Saturday 24 March 2018

Review: All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder Vol. 1. Written by Frank Miller

All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder Vol. 1. Written by Frank Miller All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder Vol. 1. Written by Frank Miller by Frank Miller
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A lot of people hate this book. I don’t hate it. But I don’t like it. From reading the comments, I guess that many of the haters have a history with the Batman and just don’t like what Frank Millar has done to a beloved character. I have read a few Batman stories (including Batman: The Killing Joke - obviously) but I have no real history with him. I therefore don’t have a problem with a writer re-imaging a Batman and Robin origin story. I don’t see it as a huge leap to imagine a traumatised child growing up to not only fight crime but growing up to be a psychopath who fights crime. Once you are there, it is a believable step to see that crime fighting psychopath turn another traumatised child into a boy soldier. It was an interesting idea. I was willing to go with it.

I went with it but soon ran into problems. For a start, there were too many plot holes and loose ends. For example, Bruce Wayne at the circus with Vicki Vale; crime happens and the Batman appears but at no point does Vicki ask what happened to Bruce. (Minor related side annoyance - clean shaven Bruce becomes grizzled unshaven Batman in the space of seconds. Does the stubble come with the costume?) The dialogue is far from sparkling - don’t get me started on the infamous “Goshdarn Batman”. Characters appear and disappear with no discernible impact on the plot. Batgirl, The Joker, Catwoman... Why were they there? Perhaps all would have made sense if a Volume 2 had appeared but they are a waste of space in Volume 1.

My major issue though is with the portrayal of women. Comics are not always noted for their feminist, gender balanced attitudes but I got more annoyed with this book the more I read. It would fail the Bechdel Test big time! And it’s not just the dialogue, it’s the artwork too. Within the first few pages, we have Vicki Vale dictating a column... in her underwear. Or, our introduction to the Black Canary which I will summarise as follows: “Phworr! Eh? Eh? Phworr!”. A policeman gets beaten up by Batman... and for no good reason at all, there is a lingerie clad woman on the bed behind him. Worst of all, the Joker brings a female minion with him to clear up and she is stripped to the waist with two red swastikas covering her naughty bits. Seriously!?

If it hadn’t have been for the last few pages, this would have been a one star review. I wonder if the “haters” had given up by the end because I see a glimpse of light at the end of the psychopath tunnel.

***Spoiler alert***
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Having almost turned Robin into a murderer, the Batman seems to have a moment of self-realisation, shares a moment of grief and (I think) takes a step back from the madness. I could be wrong but I think there is a glimpse of hope at the end.

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Wednesday 21 March 2018

Review: The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved the characters in this book: living; dead and undead. The Jacks are suitably nasty and yet I laughed out loud when I made the connection between the first Jack we meet and his surname. And Bod, the focus of the story, is both completely ordinary and believably extraordinary. Most of the chapters are more or less self contained, with a satisfying beginning, middle and end (perfect for a parent looking for something to read to a child at bedtime) but various threads are picked up and developed into a beautifully woven conclusion.

Ostensibly, it is a children’s book but Gaiman never talk down to his audience. He writes in a manner that assumes you’re smart enough to keep up. And it’s funny. For example, he is unsure whether he should look for his friend so seeks advice from a poet; as Bod says, “... if you couldn’t trust a poet to offer sensible advice, who could you trust?

Ever since I heard a radio adaptation of Gaiman’s “Neverwhere” I’ve wanted to read something of his. Don’t know why it has taken me so long to get around to it. I don’t intend for it to be too long before I read another.

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Wednesday 14 March 2018

Review: Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race

Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I saw the film and assumed the book would be similar, i.e. a “based on a true story” semi-fictional account. But no. This is more of a history book than an historical novel. It is meticulously researched, but told in a somewhat plodding style. The people, brought to life so clearly in the film, are lost in the historical detail. It is a pity that such an interesting and compelling story is not told in a more interesting and compelling way.

That said, I still enjoyed the book and found much of the detail fascinating and occasionally horrifying. For instance, I was aware of the American civil rights movement in the 1960s but the description of the protagonists’ experiences in Hidden Figures brings to life the scandal of institutionalised racism as well as the (not so) petty indignities that were suffered day and daily. As a teacher, a couple of examples stood out. I was astonished to read that, in one school, the white janitor was paid more than the black teachers... including the headteacher. And, in relation to the state of Virginia’s reaction to a Supreme Court ruling that schools were to be integrated, the attitude of a white parent is frightening:

“In the fall of 1958, Virginia’s governor Lindsay Almond chained the doors of the schools in localities that attempted to comply with the Supreme Court’s Brown decision. Thirteen thousand students in the three cities that had moved forward with integration—Front Royal, Charlottesville, and Norfolk—found themselves sitting at home in the fall of 1958. “I would rather have my children live in ignorance than have them go to school with Negroes,” one white parent told a reporter. ...white students as well as black paying the price for the state’s racial crusade.”

Frightening because I suspect that level of intolerance is not far below the surface in our society today. When I read how nine black children, trying to go to school, had to be protected by the US Army from: “...the screaming, spitting, bottle-throwing white crowd that surrounded them.” I was reminded that it was not so long ago that a similar situation played out in Northern Ireland.

As a Computing teacher, I enjoyed reading about a time when computers were people. I also liked some of the small details. For example, I have clear memories of the TV pictures from Mission Control, with its rows of white men facing a huge map of the world but was amused to learn that the progress of the Mercury capsule was tracked by: “...a little cutout of a Mercury capsule, suspended on a wire.” Brilliant! High-tech meets Heath Robinson.

More interesting than enjoyable and more three and a half than four stars but still worth reading.

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