Review: Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle 2)

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When we last checked in on them, the misfit Aurora Legion Squad 312 was on the run, knowing the horrifying truth – the gestalt organism known as the Ra’haam is about to consume the galaxy, and Aurora might be the only way of stopping it. Also, they lost one of their number to the Ra’haam, meaning that that person is effectively dead. And they’ve been framed for mass murder.

So yes, it is technically possible for things to get worse, but it would take careful consideration and a lot of effort. Well, guess what: in Aurora Burning, the second book of the Aurora Cycle, things manage to get worse. Authors Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff keep things humming along with plenty of crackling action and the occasional twist and turn, but the romantic subplot just doesn’t click with me.

Squad 312 are barely surviving – they’re being hunted by just about everybody for the massive bounty on their heads, and Auri accidentally destroys the Longbow with her newfound powers. So they have no vehicle, very little money, and they’re being empathically tracked by Kal’s vicious sister Saedii. But then they receive a coded message that leads to a secret cache of mystery packages, and a secret ship. An incredibly ugly, rust-encrusted run-down ship, but that’s better than nothing.

But this ship is pretty baffling, because it was somehow perfectly set up for the team’s specific needs… eight years before. And somehow they knew Cat was not going to be on the team. And all the packages have odd items whose functions aren’t immediately apparent. Oh, the mystery deepens.

However, their first effort – getting back to the ship where Auri slept for two hundred years – brings them into the hands of the Syldrathi Unbroken, and then into a conflict with the Ra’haam-led Terran forces. With an all-out war brewing, the squad finds themselves divided like never before, with new and shocking secrets coming out on every side. Worst of all, the only hope for the galaxy is in very, very wrong hands.

The first two-thirds of Aurora Burning feels like a fairly standard middle novel, further exploring Kaufman and Kristoff’s universe, but the third part feels like a massive buildup to the climactic third volume. The Ra’haam and the GIA are still important threats, but this time the conflict with the Syldrathi Unbroken takes center stage for most of the plot, only to tie back into the Ra’haam plot near the end. There are some genuinely surprising twists thrown into the mix – some all the more surprising because the entire novel is told in alternating first-person perspective – which upend how you have seen the characters you thought you knew, and explanations for things that were previously unknown.

My biggest problem with the novel is much the same one I had with Aurora Rising: the romantic relationship between Auri and Kal just doesn’t click with me. It’s clearly meant to be the emotional core of the story, but it felt artificial compared to the other personal relationships that the crew exhibits, and it will probably rub readers the wrong way if they’re not into compelled insta-love.

But it does expand on the characters we thought we knew – Kal, Zila, Scar and Tyler – giving us new information that explains how they became who they are, and then develops them further. One will learn how to feel things, one will be trapped with an enemy he’ll start to understand, and one will lose what he loves most. Fin doesn’t really have any earthshattering revelations, but he is a thoroughly likable little guy – he struggles mightily with his disability, uncomplaining and determined to keep his squad safe, while sometimes ogling a few of his squadmates.

As I mentioned before, Kaufman and Kristoff tell the story in alternating perspectives, and they do a pretty good job reflecting the different personalities – the sexy, irreverent Scar, serious and dutiful Tyler, emotionally repressed Zila, and the quirky bisexual Fin. There’s a considerable amount of comedy woven into the first half of the novel (Scar leading Kal around on a leash), but things grow grimmer as the squad is dragged into the midst of a brewing war, and Aurora becomes enmeshed in the aeons-old battle against the Ra’haam.

One warning, though: it has a cliffhanger. A big cliffhanger. You have been warned.

Aurora Burning feels like a slow-burn middle-novel in this trilogy, but it also has some riveting twists and powerful character development. And yes, it will leave you craving whatever comes next.

A good sci-fi day

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Today is a good day for sci-fi… or at least a good day for me, as I acquire sci-fi books.

