The year is closing in on us! Read like your life depends on it … and it probably does, if you feel the need to escape as much as I do these days or if you’re trying to reach your Goodreads goal, like I am.
The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly • 5 Stars on Goodreads
I’ve read all the Lincoln Lawyer books by author Michael Connelly, and this—in my humble opinion—is one of the best. It deals with attorney Mickey Haller taking on a case where a mother is suing a company—Tidalwaiv—which created an AI companion for teenagers. The mother’s daughter was shot and killed by by a former boyfriend, whose AI “friend”—named Wren—supposedly encouraged him to do so. Within his investigation of the murder, Haller, along with Connelly’s reporter character, Jack McEvoy, come across evidence that one of the AI programmers may have put too much of his own beliefs into the programming of the “Claire” program, as the company calls it. I normally don’t like legal thrillers—I have a healthy distrust of most attorneys—and the Lincoln Lawyer novels are not my favorites from Connelly, but this one moves right along and is a compelling indictment against AI, something the author is fighting in real life, in this day and age when someone can go online and type in “write me a thriller in the style of Michael Connelly,” and get a completed book shortly thereafter. For all of us Bosch fans, there are some mentions of those beloved characters in this book … Haller is Harry Bosch’s half-brother. This is Connelly’s second book this year; the first was Nightshade, which introduced a new character named Stillwell, who is the Los Angeles Sheriff Department’s only detective on Catalina island. It, too, was a five-star read for me. Here’s hoping for the Bosch-Ballard-Haller-Stillwell super team-up!
The Girl With a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson • 4 Stars on Goodreads
I’ve read a number of books by Peter Swanson now, and I’ve enjoyed all of them, including this one. And my review of this one would have been 5 stars on Goodreads but for the ending. Let’s just say I didn’t like it. Swanson is great with modern noir novels featuring femme fatale protagonists (or maybe they’re antagonists), and this one is no exception. Liana or Audrey or Jane—whatever her name is—leads poor George on a years-long chase, from college into their thirties, as she leaves mysteries and clues trailing behind her. Swanson’s women are always enigmatic, to say the least; Liana is cut in that mold, as is my favorite Swanson character, Lily Kitner, who appears in three of his books: The Kind Worth Killing, The Kind Worth Saving, and A Talent for Murder. Girl With a Clock … is an earlier book by Swanson, and it gets a bit weak with a long-winded explanation near the end (maybe his editor felt he needed it … I didn’t), and that ending is … well, see for yourself. It’s still worth reading.
Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum by Michael J. Fox and Nelle Fortenberry • 5 Stars on Goodreads
I loved this short book by actor Michael J. Fox, one of the class acts of Hollywood. And I equally love the Back to the Future trilogy, which debuted (GASP!) 40 years ago. The book chronicles Fox’s memories of taking over the role of Marty McFly when the production team (writer/director Robert Zemeckis, writer Bob Gale, and executive producer Steven Spielberg) made the difficult decision to drop actor Eric Stoltz after a month of filming. Fox was the original choice for the role, but showrunner Gary David Goldberg wouldn’t let him out of his commitment to Family Ties, the NBC TV hit sitcom. Fox recounts how he spent his days as Alex P. Keaton and his nights as Marty McFly, bouncing to the Future set every evening and working until the wee hours, then starting over again on the sitcom the next morning. This is a very quick read, and I found myself wishing that Fox had included his behind-the-scenes stories of both the sequels, too (spoiler alert: Back to the Future II is my favorite, but I always lean towards the second films—The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather II, and Bride of Frankenstein are all faves). There’s also a nice, warm epilogue that I won’t spoil for you, plus 50 photos—mainly in color—to round out the book.
The Power of Shazam! by Jerry Ordway • 4 Stars on Goodreads
I don’t quite remember what piqued my interest in finding this 1994 hardback graphic novel by Jerry Ordway, which relaunched the Original Captain Marvel yet again, but I just happened across a copy in a box at HeroesCon back in June in Charlotte, NC for eight bucks. I finally got around to reading it this month, and I really enjoyed it. With the exception of the Jeff Smith four-issue mini-series (Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil), this is really the only other Captain Marvel revamp that worked since C. C. Beck was brought back to the book when DC did their first relaunch in 1973, when they changed the title to Shazam! because Marvel had been smart enough to grab “Captain Marvel” when it lapsed in the mid-60s. Ordway—in ’94, most famous for his work on the Superman books—does everything in this one, from cover to cover and it’s a decent revamp of the character, except all the humor and whimsy of the original are gone. This had a decent run as a series, lasting 48 issues from 1995-99 (the longest, I believe, of any of the Shazam! reboots since ’73), with Ordway writing and painting the covers and story art by various artists, including Peter Krause. Ordway does mix it up a bit with this retelling of the origin story of how Billy Batson became Shazam (and it actually makes more sense with the necessary new name), and his painted art is superb. I especially liked his Karloff-like look for Black Adam. I’ve always liked Ordway’s very tightly-rendered artwork; it reminds me a bit of Murphy Anderson, whose art had every line perfectly delineated, especially when he inked his own pencils. This is worth seeking out, especially if you can find it languishing in a box at a convention or store for cover price or less.
