Who Hunts The Whale (2023)

 

Author: Laura Kate Dale, Jane Aerith Magnet | Pages: 251

    "Heroes are for fairytales and video games. It's easy to sit around a campfire and spin a fantastic story of a lone hero and their great victory over a powerful foe. Some would call that inspiring, but what's more inspiring is when normal everyday folks unite to overcome their shared troubles."

    A fresh faced new hire, Avery Paige, gets a job at a AAA gaming studio that makes some of her favorite games thinking it will be a dream job. She notices some irregularities but brushes it off at first. There's the usual low pay, long hours and just odd requests made of her as a personal assistant to the top floor executives; 2 tech bro wannabes who know nothing of the actual requirements to make a product and who are in a constant competition to one up each other in both how strong they take their coffee and who can think of more predatory ways to monetize the company's games. The job starts to wear on Paige as the executives treat her with disregard or outright misogyny. Moreso, she notices the working conditions of the developers go from bad to worse to human rights abuses and begins to make a plan to right some wrongs given her privileged position on the top floor.

    The book is written as if reading Avery's journal and each entry laid out in chronological order gives a good view of the sequence of deterioration. Some of the more outlandish events described make the reader fear they aren't even exaggerated in their horror as the authors' have taken from their and others experience in the real games industry and range from disrespect and theft to physical harm and sexual assault. Gotta put that "any resemblance to actual persons or events" warning label to good use. A quick and robust read that gives good insight into the human cost of what goes into making games and whether or not it is really worth it. The message seems to clearly fall on "No". Also gives a good breakdown on industry practices like what they are and how they are implemented to milk consumers in predatory ways that are often so obtuse the players won't even know they were scammed. Has a nice message about community and solidarity. One can't do it alone unlike a fictional video game protagonist.

4 Morale building exercises resulting in PTSD out of 5

Worlds of Power: Castlevania II — Simon's Quest (1990)

Authors: Christopher Howell and F.X. Nine | Page Count: 138

"I was not born a hero, Timothy Bradley, but I have faced my fears.

He who confronts his deepest dreads everyday… that person is a hero."

F.X. Nine is the pen-name of Seth Godin, an entrepreneur, as such. It seems he sketched the basic plots, players, and game-related specifics of this series. In this entry, Christopher Howell is the one who brought it all to life. As the dialogue is what overwhelmingly sells this for me, as opposed to the adapted aspects, my praises will naturally fall primarily upon Mr. Howell. It should also be noted that Nintendo did not ultimately endorse this endeavor.

To specifically address the nature of this as an adaptation of an NES game, I must immediately relate that it does not strictly follow the events of the game. I’ll pull a percentage out of my posterior and say it’s about 40% accurate, I guess? A sincere attempt is made to respect the geography and layout, but significant changes are definitely afoot.

The most far-reaching change is that Simon Belmont is not traveling alone in this iteration of the tale. He plucks a middle-schooler from earth to accompany him on his quest to rid himself of Dracula’s curse. Funny how that’s actually the name of the third game, even though it’s a significant part of the second. Simon and Timothy Bradley are a classic odd couple. Simon is stoic and severe; Tim deals in puns, bad jokes, and bad habits.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’d be like if there was an episode of Kyoryuger where Nobu and Tessai worked together, this is the book for you.

There are a few typos. I believe I counted four, but they honestly aren’t problematic. There are hint boxes, referring to the game, presented at the end of some of the chapters. They don’t always paint a full-enough picture (you have to break through the floor to find both the laurel and garlic salesmen in Aljiba), but everything actually stated in them is accurate. Oddly enough, one of them uses the alternate romanization for Rover Mansion (Lauber), when Rover is used in the main text.

Oh, and get this: Howell actually explains why the townsfolk are cryptic and deceptive!

In one instance, an item is established as being necessary, only to have another used when the requisite situation occurs. Also, two of Dracula’s parts were changed. None of the above are huge deals, for a few reasons: 1.) The bits referring to the game—the hint boxes—are correct, as stated. 2.) The item switcheroo can actually be interpreted as the set-up for something much later in the text. 3.) One of Dracula’s pieces in the game wasn’t even part of his body! 4.) The specifics of the lore and mechanics aren’t the actual focus, here. Emphasis is placed, instead, on the characters. Specifically Tim, of course. Through his eyes, we’re exposed to ridiculously clever metaphors, similes, and descriptions of the world of Castlevania. There’s also a great wealth of wonderful statements about life itself.