Specially, I’ve just gotten the new Aurora Cycle book, Aurora Burning, and I am dying to see what happens in it. Aurora Rising is an excellent book and everybody who sees this should go get it. It’s not devoid of issues – for instance, I really didn’t gel with the relationship between Aurora and Kal; it never felt real or natural to me the way the other budding relationships did. But I loved the sci-fi mystery at the heart of it, and the eventual revelation of what is really going on. There’s romance, there’s action, there’s comedy, there’s tragedy… and so I really want to see what happens next.

And then there’s Murderbot. Murderbot is the central character of four novellas that have been written over the last few years by author Martha Wells, about a self-hacking robot who loves soap operas. It’s a prime example of how a character/perspective/writing style can save a story from being depressing or grim, and I defy you to read these stories and not fall completely in love with Murderbot.

So I’ve got some reading to do. Toodles.

Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1: Change is Constant

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In 2011, IDW Comics made a very exciting announcement: they would be publishing a brand new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series, completely separate from the series that had been published before.

And I have to say, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1: Change is Constant is a promising launch for this new series. While the basic story of four ninjutsu-practicing anthropomorphic reptiles (tutored by a wise old rat) is there, Tom Waltz and Kevin Eastman (yes, the guy who co-created the Turtles) add some new elements to the franchise even as they remix some stuff from previous iterations.

Every night, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo – search for their missing brother Raphael, and fight off the street gangs of the mutant cat Old Hob with their father Splinter. However, the Turtles are beginning to lose heart, and Donatello is convinced that their father’s quest for Raphael is motivated by guilt at losing one of his sons, and that Raphael is probably dead.

He’s wrong, of course. Elsewhere in New York, Raphael wanders the streets as a shunned vagrant, unaware that his brothers even exist, and rooting through trash for basic sustenance. Then he stumbles across a man beating his teenage son Casey Jones, and rushes in to the rescue. He and Casey strike up an instant rapport, but their nightly excursion takes them into a dangerous confrontation with Old Hob’s gang.

And through flashbacks, we see how the Turtles came to be what they are – as adorable little lab experiments at Baxter Stockman’s genetics lab, and given their Renaissance names by an intern named April O’Neil. But something sinister is afoot at StockGen, and the four Turtles – plus Splinter, who is smarter than any ordinary rat – are swept up in a bizarre attack that transforms them forever. Shockingly, it involves glowing green goo.

As a start for a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series, Change is Constant is a good pretty good launchpad. It throws the audience right into the action and quickly establishes where the central four characters are and what they’re doing – which is particularly important when one of the Turtles has been separated from his brothers for his entire mutant life and doesn’t even know about his family. Why yes, it is really wrenching to see poor Raphael wandering the streets alone, looking like he’s about to cry.

And it smoothly introduces new versions of classic characters (April O’Neil, Casey Jones, Baxter Stockman) as well as a handful of new ones, particularly the vicious mutant cat Old Hob. The story unfolds both in the present and the past, and by doing so, Waltz and Eastman weave in a number of moments that either make you go “Oh, so that explains it” (such as why Old Hob hates Splinter and the Turtles so much) or lays groundwork for future plot developments. The latter includes a rather mysterious line of Splinter’s about how he is the Turtles’ father and sensei “as before.” Stay tuned.

It also does a pretty good establishing the Turtles’ personalities, rather than just relying on readers’ familiarity. Leonardo is the dutiful, filial one who does sword practice in his spare time, Donatello is a pragmatist and has a rather antagonistic relationship with Leonardo because of it, Michelangelo is the easygoing and peacemaking one, and Raphael is the lonely brawler who lights up when he makes his first friend.

Dan Duncan provides some decent artwork here – the art style is rough but decent, and character designs are lanky and weedy and, in the case of the Turtles and Hob, pretty muscled. The only flaw is that… well, for some reason he makes the Turtles’ eyes completely white… when their masks are off. They look possessed.

But despite the eyes of the demon disciples, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1: Change is Constant is a pretty solid start to an excellent comic book series, whether for newcomers or longtime fans who can spot all the references.

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Free books + three things that go together

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I like books. I like free things. I like Cory Doctorow.

