says:  "I'm a disciple of the Tao of Peter Parker, obviously."  Dresden is a magician/detective, based in Chicago where sorcery exists alongside vampires, werewolves, faeries, and other fantastic creatures, unknown by the world at large.  He’s also constantly besieged with financial problems, romantic entanglements that go wrong, and his magic wreaks havoc with modern technology like cell phones and computers.  He cannot drive any car save for an old VW that Harry dubs the Blue Beetle.  The police don’t always trust him, and he doesn’t score any better with the Mafia kingpins of Chicago.  I’m a sucker for a well told story with good first person narration.  The Dresden books draw me in the same way a good Roger Zelazny novel would, the characters are extremely colorful, and there are several good mysteries to solve.  Dresden also had some youthful misadventures, which are teased to the reader as the series goes on.

You definitely have to read these books in order, to get the most out of the continuity that builds up.  My favorite book of this first set was Grave Peril, where Dresden takes on the Red Court vampires and makes a decision at the end that has ramifications for many books to come.

The one complaint I would make about these stories is that they follow a familiar pattern.  Butcher does a great job of putting Dresden in greater and greater jeopardy towards the climax of each book.  The magic that Dresden uses is well defined, but it still has several loopholes—and usually one of these loopholes winds up giving him a new weapon or source of power that he can wield to save the day.  I’m noticing this more and more as a common problem with most fiction.  When the threat is too overpowering, a Deus ex machina is needed to get the protagonists out of trouble.  After five books in a row, I needed to take a break for a while.

I’m sure I’ll finish the remaining books in the Dresden series sometime during the next year.  I think this is my magical Travis McGee.  Nuff Said!

Check out my books on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3982222-richard-guion

Put Harry Potter, Beverly Hills 90210, Bright Lights Big City, and Narnia in a blender, and you've got The Magicians by Lev Grossman.

I was really knocked out by the first two-thirds of the Magicians, where it takes on the subject of the Potter books--a coming of age story where a young man learns the mystic arts.  Quentin (the young protagonist) and his friends aren't as squeaky clean as the Potter crew.  They swear, smoke, crush on their instructors, drink cocktails and have sex, which gives you the feeling that this is happening right now over in Brakebills (the academy for the mystically gifted).  Grossman puts Quentin and his friends through five years of school by the time the novel is halfway over, and this compressed pace is a welcome relief from the Potter series.  The magic that is taught and wielded by the students is also quite different, as Quentin performs feats that Doctor Strange would envy during his final year.

Quentin hooks up with a clique of friends that he hangs around with post-graduation: Alice, Janet, Eliot, and Josh.  In addition there's Penny, a freakish loner who Quentin surpassed during the first year.  What do young people do after they graduate and become full flung Magicians?  It turns out when you can do anything and don't have to work, things can fall apart quickly, and that's where the Bright Lights Big City phase comes in. 

I reveled in Quentin's decadence, but after that section, the book hit a speed bump.  I wanted the rest of the novel to be that magical soap opera story set in the modern world.  Instead, Quentin makes a horrific mistake and drags his friends into Fillory, a magical world that resembles Narnia to a certain degree.  I wasn't that interested in Fillory, but I was never into Narnia either.  Grossman weaves the back-story of Fillory (there's a series of Fillory novels that Quentin has reread numerous times) throughout the Magicians, so you're prepared on the mythology before the gang arrives. 

One frustrating thing about the Fillory section is the inconsistent use of magic.  Quentin seems enormously powerful by the time he graduates from Brakebills.  In Fillory, he can barely summon a spell to save his life.  It can be explained away by the fact that magic in Fillory works differently, and Quentin had other problems since graduation.  It's still frustrating--especially when another character's power levels suddenly spike in order to save the day.

I still recommend reading the book, it's a lot of fun, a complete story all tied together, but Grossman leaves plenty of room for a sequel.  Which I would probably read as soon as it was published!  The most interesting element of the Fillory section is an inter-dimensional gateway plane that opens up portals to many different worlds.  I'd love to see Quentin travel to another world that doesn't resemble a famous fantasy series.

Here are some links to a three part interview that Lev Grossman did with Zack Smith from Newsarama, where he discusses a lot of scenes that were edited out of the book, and talks about comics as well.  Nuff said!

Newsarama The Magic of Lev Grossman, Part One, Part Two, Part Three.

After reading Y The Last Man, the only disappointment I had was that the story had come to an end--a very great ending--but leaving me feeling hungry for more graphic novels that were equally compelling.  I sought another Brian K Vaughan series that I avoided for years, Ex Machina.  I've devoured all the issues published up until now, Ex Machina #1-42 and the four Ex Machina specials.