What’s on display here is so effective that I’m willing to overlook one of my biggest pet peeves in fiction: event skips. As a kid, I even wrote Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman asking about the excised quest for the Hammer of Kharas between the end of Dragons of Autumn Twilight and the beginning of ...Winter Night. Hmm, looks like they did end up writing a book about it. Too bad I don’t care, anymore~

Here, I think it was to preserve the surprise of some of the puzzles, but the journey through Berkeley Mansion definitely whet my appetite for five more helpings of urban exploration that were in no way delivered upon.

If you end up purchasing and enjoying this, please, please consider watching Engine Sentai Go-Onger and its dedicated movie. You will find much the same sentiments, therein. You will find that Sentai deftly balances humor and meaningfulness in exactly the same manner as this book. The excerpt read during Awesome Games Done Quick a few years ago is NOT representative of the entire experience. This is a book very much worth reading, especially for children. It’s the perfect mix of heartfelt inspiration, goofiness, and the quaintly macabre.

Son, You are 4 Too Young To Be Telling Old Man Jokes out of 5

Nutted by NEG.

WitchCraft: La Terreur (1998)

Author: James Robinson  |  Illustrator: Michael Zulli  |  Page Count: 72 (24 x 3)

“…nothing is for nothing.”

La Terreur translates to The Terror, referencing a period in France’s past (also known as The Reign of Terror) in which a bloody revolution took place as people tried to turn the political climate from a Monarchy into a Republic. Wikipedia has more details if you want to brush up on the cultural and political happenings around which the story is set (HERE).

It’s the second series of three, being a sequel to WitchCraft (1994), but you don’t need to have read the previous books because the only returning characters are The Hecate, three witches previously seen in the Sandman universe, and it doesn't continue the same story. It’s a new adventure with them taking less of an active role. Instead, they're more of a catalyst. It's also a lot less enjoyable.

The main protagonist is Isadore Hibbert, aged seventeen. Circumstances leave Isadore with a problem and a limited time in which to deal with it. If she isn't able to increase her intellectual, spiritual and magical growth before it's too late then there'll be additional blood spilled on the cobbles. She’s a likable lass, but her story lacks flourish or any kind of identifiable uniqueness; it feels rushed, and any depth that might have been is a casualty of the short page count.

Zulli’s sketchy lines suit the mood and he gets creative with panel borders once or twice. The finery of the nobles gives him an opportunity to add some colour.

2½ unfettered times out of 5

NOTE: The picture at the top of this post is an amalgamation of Michael Kaluta's cover art of all three issues. You can see a much larger version by clicking HERE, or if you prefer to see each individual cover: ONE // TWO // THREE.

WitchCraft (1996)

Author: James Robinson  |  Illustrators: Peter Snejbjerg / Michael Zulli / Steve Yeowell  |  Page Count: 135

"The fires of madness burn at a gentle heat, stoked by grandiose delusion."

The Hecate, also known as Maid, Mother and Crone, are three aspects of the same ancient Greek deity. Likewise, the three parts of the book represent three different eras, each one more aged than the last, structurally mimicking a part of the content. The individual chapters tell their own story while also being a part of the same, larger story. Each has its own prologue wherein we’re privy to the Hecate’s thoughts and hopes for what eventually follows.

It begins with a brutal act of violence against a young priestess whom the Hecate show favour to. Her aspect and that of her tormentor are reincarnated over and over throughout the ages so that she can meet him again and again, until she’s able to sate the Hecate’s need for bloody revenge. The witches aren't going anywhere. Their longevity means they can play the waiting game for as long as it takes.

The different eras are suitably well-realised, with the language taking cues from the years in which the drama is set. Even though time advances as normal for the main story there are instances where the reader is pulled back to an earlier time within the smaller framework, showing us the reincarnated priestess’ upbringing and education. One such example is Faith Armitage aged seventeen, a product of her teachings, is contrasted with Faith Armitage, orphan aged seven, a malleable child with a mind waiting to be filled. There's not enough time to go deep into the nature vs nurture debate, but it's there to some degree.