So it’s probably a good thing that those three things go together: Cory Doctorow writes books, and some of them are legally available for free on the Internet. Not all of them, but certainly enough for you to get your toes extremely wet… maybe even your ankles… and experience a decent sampling of his oeuvre.

For instance, his website https://craphound.com has the books Little Brother and its sequel Homeland, Pirate Cinema, Down And Out In the Magic Kingdom, Eastern Standard Tribe, Makers, With A Little Help, For The Win, A Place So Foreign, The Rapture of the Nerds, Someone Comes To Town Someone Leaves Town and Overclocked free to download in a few different formats.

I would recommend downloading and reading these various books, leaving your viewpoints on Amazon and Goodreads (and please, for the sake of my sanity, do more than just say “I liked it” or some other one-sentence “review” that doesn’t elaborate on anything), and – if you enjoy Doctorow’s work and you have the spare money to do so – buying them to support him. Because that’s what we should do when an author challenges the copyright fascists and their flawed logic.

Confession time: I do not like Stanley Kubrick

On By E. A. SolinasIn ruminations1 Comment

There are certain directors that you are pretty much required to like, professionally speaking. Steven Spielberg. Alfred Hitchcock. Martin Scorsese. Akira Kurosawa. Ingmar Bergman. Fritz Lang. And, of course, Stanley Kubrick.

I don’t like Stanley Kubrick.

Let me make it clear that I am not saying that his body of work is artistically deficient. Sure, 2001: A Space Odyssey moved slower than a stoned snail, and probably is best watched when you’re on psychedelics. But I fully acknowledge that it is a masterpiece of cinema that still holds up pretty well today (even though we’re almost two decades past 2001, and we still don’t have spaceships), it’s iconic, and the shot compositions are absolutely masterful.

Or take The Shining. Again, so iconic that they basically remade it for The Simpsons (one of my favorite episodes of all time) and just about any part of it is instantly recognizable, and an objectively great horror movie with beautiful cinematography, direction and atmosphere. I really don’t like the fact that there is a lot of subtle disrespect towards the original novel, but that’s not a judgement of the movie’s quality itself.

I have seen other Kubrick movies, by the way, such as Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, Eyes Wide Shut, A Clockwork Orange, and so on. These movies are also iconic (except Eyes Wide Shut, which has some flaws that others have expounded upon), each in their own way, and also objectively good (again, opinions divide upon Eyes Wide Shut).

So let it be known that I do not think that Stanley Kubrick was a bad director. Nor do I dislike him personally – I honestly don’t know much about his personal life.

But I don’t like his work.

It took me a long time to wrangle out why I feel the way I do, and I think it comes down to empathy with the characters. Kubrick’s characters always feel very cold to me – there’s no moment where my empathy snaps into place and I feel identification or strong core emotion from them. Even if I intellectually know that I should feel for a character, I just don’t. I feel like I’m watching extremely talented mannequins being moved around.

(Except maybe Shelley Duvall, who I understand was tortured by Kubrick during the making of The Shining… but that knowledge doesn’t exactly make for enjoyable viewing either)

Compare, for instance, to one of my favorite movies, Psycho. I personally feel a very strong connection to both of the sisters in the movie – for instance, Hitchcock conveys Marion Crane’s sadness, her desperation, her almost savage glee when she thinks of the rich man’s anger, her twitchy palpable fear when she believes the cop is following her, and her sad determination when she decides to give the money back. People just think of her iconic shower scene, but Marion Crane is a character that I think we can all identify with to some degree. Even if we wouldn’t actually choose to steal a giant heap of money, I think we all know we would be very tempted, and we would feel the same loathing towards a sexual-harassing rich jerk, and we would be afraid if we committed a crime that we were pretty clearly going to get caught for.

And I find that I feel that way about the majority of Hitchcock’s movies. I feel a warmth and a connection to the characters in The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Rear Window, Rebecca, To Catch A Thief, Notorious, Frenzy, Spellbound, Strangers on a Train, both The Man Who Knew Too Much movies, Family Plot… hell, I felt more personally less cold towards the characters from Rope, and the main characters of that movie were literal murderers who strangled a man just to prove that they were superior humans.