My wife asked me the other day what I was reading.  She's not a reader of graphic fiction, so I summed up the series in a nutshell: It's about a superhero who becomes the mayor of New York City.

I couldn't quite grok the whole Ex Machina experience when I picked up the first issue back in 2004.  I suppose I just wasn't ready to experience it, much like Y The Last Man.  The opening chapter introduces us to Mayor Mitchell Hundred; he's sitting in a room, looking defeated and depleted, telling us the story of his first four years in office as Mayor.  Ex Machina relies heavily on flashbacks to tell the story and build suspense, much like the series LOST (where Vaughan is now a staff writer).  The present is rooted in Hundred's experience as the Mayor of New York City, where he deals with situations ranging from an outrageous painting in the Museum of Modern Art, to gay marriage and marijuana laws.  If you liked the TV series The West Wing or The WIre, you'll enjoy these storylines.  If you're into constant superhero action, you won't.  I think this was my biggest hurdle reading the first issue and deciding not to continue back in 2004.  Once I read the first six issues and got into the groove, I couldn't get enough of the political action.

From the flashbacks in the opening chapter, we learn that Hundred--a civil engineer--encounters an alien device that explodes in his face.  Alien machinery is embedded in Hundred's skull that allows him to listen and talk to any man-made machine: guns, cars, elevators, electric power grids, computers, etc.  He has strange dreams which allow him to build devices like a jet pack, armor, and weapons.  Hundred is aided by his friends, Bradbury and Kremlin, into become New York City's first superhero: The Great Machine.  This is set in a world like ours, where there are no super-humans.  Hundred is a very human hero, bumbling his way through a number of adventures.  Most of his battles are loaded with humorous moments.  Much like Spider-Man, Hundred is hunted by the police for his vigilante activities.  As the Great Machine, Hundred fights regular criminals, but eventually gets a super-powered opposite number: Pherson, who can talk to animal.

I think when I first heard of Ex Machina, I thought, ok, he's the Mayor, will he put on the suit and fight crime after passing legislation?  The answer is no, at least, up until issue 42, Hundred's super-hero adventures are told in past flashbacks.  Hundred uses his powers in the present to solve various problems, but has renounced his super-hero identity.  This is a problem for his former ally Kremlin, who believes Hundred is wasting his time in politics.

While I've raved about the story here, the artwork by Tony Harris is superb.  Harris is both perfectly suited for the action scenes and the political drama.  He excels at portraying realistic people, with slightly pudgy bodies and awkward or funny facial expressions.  I amazed that Harris has drawn all 42 issues!  The specials feature artwork by Chris Sprouse and John Paul Leon, who also deliver quality work.

Ex Machina has eight more issues to go before it concludes in issue #50.  There's a huge mystery waiting to be solved--the origin of the alien device that gave Hundred his abilities.  There are whispers of alternate dimensions (including one where Ronald Reagan Jr is President) and doppelgangers.  I can't wait to read the remaining issues.  Ex Machina has shot up to the top of my reading list. 

After enjoying both Runaways and Y The Last Man, Vaughan has become my favorite writer working in comics today.  Nuff said.

Sometimes I'm really late to the party.  I read about Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's Vertigo series for years but never read it as a monthly comic.  I think I picked up issue 11 at a comic shop, thought it was cute, and placed it back on the rack.  I was mystified by all the articles in Entertainment Weekly and other magazines.

I just read the entire run of Y: The Last Man , issue 1-60, in the span of a week.  This is clearly one of the finest stories ever told in graphic form.  Yorick Brown is the last man on Earth due to a mysterious event that wipes out all males at the exact same moment.  Planes crash, cars on the highway collide, power plants explode--all at the same time.  Women band together to recover society.  Some of them fortify the existing American government, others cut off their left breast to become a tribe of Amazons.  Many of them want to capture or kill Yorick and his pet (male) monkey, Ampersand.  Yorick is protected by Agent 355 (a kick ass secret agent of an underground spy ring) and accompanied by Dr. Allison Mann, a scientist who tried to produce the first ever human clone in her own womb.

I wasn't disappointed by a single issue in this entire saga.  The trio embark on a quest that leads them to travel across America and the around the world, searching for the secret to Yorick's survival, the origin of the virus that wiped out mankind, and Yorick's beautiful girlfriend Beth, who was stranded in Australia when the disaster happened.  Yorick isn't an action hero--he's the damsel in distress that usually needs to be rescued by 355.  But even in his darkest moments, Yorick is constantly making pop culture jokes.  He has a big heart, as Dr. Mann once tells him.  Rather than doing the obvious thing by banging every woman in the world, Yorick acts with restraint, saving himself (mostly) for Beth.

