New Look, Same Blog

The new background reflects New York's first heat wave of the year. While I was at it, I flipped and shortened the sidebar to make the yoga practitioner visible. I still visit many sites no longer in the sidebar, but I doubt you scrolled my entire blog to find them. As always, if a site catches my eye, I'll link to it in a post. Any site I visit regularly will make the Links page.

Action!

For comparison's sake:


Real Action Heroes Superman Returns (2006) action figure (image from The Superman Homepage)



Mattel's Man of Steel (2013) Superman action figure

The first five comments are reaction to the first photo.

THE BROKEN PLACES by Ace Atkins

Atkins' third Quinn Colson novel is out today. Here's my Amazon review. I have a longer one coming to Crimespree Magazine.

Remember

While Veterans Day salutes living and deceased members of the military, Memorial Day honors those who died while serving. Those last three words are a powerful reminder of how much our armed forces sacrifice, that they accept the possibility of death from their first day of service to their last.

Avengers Assemble

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes was, in my opinion, the best Marvel cartoon in decades, finally rivaling Warner Bros. Animation's DC Comics projects. Yesterday, Disney XD previewed its follow-up, Avengers Assemble, which will air in earnest this summer.

I was concerned that Avengers Assemble might be too full of itself with the success of the live-action movie and that it might be similar in tone to Ultimate Spider-Man, too jokey for my taste. Neither is true. I'll miss Earth's Mightiest Heroes' voice cast, but Assemble's is fine at first listen. I'm on board for at least the next episode or two.

At The 5-2: "Aunt Jemima and Me" by P.M. Pearce

This week, a prose poem of purloined pancakes.



Submissions are open for guest editor Charles Rammelkamp through June 15.

SUPERMAN UNBOUND

At the Crimespree blog is my review of the latest DC Universe animated Superman release—starring the voices of Matt Bomer, Stana Katic, John Noble, and Molly Quinn.

At The 5-2: "Silk" by Josefine Petersen

This week, "Silk" by Los Angeles-based Swedish poet Josefine Petersen.

Submissions are open for guest editor Charles Rammelkamp through June 15

ELEMENTARY: "The Woman" and "Heroine"

I've enjoyed this telling of a present-day Sherlock Holmes aided by a female Watson in New York. CBS aired the final two episodes of Season 1 last night, revealing Holmes' femme fatale Irene Adler and his elusive nemesis Moriarty, both powerfully played by Natalie Dormer.

"The Woman" showed Holmes falling for art expert/forger Adler. His belief that she had been murdered drove him to drugs. Her reappearance as the victim of brainwashing compelled him to aid in her recovery. Dormer affected a convincing American accent as Adler and switched to British as she told Holmes she let him to think she was dead to stop him investigating crimes that would eventually point to her.

Moriarty's weakness, though, was her fascination with Holmes to the point she didn't want him harmed. On the verge of letting Moriarty get away with a plot to rig Macedonian currency, Holmes and Watson appeared to have a falling-out and Holmes appeared to overdose. As he lay in the hospital, he was visited by Moriarty, who unwittingly incriminated herself.

I expected the season to end instead with Moriarty's escape, as popular as nemeses have become. But Moriarty appeared sparingly in Doyle's works, most notably in the tale he intended to be Holmes' last. Drawing things out with Moriarty weakens Holmes' crime-solving reputation.

THE BIG BANG THEORY: "The Bon Voyage Reaction"

Leonard gets the opportunity to go on a four-month research cruise for Stephen Hawking. He's concerned how it may affect his relationship with Penny, but she encourages him to go. Meanwhile, Raj pushes Lucy to meet the rest of the gang, but his eagerness threatens to scare her away.

Leonard's departure was not the big, season-ending cliffhanger. Leonard and Penny's bond, solidified this season, should prove strong enough to handle it. The cliffhanger was Lucy's breakup with Raj. In the aftermath, Raj discovered he could talk to women while sober, leaving him optimistic about patching things up. I hope he does. It would be one of the bravest things he's done; it would show how special Lucy is; and Big Bang will have expanded from a show about four friends to a show about four couples, each with dynamics as nuanced as the characters themselves.

ARROW: "Sacrifice"

Arrow has been The CW's biggest hit in years and, as I hoped, I've been able to watch this season for sheer entertainment. The writers envisioned Oliver Queen as a human hero. No powers, no magic. He's been indecisive, stubborn, scared at times, making for unpredictable, watchable television.

My favorite moment of last night's season finale was Ollie admitting to Diggle that Malcom Merlyn (John Barrowman) would probably kill him. He had lost two fights to Merlyn and didn't know how to stop him.

My other favorite moment was Tommy (Colin Donnell) saving Laurel from the earthquake, but getting trapped himself. In an interview with Zap2it.com, Donnell points out that Ollie, Laurel, and Malcom all loved Tommy, which makes his death a fine catalyst for Season 2.

Malcom Merlyn's engineered earthquake threatened all the characters, and did not feel like a ratings stunt because "The Undertaking" had been foreshadowed all season. It compelled Moira to admit to the press her collusion with Malcom, resulting in her arrest. Thea headed into the earthquake's path to save Roy (Colton Haynes).

When Ollie removed his hood in front of Tommy earlier this season, the expectation was that Tommy would become Ollie's nemesis. Instead, he, along with Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards), became Ollie's conscience, never condoning his use of deadly force. Though I'll miss Tommy, I'm glad he, like NCIS's Kate Todd, was a fully realized character allowed to finish an arc.