Steven Spielberg is also a master of creating characters that you feel an immediate and strong connection to, even if they themselves are very different from you. Peter Jackson is also very good at this in his Tolkien movies, and so are many other well-known directors. They don’t always produce the same bond with the audience – a Quentin Tarantino character is going to connect with you in a very different way than a Spielberg character – but there is something almost palpable there to pull the viewer in and make them feel.

And with Kubrick… I don’t feel that. His movies are like mathematical equations to me – perfect in their correctness, but without a certain artistic soul. They feel cold. I watch them and I don’t feel empathetically connected to the characters, and thus I feel removed from the story.

And I’m not saying that you have to be super-invested in the characters and their inner lives to enjoy a film. I am capable of appreciating the mechanics of a book, movie or video game, and I can appreciate a character being presented this way or that way for artistic rather than emotional reasons. In fact, I wish the latter would happen more often, with characters developed in a way that makes them more interesting and compelling rather than just exploring the director’s personal issues.

But to me, watching a Kubrick movie is like trying to free-climb a tower made out of smooth, polished diamond. I am tackling an objectively lovely and masterful piece of work, but I am also slipping off the side and unable to get a grip on it.

To reiterate, I have no professional or personal hatred for Stanley Kubrick. I know the attitude of the current day is that if you dislike something, you are expressing hatred and obviously a terrible toxic person. This is idiotic. Watching Stanley Kubrick movies is simply not a pleasurable experience for me the way watching a Spielberg, Hitchcock or Kurosawa movie is.

And that’s okay.

It’s also okay if you enjoy Kubrick’s movies, if you feel deeply invested in what happens in them, and you feel fulfilled when the credits roll. I’m not saying that, because I dislike his work, that is the “correct” way to feel and that people who like his work are wrong to. That’s just the way that I feel, the way that I experience one artist’s work.

Review: The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2)

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Percy Jackson may have averted a war between the most powerful of the Olympian gods, saving the Western world in the process. But something more dangerous is on the horizon, something old and dark and terrible.

And that power starts pushing its way to Camp Half-Blood in the second book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Sea of Monsters. Author Rick Riordan’s writing style is still snarky and fast-paced, and it feels feels a little more polished than in The Lightning Thief – especially since he weaves together a good portion of The Odyssey into his own adventure, but with the modern twist he’s so talented at creating.

For several months, Percy has been attending a prep school, where his only friend is a large, strong but childlike homeless boy named Tyson. But after an attack by monsters, Percy and Tyson are forced to flee with Annabeth back to Camp Half-blood. They soon learn that Thalia’s magic tree has been poisoned, meaning that the barrier protecting the camp is slowly disintegrating. To make matters worse, Chiron has been replaced by Tantalus, who hates the kids and takes a particular dislike to Percy, and Tyson is revealed to be a young Cyclops and also Percy’s half-brother.

But then a dream from Grover tips Percy and Annabeth off to the one thing that can save the camp – the Golden Fleece. Unfortunately, Grover is currently located in the Sea of Monsters – the Bermuda Triangle – and is in danger of being molested by a Cyclops who wants to marry and/or eat him. Unfortunately, Tantalus sends the brutish Clarisse to retrieve the Fleece, and forbids any other campers from going on a quest to find it, on pain of being eaten by harpies.

Shocking spoiler alert: Percy, Annabeth and Tyson decide to go on a quest to save Grover from death (or worse). But they soon discover that satyr-eating Cyclopes aren’t the only threat that lurks in the Sea of Monsters – ancient horrors are lurking, waiting to consume (or transform) the young heroes. Worst of all, an old enemy is also lurking in the Sea – and he wants the Golden Fleece as well.

There’s a hefty chunk of The Odyssey in the DNA of The Sea of Monsters – we have a visit to Circe (whose magical routine has changed a little… but not much), Scylla and Charybdis, and a visit to a Cyclops. However, the core of the story is Riordan’s own, and he creates a lot of stuff for this story that is very much in his own style (such as a Confederate ironclad crewed by zombies), and which works pretty seamlessly with any Homeric homages.