I think what makes this series unforgettable is that the women take center stage in this drama, plus it has a great third act.  The conclusion is utterly heartbreaking.  One of the greatest reading experiences that I've ever had.  Now I've got to read Ex Machina.  Nuff said.

I read Cory Doctorow's Little Brother novel on my Sony PSP last week.  For more information about I convert books to the PSP, see my article here on Attilan.

Little Brother is a young adult novel (although just as good for adults) about a high school kid named Marcus Yallow (aka w1n5t0n) in San Francisco. San Francisco is attacked by terrorists and the Department of Homeland Security swoops in and starts heavily monitoring all citizens. Marcus fights back against the DHS by hacking his Xbox Universal (the next release after the 360?) with an operating system called "Paranoid Linux" and inspiring a group of young techno-geeks to help him out.

If you're a programmer living in the San Francisco bay area, you might find this novel very appealing.  Marcus Yallow's adventures take him all over the city, from Potrero Hill to North Beach to the Mission district.  Marcus is quite a sophisticated kid when it comes to food, choosing to eat Indian curry after he's released from a brief prison stay.  Marcus' parents keep a drawer full of take-out menus, as most bay area people do, it's usually easier to order food from the many restaurants we have here.  The DHS starts monitoring the travel patterns of all citizens and start tapping into the data collected by FasTrack devices, as well as people taking too many BART trips around SF.

The kids depicted in the novel are all technically competent.  They can hack into the school computer system with little trouble, or use encryption to protect their email.  Paranoid Linux was a really interesting concept, an operating systems that assumes its operator is under assault from the government.  Intended for Chinese or Syrian dissidents, it leeches onto open wifi connections in the local area and sends fake chaff communications while sending/receiving the real data one character at a time.  I actually thought this was real until I looked it up.  Now there is a group of people trying to build Paranoid Linux for real.

Doctorow has a lot to say about freedom in this novel through Marcus and some of the other characters.  It gets a bit preachy at times,but I still enjoyed it.  I constantly questioned whether a kid like Marcus could pull all of this off, and after thinking about several young hackers I've met from Sweden, I decided it was possible for someone that young to be so competent.  I am not sure if there could be an entire group of them living in one area, or that they would become so popular to be treated like a rock star.  Marcus' exploits allow him to have a pretty fantastic girlfriend, who lives in the East Bay.  And this is the most unrealistic thing in the book.  Not for a geek to have a girlfriend, but to give Marcus the ability to travel from the East Bay back to his home in the city after midnight.  Come on, BART stops running trains at that time!  Nuff said.

Link:  Cory Doctorow's Little Brother site

Link:  Cory Doctorow's Little Brother and the Sony PSP as an E-Book Reader

TSOYA.  That's was the display on my XM Radio when I tuned into the channel 133, the PRI station.  TSOYA?  Sounds like a health food product.

No, it's an acronym for The Sound of Young America, hosted by "America's Radio Sweetheart", Jesse Thorn.  I discovered this program a couple of months ago, where I was stunned to hear Thorn interviewing two cast members of The Wire, Andre Roya and Wendell Pierce (Bubbles and Bunk).  After looking at the TSOYA archives, this podcast was immediately added to my Zune RSS feed.  (Yes, I am of those lunatic Zuners.)  Thorn hits my pop cultural G-Spot right on the money with guests like Chris Elliot, Nick Hornby, Ira Glass, Tony Millionaire, Austin Grossman, Elmore Leonard, Steven Wright, etc.  One of my favorite interviews was done last year with Marty Krofft, the producer-creator behind HR Pufnstuff and a gaggle of other Saturday morning shows.  Comics professionals pop into the podcast from time to time.

This interview with Evanier is really good.  I've been pushed over the edge to buy Kirby: King of Comics.  Listening to Mark Evanier talk, I really think he's one of the luckiest guys in the world, to get to know both Jack and Roz Kirby in their home and watch the King create some of the most memorable comics of all time.  Both the podcast and the book bring some new insights into Kirby, something which I didn't think was possible, as I have a ton of Kirby material already from TwoMorrows.  I've flipped through the book at Borders and it's really well done.  It has some amazing Kirby pencils and the larger size of the hardcover makes it easy to appreciate them.

Link: Mark Evanier on TSOYA Podcast, discussing Kirby: King of Comics.

Link: Maximumfun.org, the home of TSOYA.

Link: Mark Evanier's Blog.

