Kelson Reviews Stuff - Page 32

The first episode of Flash Forward is one of the best-constructed pilot episodes I’ve seen in a long time, especially of an arc-driven series. (I’ve been trying to think of the last show I saw where I didn’t feel like it took the cast or story a few episodes to get up to speed, and all I can come up with is Firefly.) In one hour, it managed to introduce a slew of characters, show the major world-changing event that sets the arc in motion, pose serious questions (both story-wise and philosophically), force characters to change, set up conflicting agendas and points of view, establish a mystery or two, and find a thematic conclusion to the episode that doesn’t feel like it’s just the first hour of a two- or three-hour show.

Most shows would take two hours to do all that, or pick and choose to cram it into one. (They even found time for a car chase.)

One of the things that really impressed me was that, just using one episode’s worth of characters, they showed the beginnings of so many totally different ways of looking at humanity’s glimpse of the future, whether through hope, fear, or simply confusion. From what they said at Comic-Con, one of the ideas is to be able to expand this to theoretically anyone in the world.

The extended preview of upcoming episodes (a flash forward to Flash Forward!) seemed to be making a great effort to say that yes, they’ll be answering questions, and no, you won’t have to wait 3 years to find out what the heck is going on (unlike that other show with Sonya Walger, Dominic Monaghan, and Oceanic Airlines).

There were a couple of moments that I thought were forced, though the only one that really stands out was the immediate juxtaposition of the “we’re being punished” and “this is a gift” reactions.

Adaptation

They did a good job of taking the source material, Robert J. Sawyer’s novel Flashforward (I’m getting really confused as to whether the TV series has a space in the title or not, but the book definitely doesn’t), and making something that’s recognizably the same idea, but telling a new story with it. It has the benefit of all the thought he put into it:

• What are all the consequences of everyone blacking out for two minutes?
• If everyone experiences his or her own future at the same instant, what about people who are asleep at that time?
• How do you determine whether people are seeing different possible futures or the same future?
• How do you determine whether the future can be changed? (It’s a common enough storytelling trope, but how would you scientifically prove it?)

And so on. But they can tell a larger story, with more characters…and still surprise people who read the book. I don’t know whether they plan on using a similar explanation for what caused the event, or whether the TV version will come down on the side of “The future is not set” or “You can’t fight fate” (though I expect it will be the former, for storytelling reasons). And there was a moment a few minutes before the end that just came out of nowhere and left me thinking, “Wait, what???”

The book is definitely worth reading, especially if you like science fiction of the “what would happen if…?” variety, and it looks like it probably won’t spoil much.

Update: Cancelled After One Lackluster Season

I miss it a little, but I miss what it could have been a lot more than I miss what it actually was. The book was fascinating, and the pilot episode was absolutely fantastic, but from there it was a study in missteps and missed opportunity, week after week. At least they built the first season around a one-year main arc, rather than relying on future seasons happening.

I really wish the show hadn’t squandered so much of its potential. The pilot was great, but the series got totally bogged down in the conspiracy plot and “There’s gonna be another blackout!”

(Worth a look: About a year after it was all over, Robert J. Sawyer wrote about what went wrong with the show, from his point of view.)

Could Batman patent the Batmobile? Is it murder if you kill Wolverine, knowing he’ll regenerate? Does Superman need a warrant to use his X-ray vision on your house? How much trouble can Stark Industries get in if one of Iron Man’s fights levels your business?

James Daily, J.D. and Ryan Davidson, J.D.’s The Law of Superheroes answers these and more questions about the legal implications of super-heroic tropes. You may recognize the names or the concept: The pair of lawyers and self-described comic-book nerds also write the blog Law and the Multiverse.

You’d think a book about law would be a dry read, but it’s actually a lot of fun. That’s sort of the point: some land dispute might not grab the average reader’s attention, but Superman’s troubles with the IRS? That’s something anyone can relate to. More than a “what if?” collection, the book works as an overview of U.S. and international law, told through the lens of comic books.

Examples

Some of the implications are kind of surprising. For instance: Music from a parallel universe where the Beatles never broke up (New Excalibur 4) might not be protected by copyright, because Earth-2182’s U.S. and U.K. never signed our universe’s Berne Convention. On the other hand, the surviving Beatles might still be able to control distribution through trademark law.

Another interesting thing to think about: if Commissioner Gordon calls Batman in on a case, he’s legally required to follow the same rules as the police regarding search warrants and the like, or else evidence may not be admissible. But if Batman goes after the Riddler on his own, he can probably sneak into the villain’s hideout looking for clues and not jeopardize the case (although he’d technically be guilty of breaking and entering).