Riordan’s writing is a little more polished in this book, integrating the weirdly mythological with the modern world a little more smoothly (the Gray Sisters and their taxi). And he knows his mythology, as evidenced by the inclusion of Tantalus and his seething hatred of all kids, who is mostly used as an obstacle… and a source of laughs, since his mere presence repels all food and drink.

He also builds up a real sense of darkness and impending disaster, starting with the truly nasty monsters that roam through the Bermuda Triangle area… and building up to to the return of a familiar character, who is planning to use the Fleece for extremely evil reasons. But don’t worry, there’s still a wild, lighthearted side to these monstrous encounters. Let’s just say that centaurs know how to party. And pirates need vitamins.

Riordan also introduces or expands a few characters in the cast beyond just Percy and Annabeth. The most significant addition is Tyson, a kind and gentle boy who is mocked and ostracized by most other kids, especially since he often seems like he has a mental disability. This also leads to some good development for Percy, who struggles with feelings of both love and shame for his awkward, monstrous, childlike sibling – something that many siblings of disabled children sometimes feel. Clarisse also receives some development, since we see her uncertainty and the reason she’s so gung-ho to always succeed.

Rick Riordan was pretty entertaining in The Lightning Thief, but he seems to have hit his stride in The Sea of Monsters. The characters are deeper, the fantastical exploits more intricate, and the threat of the Big Bad substantially more present. And the story ain’t over yet.

Review: Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants

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Batman fights a Godzilla-sized Killer Croc… in a giant Batman-themed mech suit.

If your head did not just explode from the sheer awesomeness of that idea, then I am sorry, my friend – there is just no help for you. Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants, the third and final film in the Batman Unlimited series, proves that they saved the best for last. The script is tighter and cleverer than in the previous movies, and the action gets literally supersized in Pacific-Rim-style brawls.

After several months in exile in Antarctica, the Penguin (Dana Snyder) convinces his antisocial roommate Mr. Freeze (Oded Fehr) to return them to Gotham in over to take it over. Their plan: break into Arkham Asylum to free Bane (Carlos Alazraqui), Killer Croc (John DiMaggio), Clayface (Dave B. Mitchell) and Chemo, then combine the essences of three of them into a super-growth potion that will make Killer Croc and Chemo into kaiju-sized monsters. In case you’re wondering why they would want to do that, Killer Croc has somehow gained the ability to spew ice, which causes a small ice age to fall over Gotham.

Batman (Roger Craig Smith) immediately takes on these foes alongside his newest Robin Damien (Lucien Dodge), Nightwing (Will Friedle), Green Arrow (Chris Diamantopoulos) and the Flash (Charlie Schlatter). However, things quickly spiral out of control when Penguin betrays Freeze, and causes Clayface and Bane to also grow to gargantuan proportions. So there’s only one thing that the Caped Crusader can do: run back to Wayne Enterprises and get the building-sized, fully-functional battle mech suit that can punch out these giant monsters. Green Arrow has one too.

I may be slightly biased in the favor of Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants, because I happen to think that Pacific Rim is a modern masterpiece. Mecha punching giant monsters makes me happy. What can I say? And there’s definitely a similar vibe to this film, with an emphasis on giant monstrous supervillains being repeatedly punched through buildings by Batman and Green Arrow’s giant mechanical fists. Also, toxic chemicals, snow and lava are spraying everywhere, so it’s not just punching.

It’s also probably the most complicated of the Batman Unlimited movies – in addition to the four kaiju-sized supervillains, there are also two main villains who are planning to betray each other. It’s abundantly clear that Freeze and Penguin aren’t going to be friendly for long, which further complicates a tale that already had plenty of stuff going on. There are some things that are a little zany (a penguin operating lab machinery), but they oddly seem to fit the over-the-top tone of the film.

The voice actors all do pretty good jobs, including Oded Fehr’s turn as the antisocial, perpetually-frustrated Mr. Freeze. The movie also works in a subplot for Damien, who is upset and feeling inadequate because he humiliated himself during a fight with the Joker. He doesn’t really resemble the arrogant brat from the comics… at all… but he is a fairly likable Robin.