Author James Robinson (sometimes credited as James Dale Robinson) shows us the lecherous nature of mankind that, if left unchecked, could become an all too familiar occurrence. In this case it's a fictional deity that steps up to the line, but even then it's only because they felt they were wronged or robbed of something valuable. Not putting a stop to something is not the same as sanctioning it, but sometimes just looking the other way can itself be perceived as an unjust act.

The book collects together the entire first miniseries, WitchCraft issues 1-3.

3½ rotations of the wheel of fate out of 5

The Tempest (c.1610–11)

Author: William Shakespeare  |  Page Count: 128

"Hell is empty, and all the devils are here."

Reading Shakespeare for pleasure, outside of an academic environment, takes considerable pressure off a reader. You won't be asked to give an opinion or answer difficult questions. Maybe you don't need to know what every little nuance represents, or care nothing about sociopolitical context and postcolonial concerns. Sometimes all you ask is a good story be told in a language praised for its beauty, and there's nothing wrong with wanting that.

The Tempest isn't a play that gets chosen often by people who just want to dip a toe, but it's one that I return to time and again. Many of the themes within its pages he's used before, but in a different way. A shipwreck gets the players to where they need to be, as in Twelfth Night (c.1601–02). Someone who's been wronged seeks revenge (too many too mention). The fantastical is there, but it's less comical than his other famous work that makes use of it, A Midsummer Night's Dream (c.1590–96). There's still a lot of laughs to be had, however, because it does after all have elements of tragicomedy, but there's a lot of weight to it, too. It's also a romance, proving that one thing can be many if the author intends it.

It's been suggested that the valedictory epilogue from the play's most memorable character, Prospero the magician, also the father figure, is in essence the author's own farewell to his audience and to the stage at large. It's believed that Shakespeare retired to Stratford some time afterwards, around 1613. No one will ever know for sure, but there's no doubt that it's one of the most well-written scenes in the entire play, suggesting it was of utmost importance to the bard.

3½ strange bedfellows out of 5

Cowboys for Christ (2006) / The Wicker Tree (2011)

Author: Robin Hardy | Page Count: 216

"I am what the Goddess wants me to be.  All things to all men."

The Wicker Tree was originally published in 2006 as Cowboys for Christ, but the title was later changed to match the name of the filmed version (2011).  Normally I'd cynically bemoan such a change but the film was directed by the author, so it's not piggybacking sales on the strength of someone else's adaptation.

It’s Hardy’s semi-sequel to The Wicker Man (1978) but it has none of the same characters.  It's a sequel only in that it once again explores the similarities and differences between two different faiths, namely Christianity and Paganism.

Batting for God are two young born-again Christians from America: a successful pop singer turned evangelical voice of an angel, Beth Boothby, and her rather dim cowboy fiancé, Steve Thompson.  The two hopeful missionaries leave Texas to spread the good word in Tressock, a town of happy heathens situated close to the Scottish/English border.  Many of the Goddess-worshipping Scots welcome the pair warmly, especially Sir Lachlan Morrison and his wife Delia.  Lachlan is a businessman who also functions as a kind of well-respected town spokesperson.

The differences between the two cultures plays a crucial role.  Robin Hardy returns to the subject often, sometimes playfully and sometimes sensitively.  His writing is still occasionally awkward—there are continuity errors and unnecessary scenes that serve no purpose—but the structure, as before spread over just a few days, feels more natural than it did in The Wicker Man novelisation.

However, Beth and Steve are so fucking naïve that I found it impossible to get attached to either of them.  They walk into dangerous situations clearly signposted from a mile away.  If they weren't so Scooby-Doo dumb, if they had some believability to their actions and reactions, perhaps the exchanges and story twists would've felt more consequential and less shoehorned in.

Nevertheless, it's a better novel (but not a better story) than it's predecessor.  I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that the novelisation of the next planned film, The Wrath of the Gods (2015), follows the trend and is better again.

3 stuffed birds out of 5

The Wicker Man (1978)

Authors: Robin Hardy and Anthony Shaffer | Page Count: 285

‘From inside the asylum of his own skin, he looked around a world that he peopled suddenly, in his imagination, with strangers...’