As a non-human, Superman might not be legally entitled to legal rights as a person, though he and Gorilla Grodd would probably both be protected under animal cruelty statutes and the Endangered Species Act. This is one of several cases where it seems likely that law would change to settle the question (sort of like the DCU’s twelfth amendment allowing masked testimony).

As for that question about Wolverine: It really does depend on whether you know he’ll shrug it off. If you shoot him and think he’ll die, you’ve attempted murder and can be charged as such. If you know it’ll barely slow him down, it’s only assault. On a related note, if you kill Ra’s Al Ghul and then he climbs out of the Lazarus pit, you’re still culpable for murder. You did kill him, after all.

Missing

I was kind of hoping for a little more depth on some subjects, but they cover a lot of ground, and there isn’t really room. (Good thing they have a blog!)

The other thing that disappointed me is that they rarely stray from the mainstream DC and Marvel universes. Hob Gadling from Sandman is discussed at length in the chapter on immortality, and Moist from Dr. Horrible is mentioned in passing during the chapter on super powers as disabilities, but that’s about it. In particular, I would have liked to see some discussion of an Astro City story in which a defense attorney, under extreme pressure from his ruthless and well-connected client, successfully uses the doppelganger defense.

Overall

The Law of Superheroes is one of those fun books that you can take with you when you know you’ll only have sporadic reading time. It’s broken down into broad areas of law and then specific issues, so it’s easy to take a few minutes to read about mutant civil rights or immortality and property inheritance, then put it down for a while and come back later.

Verdict: Recommended. And then head over to their blog for more!

Randy Cassingham has been collecting and sharing strange news stories for almost 20 years now on his newsletter, This Is True. Often funny and always thought-provoking, this e-book collection features weird-but-true stories ranging from outrageously funny to just plain outrageous.

The format – all single-paragraph stories, each with a headline and tagline – makes this a good book to keep on your phone to pick up whenever you have a few minutes. Watch out, though: it’s way too easy to read “just one more story”…over and over and over!

Some stories feature follow-ups, such as a couple who marketed a bizarre invention who later brought it to “Shark Tank,” or how politicians’ careers fared after some embarrassing incident. Others feature links to expanded stories on the author’s blog, opening the story up to additional related thoughts or discussion.

One of the interesting things about this book is that it spans 2001-2002, so it offers a look back at the post-9/11 days, the paranoia of the anthrax scare, and the early spread of “zero tolerance” school policies. It’s an interesting view of some of the events that have shaped today’s political climate.

Available in paperback and multiple e-book formats at This is True Books.

Open and inviting, with friendly staff and a wide, well-organized selection. New and recent releases take up an entire wall, broken down into kid’s books, media adaptations (find your Dr. Who and Star Trek comics easily, no matter who’s publishing them this year), DC, Marvel, Vertigo/Max, and indies.

They also have a large selection of paperbacks and hardcovers, though that’s a little harder to look through since some are filed by author, some by character, some by title, some by publisher and some by topic. If you can’t find something, just ask. And if they don’t have it, they’re happy to special-order it for you.

They don’t have much in the way of manga that I’ve noticed.

It’s also kid-friendly: if you have a child who’s too young to read the kids’ books without destroying them, there’s a toddler-sized table with one of those bead-track toys, and the back area where they do signings and games has a TV where they often show superhero cartoons or movies.

Did I mention signings? They frequently get artists and writers from the LA area to do signings, and I mean big names. Mark Waid was in a few weeks ago, and the first time I walked in the store there was a flyer for a Mike Mignola appearance.

I’ve been going to this store weekly for about a year and a half. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to review it.

The Game Hub

Update: They’ve expanded into the next storefront over for gaming events and supplies. Mostly collectible card games (Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, etc.), some tabletop.

Today we drove down into San Diego to see the new touring version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast stage musical. The simpler staging and costumes work (though the castle set from the 1995 Los Angeles production really added a lot to the mood), but the big numbers like “Be Our Guest” do suffer from the smaller cast. And while I don’t really miss the two songs they cut (“No Matter What” and “Maison Des Lunes” were the weakest of the score), I did miss the battle between the townspeople and the enchanted objects…and the new song (OK, not that new, but it wasn’t in the original production) they added, about how happy Belle is to have given up her dreams, is actually creepy. Seriously, did no one think that one through?