And in addition, to the villains who actually do stuff in the movie, there are also some cameos by characters such as Cheetah, Mad Hatter, Hush, Two-Face, and most notably Troy Baker’s Joker, who is there just to be cranky because Penguin isn’t including him in the plan. Admittedly, it would be wonderful to see a kaiju-sized Joker rampaging through Gotham, but it never happens.

Also, there’s a henchpenguin named Buzz, who is hands-down the best character in the movie.

Batman Unlimited: Monsters vs. Mechs gives us exactly what the title suggests – if the thought of Batman piloting a Jaeger-style mech gives you a thrill, then this little animated movie might just be your speed. At the very least, it’s a fun way for the kids to spend an hour or so.

A problem with the Inheritance series

On By E. A. SolinasIn ruminations3 Comments

I’ve been thinking about Christopher Paolini and the Inheritance series lately, and about the large quantities of virtual ink spilled over the years because of it. The series has a lot of problems with it – the derivative world-building, the Gary Stu protagonist, the clumsy insertion of the author’s views about things like vegetarianism, the screwed-up morality, the wildly unrealistic depictions of battle, and so on and so forth.

But I think a lot of the problems stem from the one thing: the author was growing up as he wrote the series.

In case you are unaware of this series, Christopher Paolini was a teenager when he wrote the book Eragon. He was initially self-published, but was almost immediately picked up by Knopf and became a bestselling author. Now, I am not saying that a young person cannot be a good writer. It doesn’t happen very often, as I’ve seen firsthand, but it can happen.

The problem is that if you read the Inheritance series, it becomes obvious that certain parts of Paolini’s beliefs, thoughts and behavior were… not set in stone. As a child, you more or less align with what your parents think and believe. When you’re a teenager, and sometimes even when you’re a twentysomething, you are figuring out what you think, how you see the world, and what you believe is right. Sometimes it ultimately aligns with what your parents think, and sometimes it doesn’t. The point is, those decisions and how you work them out are a part of growing up.

Take religion. The second book, Eldest, is extremely anti-religion, depicting the atheist elves as rational, intelligent and superior in every way, and the religious dwarves as overemotional unintelligent inferiors. Sort of like how many a douchebag atheist likes to depict the world, rather than how it actually is.

And then, at the beginning of the third book… he also features a chapter devoted to cannibalistic religious rituals that honestly feel like anti-Catholic propaganda by someone who doesn’t actually know anything about the religion.

And then… later in the book… Eragon encounters a god. It doesn’t make much of an impression, oddly.

And then in the fourth book, he sort of goes, “I dunno, maybe there are gods, but I’m so awesome and have so much power that I don’t need gods for anything, and obviously they don’t care about anyone anyway.” Which is really a very stupid and illogical perspective, especially written by a mere weak fleshy meatbag like the rest of us, but it demonstrates an evolution of thought over the course of the entire series and the better part of a decade. The perspective, which at least admits the possibility of gods, here is not the same as it was in Eldest. And while this conversation shows no deep or consistent theological musings, he still demonstrates more thought than he showed in Eldest, where the depth of his theological examinations was “LOL religious people suk and atheists are awesome.” At least he was answering points that actually sounded real, and didn’t do it in a condemnatory or bigoted manner.

Here’s another: vegetarianism. We return to Eldest once again, in which Eragon becomes a vegetarian when spending time with the Mary Sue elves. Because they’re elves, and everything they do, think and believe is absolutely perfect, and so on and so forth. This is depicted as the only moral way to live, and that animals should not suffer for human (or elf) consumption (despite Arya wearing leather clothes. Oops). I’m not going to get into a debate about the morality of eating animals, I’m just saying that this is what he presents as the unwavering moral thing to do.

And then… in Inheritance, Eragon starts being tempted by meat, and eventually he decides hey, if he’s offered meat socially, he’ll have a little, and that moderation is an acceptable way to live. After that, he starts eating meat again.