A wise person once said ‘Never judge a book by its movie.’  It’s generally applied one way, to defend a good book from the damage done to its reputation by a bad movie, but sometimes the opposite perspective is needed.  Judging by how good The Wicker Man (1973) film is, I imagined the book to be at least equal in terms of impact given that it’s written by the film’s director, Robin Hardy, and uses much of the dialogue from Anthony Shaffer’s excellent screenplay verbatim.  I've only myself to blame for that assumption not panning out as hoped.

The protagonist is Police Sergeant Neil Howie.  On the surface he’s an honest, steadfast Episcopalian Christian respectful of the laws of man and God.  Beneath that, he’s forceful and secretly judgemental of others.  It’s possible to view him as a haughty zealot quick to strike down those who challenge his beliefs but that’s only half the story; he’s more complex than he first appears.  Deeper still, hidden from the world, he’s inexperienced and fearful of his own desires.

Howie is summoned to a remote Western Isle off the coast of Scotland.  It’s an isle filled with villagers that worship a different pantheon.  For Howie, the Christian God created everything in nature, so in theory even the heretical worship of false gods could be, by extension, reverence for his god.  That’s the depth of his arrogance and is in part responsible for his actions once there.

There’s a mystery to be unravelled.  It’s an unusual missing person case that may even be a murder.  Sergeant Howie's belief that his superior deity will guide and aid him in ensuring justice is done is only the beginning of his problems.

As the mystery deepens, the novel begins to unravel.  The quality of the prose drops and doesn't recover.  By the end it feels like fan fiction.

I’ll do us all a service by cutting the review short here and instead return to how I began.  Maybe it'll help someone else avoid the same level of disappointment that I had.  Never judge a book by its movie—even when the movie's good.

2½ circles to the nail out of 5

Wolverine: Old Man Logan (2010)

Author: Mark Millar | Illustrator: Steve McNiven | Page Count: 224

"The past only hurts if we let it catch up with us."

Wolverine has survived multiple horrific injuries over the years but he’s not immortal. A bullet might not kill him, but old age likely will because the passing of time is more deadly than lead from a gun.

Time is also a great pacifier. OML begins 50 years after a cataclysmic battle saw the heroes lose their fight against evil. With no one left to oppose the tyranny, the world changed. Wolverine changed. He’s bub’d but he hasn't snikt’d in almost half a century. The combative Wolverine is gone; only Logan remains.

The detritus of the past is a constant reminder that he failed, so he removes himself from the larger arena. Doing so partially eases the numb pain he feels but nothing lasts forever (he knows that better than anyone).

When an old ‘friend’ comes calling with an opportunity that will enable Logan to extend his current situation, he has to take it seriously…

Mark Millar loves movies. If you've read any of his work before you’ll know that already. The book is a road trip that’s influenced by the American Western movie, specifically Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven (1992). Like Unforgiven’s William Munny, Logan retains the same practical attitude he’s always had but his focus has shifted to more personal concerns.

Millar also loves action scenes, so there’s no shortage of those either. Amazingly, up until the final chapter he finds an almost perfect balance between the two things. The absurd nature of the post-hero world helps the more fantastical aspects of the story seem less at odds with the more introspective, quiet moments. The battle within Logan remains the primary concern.

His companion on the journey has a chequered past, so we’re never quite sure of his real agenda. All we know for certain is that both men have very different personalities and that sooner or later the animal inside of Logan will be called upon to decide if his contentedness is more valuable to him than his morality.

The last chapter goes OTT, it’s the kind of thing I normally associate with Millar, but everything prior to that is him restrained and his work is all the better for it.

A great story deserves a great artist. Steve McNiven’s depiction of the old, hardened ex-heroes is fantastic. He’s equally as good at evoking serenity as he is at framing explosive drama.

The book collects together Wolverine issues 66 - 72 and Wolverine: Giant-Size Old Man Logan.

5 skeletons out of 5

Wolverine: Origin (2009)

Authors: Paul Jenkins / Bill Jemas / Joe Quesada | Illustrator: Andy Kubert | Page Count: 200

“There's cruelty in his eyes now, make no mistake. When I catch him looking up at my window, it frightens me.”

I've already reviewed the story in which Wolverine got his adamantium skeleton (Weapon X (2009)), but this one takes place before that. Like the title says, it's the character's origin story, not his transformation story. It lifts the veil from his past by following him from childhood, through adolescence and into maturity.