I am halfway through The Titans Companion, a book published in December 2005 by TwoMorrows Publishing. Written by Glen Cadigan, this is a delight for hardcore Teen Titans fans who want to get the inside scoop on the Titans from their initial conception in the 1960s to the present day. Like their previous effort, The Legion Companion, this volume offers articles, interviews, and an amazing array of artwork by Perez, Cardy, Garcia-Lopez, etc. It starts off, not with the Titans, but with a history of each of the teen sidekicks. I knew Robin, Kid Flash, and Speedy very well, but I was always unclear about Aqualad and Wonder Girl's origin. Aqualad is not Aquaman's son-he's an Atlantean who was initially afraid of fish! Wonder Girl was initially a flashback to Wonder Woman's childhood, until Robert Kanigher retconned her adventures into a computer simulation. It was Marv Wolfman who actually devised the origin where Donna Troy was rescued from a burning building by Wonder Woman. The idea for the Teen Titans was first suggested by a letter in Brave and Bold #30. The editor, George Kashdan, agreed and assigned Bob Haney the job of scripting their first adventure in Brave and Bold #54.

As a kid, I was crazy about Robin; I wanted any comic with him on the cover. That extended to the Teen Titans as well. I thought it was a terrific concept to have Kid Flash, Speedy, Robin, Wonder Girl, and Aqualad in one book. The early adventures were really hokey, with villains like the Mad Mod and Ding-Dong Daddy Dowd. The book covers Bob Haney's involvement in the initial series, which is a real treasure, because Haney is an elusive character in comic book history. Haney was understandably bitter when Dick Giordiano became the editor and replaced him with Steve Skates.

Throughout these early years, Nick Cardy's artwork is just astonishing. I think the costume he designed for Wonder Girl is a classic. Even though Perez and Jimenez came up with some good inventions, the Cardy red-stars will always be my favorite. There's a very good interview with Cardy where he talks about Wonder Girl's new costume. Cardy's drawings of Wonder Girl are peppered throughout the book. I don't think any heroine has ever been depicted so cute and sexy.

I remember being shocked by Titans 25, a really shocking change occurred when the kids failed to stop the assassination of a scientist who won the Nobel Peace Prize. Writer Steve Skates and Editor Dick Giodiano talk about this phase in the Companion. It seems incredible that Kid Flash couldn't stop it all by himself, but it happens. On his deathbed, the scientist says to the group: "Your powers and capacities for violence…carry awful responsibilities. You're like…living atom bombs, but you're still only kids." The Justice League threatens to shut the kids club down for good. Luckily for the Titans, it's Lilith's first appearance, dancing in a go-go bar cage and rattling the boys into a sexual frenzy. She introduces the Titans to a mysterious man called Mr. Jupiter who convinces the heroes to give up their costumes and go undercover. Two new heroes, Mal and Lilith joined, and shared a brief kiss-daring, for the 1960s, because he was black and she was white.

The bulk of the interviews involve Marv Wolfman and George Perez in their co-creation of the New Teen Titans. It's one of the most revealing behind-the-scenes interviews on any comic book creation. Wolfman talks about how he took his time designing the team, concentrating not on powers, but on their personalities and relationships. By having a cyborg, a demon empath, an Amazon, an interstellar princess, and members of other DC classic teams, Wolfman would set himself up to tell almost any type of story. Both men are brutally honest. Wolfman regrets what happened to the Omega Men after they got their own series. Perez initially took the Titans job as a favor to Marv and as a way to get the Justice League assignment he desperately craved. When the Titans became a hit, Perez gave up his other assignments in order to improve as an artist and give the fans more. So many classic storylines were planned in advance: Blackfire, Vigilante, Terminator, Terra, and Jericho. Wolfman proved that he was as adept at superhero stories as he was at Tomb of Dracula. The Terra storyline that climaxed in The Judas Contract has to be one of the best superhero stories ever told. Who could forget Tales of the Teen Titans 44 that featured the first appearances of both Nightwing and Jericho? Wolfman and Perez grew the Titans from teenagers to adults. Dick Grayson became not only Nightwing, but one of the most strategic leaders of any superteam.

No subject is spared in Titans Companion. Titans West is covered in an interview with Bob Rozakis. Neal Adams discusses the three issues he worked on. Chris Claremont talks about the X-Men/Titans team-up. Kevin Maguire and Phil Jimenez are interviewed about the spin-off series, Team Titans! The first three issues of Team Titans had some of the best Maguire art that I've ever seen.

The Titans Companion rocks. If you're a Titans fan, get it now. Nuff said.

External Link:
Marv Wolfman Interview on Word Balloon (covers Titans and Crisis)

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