Again, it shows a change in perspective over several years, and it demonstrates that Paolini’s perspective wasn’t a particularly solid one. I’m not saying people older than their teens and early twenties can’t change their opinions or perspectives – far from it. I am saying that the time when Paolini wrote these books was a period when a person is still figuring themselves and their perspectives out.

And there are other things in the series that would point to the naiveté of youth and a lack of personal experience. For instance, the condemnation of the king levying taxes in the first book. Not excessive taxes, like in the Robin Hood folklore – just the fact that taxes exist at all. It’s very much a child’s understanding of how the world works, and it doesn’t do the book any favors to include such a childish perspective.

Simply put, Paolini was growing up and figuring himself out as he wrote these books. He would have been better served by waiting a decade before publishing anything.

For a comparison, let’s take George Lucas. When Lucas made the original Star Wars, he was considered a young bright star on the rise. But he was in his early thirties by then. He was a man. He had grown up completely. Hence why there isn’t a massive shift in perspectives over the course of the original trilogy. There are changes, such as the identity of Luke’s father, but those are more due to Lucas changing the story as he wrote it, rather than some kind of shift in the way he saw the world.

Anyway, since he has hopefully settled down in his opinions and viewpoints, I am going to give adult Paolini a chance to impress me with his new science fiction novel, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. As long as there are no screeds against meat or religion, anyway.

Review: Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

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In the first Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles miniseries, the Turtles found themselves stranded in Batman’s universe, where they had to help Batman defeat Shredder. In the second miniseries, Batman had to pay a visit to the Turtles’ world to help them defeat Bane.

So where were they going when the third crossover came around? Why, a new universe made of the two worlds mashed together!

And this composite world does make Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III a little difficult to immerse yourself into at first, since your mind will probably be busy parsing through all the composite characters and figuring out who is what is who. But once you get used to Clayface being merged with Rocksteady and Killer Croc being merged with Bebop, it’s a rollicking mind-bending adventure that affectionately homages the pasts of both franchises.

Ever since the tragic death of his parents, Bruce Wayne has been raised by his butler/sensei/surrogate father Splinter, alongside his four mutant turtle brothers Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo. The five of them battle against the Smile Clan, a ninja clan who are led by the brutal Laughing Man (an amalgam of Shredder and the Joker). But Bruce is haunted by strange dreams and feelings that something isn’t right – and his feelings are proven right when a Raphael from another universe appears.

But it’s not just any alternate version of Raphael – it’s the Raphael from the original Mirage comics, the prime universe from which all Turtle realities spring. And not only does he know that something is very wrong with this amalgamated reality, he knows why: the Turtles’ great enemy Krang is trying to rule both the Turtle and DC multiverses, by capturing both the Mirage Turtles and the original Batman.

The Turtles and Batman aren’t exactly pleased with the revelation that the shared life and experiences they all remember aren’t “real,” but they slowly come to realize that the Mirage Raphael is telling the truth. The only way for them to take down Krang, and separate their universes again, is for both Batman and the Turtles to find out who they really are – and reform the world into what it’s supposed to be.

If the first two Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles adventures felt like explorations of each other’s universes, then the third feels like a celebration of both franchises. This came out in time for Batman’s 80th anniversary, and the Turtles’ 35th, and the love for both is strong – especially since it goes out of its way to highlight the “progenitor” Batman and Turtles (the latter of whom is even drawn by Kevin Eastman in black and white).

And it’s a fun ride – it has some wrenching pathos (the rediscovery of Alfred), some heartwarming moments (the Turtles reunion with April) and some funny lines thrown in to keep it from ever feeling too dark (“… I’ve finally found the great progenitors!” “That’s not a nice thing to call someone, dude!”). Above all, it has a sense of rising butt-kicking action as the Turtles and Batman dig up their true identities and start forcing the universe into the shape it’s meant to be, which requires some reorganization of the Smile Clan. With every triumph comes a little thrill.

Its biggest flaw is that it can be a little confusing at times – some characters are clearly amalgamations of characters from both the Bat and Turtle universes… and other seem like they are (the Turtles, the Laughing Man), but we later find out that their counterparts do actually exist in this world. Also, the Bat-Family kind of comes out of nowhere for the big climactic battle.