I was hesitant about reading it because the mystery of the character was a large part of his allure. Filling in the blanks was a bold move by Marvel, one that could've sent ripples of derision and disappointment through the fanbase, but, in my opinion, it paid off. The book is by far one of the best that the House of (regurgitated) ideas ever commissioned; at least, of the ones I've read.

Part of the reason it stands head and shoulders above many of the others is because it dares to break free from the typical comic book format. It draws from other sources, primarily classic women's literature. It's Wolvie’s story but it unfolds through the eyes of a young girl, who is herself moving from adolescence into maturity. As she sits atop a symbolic hill, her diary entries record her thoughts; they strip Wolverine metaphorically naked, enabling the reader to forget the assumptions and biases formed by his chronologically subsequent exploits. Her observations show him instead as a troubled youth being shaped by a world of divided social class; a world that isn't a happy one for either of them.

The art was coloured straight from Andy Kubert's pencils by Richard Isanove, leaving out the inker completely. The rich candlelit oranges and earthy browns, contrasted by the dark bluish nights and the cold grey of winter give the book an organic, less rigid appearance that's incredibly complementary to the historical setting. The volume of textless panels vs exposition is perfect and lets the story's strengths rise to the surface early on.

The book collects together Wolverine: Origin, issues 1–6.

5 fearful symmetries out of 5

Wolverine: Weapon X (2009)

Author + Illustrator: Barry Windsor-Smith | Page Count: 152

”When all the secrets are exposed an’ all the runnin’ ends.  Hell… Hell is comin’.”

The story of how Logan got his adamantium skeleton.  You've maybe read or seen that same event elsewhere in comics or film, but in 'Weapon X' Barry Windsor-Smith, an auteur of the comic world, does it his way.  He scripted, sketched, inked and coloured the work; the only thing he didn't do was the lettering.

It uses the format’s strengths in every way.  Sure, you could adapt it into a film but you’d lose most of what makes it special because it’s not just the story that makes it memorable.  In fact, it’s hardly the story at all, it's the structure.

Often in comics when a page is broken up into patterns the positioning of dialogue is what helps us keep track of which panel to go to next.  That applies here too but it’s more complicated because the text boxes are arranged in a stylistic, unconventional manner and sometimes there's more than one voice speaking simultaneously.  A large portion of it is what I’d call background chatter that’s functional but hardly revelatory, and it’s repetitious, so why is it there?  It has a second function: it’s arranged in a circular pattern upon the page and in order to advance the story you sometimes have to read widdershins.  It’s like a clock face that requires you to read it backwards—it’s a timer counting down and we know what’s going to happen when that timer reaches zero.

It's structurally complex but easy to follow in practice.  There were only two or three occasions when I was unsure of which panel to go to next.

The book collects together Marvel Comics Presents issues 72 – 84.  The story is also included in The Best of Wolverine, Volume 1 (2004).

4 bestial needs out of 5

The Wise Man's Fear (2011)

Author: Patrick Rothfuss | Page Count: 994

“I am trying to wake your sleeping mind to the subtle language the world is whispering. I am trying to seduce you into understanding. I am trying to teach you.” He leaned forward until his face was almost touching mine. “Quit grabbing at my tits.” - Elodin

The second book of the Kingkiller Chronicle, Wise Man’s Fear is the second day of Kvothe’s narration to Chronicler. Events at the University drive Kvothe to take a break from academia and so he enters the service of a nobleman. With the time and money the noble’s support affords him, he begins to investigate events linked to his past that he had put aside at school. This leads him on quests that add to his growing fame, skillset and maturity. Unfolding events then beg the question of how he went from great adventurer to lowly innkeeper and if his story has any connection to the current state of affairs in the present.

Rothfuss continues his streak of crisp fantasy writing with a story and characters that are detailed and developed, but this large amount of character growth and story detail is accomplished with an equally large amount of text. This book is looooooooooooong. Rothfuss is clearly setting the stage for big things that don’t come to fruition in this book’s 150+ chapters. Complaining that there is too much of such great writing isn’t much of a gripe, but when it causes a 3 year delay in release someone needs to take the pen or keyboard away. Damn.

4½ knocked over chamber pots out of 5