DC Finest Hawkman: Wings Across Time by Gardner Fox, Joe Kubert, and Murphy Anderson • 4 Stars on Goodreads
After the Silver Age of Comics started with the relaunch (and revamp) of The Flash, Green Lantern and The Atom followed under editor Julius Schwartz’s direction. Fourth on the list of revamps was Hawkman, and while the other three heroes had little problem jumping into their own books, Hawkman had to take flight several times before he got his wings. It started with a three-issue tryout in The Brave and The Bold issues 34-36 in 1961, written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Joe Kubert, who had done the feature in some of the later issues of The Flash in the 1940s, when the artist was just a teenager. A second B&B appearance followed a year later in 1962 in issues 42 through 44 (again illustrated by Joe Kubert), but still no solo book. Hawkman made a four-issue appearance as a back-up feature in Mystery in Space in late 1963-early 1964, but this time he was drawn by Murphy Anderson, much to some fans’ annoyance (they preferred Kubert). Finally after that short run, he graduated to his own title, with number 1 cover-dated for May 1964. All those books are here, plus Hawkman’s appearance in the second team-up issue of The Brave and the Bold (51), and his first team-up with The Atom in that hero’s issue number 7, plus issues 1-11 of the solo Hawkman title in this volume. Anderson illustrated all 11 issues, and they’re beautifully drawn. Mostly known at DC for his inking work on Carmine Infantino (Adam Strange) and Curt Swan (Superman), Anderson was also a gifted penciller, even more so when he was allowed to ink his own work. Hawkman is his greatest work as both penciller/inker at the company (in my humble opinion). Fox’s scripts are a little old-fashioned (it’s amazing how many nicknames he has for Hawkman: the “Winged Wonder,” the “Flying Fury,” the “Aerial Ace,” the “Pinioned Paladin,” to name a few), but can’t seem to remember the correct spelling of Hawkgirl’s first name (“Shayera?” … “Shiera?”). This is a great collection with stellar reproduction and if you’ve never read any of Hawkman’s 1960s adventures, this is the best jumping-on point you could hope for.
DC Finest: The Spectre: The Wrath of the Spectre by Gardner Fox, Murphy Anderson, and Neal Adams • 4 Stars on Goodreads
I think I’m correct in saying that The Spectre was the last of the Golden Age revamps to come forth in the 1960s Silver Age from editor Julius Schwartz, and while it got it’s own short-lived series, it didn’t quite take. The character never had its own book back in the 1940s and was featured in Adventure Comics and as a member of the Justice Society of America. I liked the four issues by Fox and Anderson (the three Showcase try-outs, 60, 61, and 64 and The Spectre issue 1) and the Neal Adams issues (2 through 5), but after that it went downhill pretty quickly, not actually being enjoyable again until Michael Fleischer and Jim Aparo brought the character back in the 1970s with a 10-issue run in Adventure Comics, in which The Spectre became a quasi-horror title (the book was called Weird Adventure Comics for a spell) and the character embodied the spirit of vengeance, killing criminals in truly horrible ways. I do love Aparo’s art on those issues, though. The DC Finest timeline on this volume wanders around from 1966 through ’69, 1974-75, and 1981 through ’83, and includes the above-mentioned Showcase issues, The Spectre 1-10 (mysteriously listed as “volume 2,” when there was no volume 1), Adventure Comics 431-440, Ghosts 97-99, The Brave and the Bold 72, 76, 116, 180, and 199 (mainly team-ups with Batman), and All-Star Squadron 27-28. The Spectre would return in another series to more long-lasting success in the 1990s, running for 63 issues (0 through 62) by writer John Ostrander and artist Tom Mandrake. I’m sure there’s at least another bunch of volumes of DC Finest content there, although I would probably pass on them. I never quite got the character, especially his costume … is the white his naked, ghost-like skin or some kind of onsie costume that he wears with a green cloak and cowl? I guess the Lord does work in mysterious ways, especially with his “vessels of God’s Wrath.”
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I am a huge fan of Jerry Ordway’s Power of Shazam series. I definitely recommend tracking down the back issues of the run. It was a really enjoyable title.
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