As always, Freddie Williams II’ art is awesome – he knows the right style to render both Batman and the Turtles in, giving them a complex, sculpted look that fits both universes. And the legendary Kevin Eastman contributes some pages as well, sketching in the progenitor Turtles and their world in a rough black-and-white style that harkens back to the Mirage comics, allowing those Turtles to stand out.

There’s a certain bittersweetness to Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, since we’re probably not going to get another crossover for awhile – and if we do, probably not a sequel to this one. But it’s still a rollicking ride through both franchises, rendered with affection and respect. Cowabunga!

Review: Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem

On By E. A. SolinasIn reviewsLeave a comment

Second verse, same as the first… but now with more Joker and a cyber-robo-T-rex.

So if you enjoyed the first futuristic, colorful Batman Unlimited adventure, you’re probably going to enjoy the second, “Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem.” It follows roughly the same pattern as the first movie – a bunch of motley minor supervillains start running amuck, and are found to be involved in a mysterious scheme that threatens all of Gotham city. But it has enough mysteries and differences that it doesn’t feel repetitive, especially with the outstanding Troy Baker taking center stage as everyone’s favorite psychotic clown.

On Halloween, Solomon Grundy (Fred Tatasciore), Silver Banshee (Kari Wuhrer) and Scarecrow (Brian T. Delaney) manage to break out of Arkham Asylum and escape, despite the best efforts of Nightwing (Will Friedle) and Green Arrow (Chris Diamantopoulos). Batman isn’t entirely sure why they’re teaming up, and he gets a little distracted by the kidnapping of a famous video game designer by Clayface. And who is the mastermind behind all of this? None other than the Joker (Troy Baker).

Unfortunately, the Joker has a plan far more devious than merely kidnapping video game designers and stealing atomic batteries. After stealing a rare Incan gem, he unleashes a computer virus on all of Gotham, reducing the city to a darkened shell of its former self and turning Batman’s tech against him and his allies. Oh, and he declares himself king and puts his various cronies in positions of power. So naturally Batman and his allies will have to get creative in order to find their enemies and bring them down – both physically and digitally – before Joker has the chance to spread his virus across the entire world.

If you enjoyed Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts, there’s a fairly good chance you will also enjoy Batman Unlimited: Mutant Mayhem. It still has the feeling of a fluffy but fun toy commercial with a plot added, and it has mostly the same heroic cast – although Cyborg is a supporting superhero rather than the Flash – and a fairly colorful array of villains. But the real showstopper is the Joker, played to gleefully insane perfection by Troy Baker. Baker is probably the second-best animated Joker out there, and he gives a thoroughly fun performance (such as when he plays several news anchors at once).

Of course, the entire cast is pretty good – Smith has a good low voice for Batman, Diamantopoulos is good as the lighter, wittier Green Arrow, and they’re backed by Friedle and Yuri Lowenthal as Nightwing and Red Robin. The latter two are also made more distinct by showing some of Nightwing’s fears as a superhero, balanced out against Red Robin’s quirky love of video games and unconventional fighting style.

There’s plenty of action in this movie, and it’s kept fast-moving and innovative at all times – baseballs as weapons, World War II planes, fear gas, an Iron-Man-like mech suit, a genuinely spooky attack by Clayface, and a very trippy cyber-battle between Batman and the Joker. There are some slower moments where Batman and his compatriots have to do some detective work, but these fortunately don’t bog down the pace.

The only problem is that Cyborg doesn’t have much superheroing to do in this movie – he mostly just gets infected by the virus, and spends almost all his screen time fighting the good guys. Also, “monster mayhem” is kind of an erroneous description, since there are no monsters here, except maybe Solomon Grundy; this mostly seems to be the title because, well, the beginning takes place on Halloween and some of the villains are a little spooky.

It’s not the deepest or most intricate adventure for the Dark Knight, but Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem is a colorful and action-packed popcorn adventure – and if you enjoy the Joker, Baker’s performance is a must-see.