NCIS: "Damned If You Do"

My interest in NCIS is only occasional these days. The show has been around for ten seasons and will be around for at least eleven. Even its biggest fans are hard pressed to say it's doing anything new. I remember how fresh it seemed in comparison to the stately JAG. While CSI tried to add flash to forensics, NCIS peppered its procedure with humor, a tack that has also worked for Bones. But while Bones' lead relationships have steadily progressed, NCIS's Gibbs has stood pat for several seasons.

Gibbs was a buttoned-down, closed-off ex-Marine until Jenny Shepard's appointment as director showed his softer side. Season 3 ended with a bombing that revealed the painful past of losing his first wife and daughter. This was real character development. Another step could have been Gibbs marrying again. At the very least, his three ex-wives show he's not afraid of commitment. His last serious relationship was with Army CID Col. Hollis Mann (Susana Thompson) in Season 4. Thompson left for a role on NBC's Kings, and Don Bellisario left after Season 4, taking some storylines with him. Remember the possibility that Director Shepard's father was alive?

For the last several seasons, the show has touted Gibbs' integrity. It doesn't jibe to call his character into question now. My biggest complaint about the finale, though, is it doesn't deliver on the threat to Gibbs. That threat is abruptly pulled back in the name of letting Gibbs go on a secret mission for national security. So, at least three episodes of posturing. If I were more invested, I'd feel cheated.

At The 5-2: "Rock-a-bye, Baby" by Tonia Kalouria

Tonia Kalouria returns to The 5-2 for Mother's Day with "Rock-a-bye, Baby".

Submissions are open for guest editor Charles Rammelkamp through June 15

IRON MAN 3

After lunch at Bill's Bar and Burger on 9th Avenue at 13th Street, I took the subway up and ducked into the AMC Loews 34th Street 14 for a 2:00 P.M. show of Iron Man 3.

The original IRON MAN is the new standard in superhero movies. IRON MAN 2 is a movie I enjoyed on first viewing but have liked less each time since. IRON MAN 3 has highs and lows. It's better than 2, but surpassing 2 is not all that hard.

After the latest in a series of bombings by The Mandarin puts Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) in a coma, Tony Stark vows personal revenge, going so far as to give The Mandarin his home address. Well spoiled by previews, The Mandarin levels Tony's house and leaves him for dead, forcing armor-less Tony to regroup off the grid.

The rebuilding aspect of the movie is very human and shows Robert Downey Jr. at his spontaneous best, but there are also many tangents taking away from the chance to deliver a deeper message. In addition to firing back at Tony, The Mandarin captures the U.S. President (If he's ever been seen or mentioned in the series before, I forget. The only way I could care was to ask, "What hero wouldn't save the President?"). Tony also suffers post-traumatic stress from being sucked into the wormhole at the end of THE AVENGERS, but his trauma isn't explored. It just seems to be there so Tony can bug out of the plot at random.

In some ways, IRON MAN 3 feels like a wrap-up to a trilogy, but it also feels like a James Bond movie, complete with the closing credit, "Tony Stark Will Return". I would have liked more decisiveness.

ROBERT B. PARKER'S WONDERLAND by Ace Atkins

Atkins' ambitious second Spenser novel is out today. Here's my Amazon review.

UPDATE (May 8, 2013): The sun broke out on an otherwise rainy day just before Ace Atkins signed WONDERLAND at New York City's Mysterious Bookshop. My friend and fellow Spenser fan, John Ricotta, and I attended along with Joe Guglielmelli of the East Side's dearly-missed Black Orchid Bookshop, and noir "queenpin" Megan Abbott.

Though this is the first we've met in person, I interviewed Ace for Crimespree Magazine on April 29, 2011, two days after Putnam and Parker's estate announced him as the choice to continue the Spenser novels. In his answers, I saw true knowledge of Spenser and respect for Parker. There's nothing like chatting with people who've read what you've read, watched or listened with the same fervor, but have perspectives you're hearing for the first time.

At The 5-2: "Get a Gun" by Nicole C. Scott

This week, Seattle-based poet Nicole C. Scott recounts the aftermath of a break-in.

YouTube has rolled out a redesign. Check out Ch. 5-2.

Submissions are open for 5-2 guest editor Charles Rammelkamp through June 15.

LEVERAGE: THE CON JOB by Matt Forbeck

Nathan Ford and his team of good-doing thieves, last seen on the TV series Leverage, come to the aid of aging comic book artist Simon Curtiss when forger Lorenzo Patronus, looking to make a splash at San Diego Comic-Con, cheats Curtiss of his life's work.

This is the first of three Leverage tie-in novels to date. I'm interested as a fan of the show from the beginning, but also, as a writer, I wanted to see how the show's style translated to novels. The show relied on quick cuts, flashbacks, and our heroes constantly talking with each other through earpieces. Matt Forbeck's chapters are short to keep the pace up, each one holding to one hero's view of the action for the most part. It works well, and Forbeck shows knowledge of each character's backstory and their dynamics with each other. Forbeck does not employ the show's quick flashbacks, which were effective for TV, but in a novel might have slowed the pace or disrupted the narrative.

Each of the three novels is written by a different author, which also attracted me to the books. Paging through the second, I see Keith R.A. DeCandido does use jumps in chronology (Now, An Hour Ago, Last Week...). In the right hands, the technique can work.