Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller

It drew me in, but it was not as good as The Dark Knight Returns

Published by D.C. Comics in 2004

It's hard to be critical of a graphic novel that sucks you in, entertains, fascinates and makes you wish there was another volume in the series, but I am going to criticize anyway.

For me, The Dark Knight Returns was an awesome addition to and reinterpretation of the Batman Saga. The simplicity of the dichotomy between the "sell-out" Superman and the embittered-but-still-fighting Batman powered the story. I am a casual comic book fan so I was easily able to follow along since every casual fan knows the basics of both Batman and Superman.

The Dark Knight Strikes Again, however, has so many characters and so many sub-plots going on that it actually gets confusing unless one backs up and re-reads a bit. Many of the characters are relatively minor when compared to The Dark Knight Returns' focus on Superman, Batman, Robin and the Joker.

Another strength of The Dark Knight Returns was that it primarily focused on an aging Batman who is appalled at what has become of the world that he voluntarily (well, sort of...) retired from protecting. Batman becomes the tool that Miller uses to criticize modern society and what we have done to ourselves. Strikes Again has so many characters that Batman often becomes just a part of the crowd. In the second volume, Superman is the focus - we get to see him re-born into something new after he sacrifices himself. In fact, the series deals so much with Superman, it would not have been inappropriate to have re-worked it a bit and called it "Superman Returns". However, that name has already been used so perhaps "The Blue Knight Returns".

It also would have been better to have slowed it down and made it a 10 volume series rather than forcing everything in to a 3 volume set. The third volume seems awfully rushed - too many things with too many characters going on in too few pages.

Perhaps most disappointing was the presence of Lex Luthor. I have no problem with Luthor vs. Batman. What disappointed me was that all of the ills that Batman is fighting against are not the ills of humankind's very nature (as implied in Batman Returns). No, they are the product of the skillful manipulations of a master criminal. Batman's Quixotic struggle agains the built-in evils of the human race is transformed into a standard plot that could have been stolen from Adam West's Batman TV show (Holy holograms, Batman! The President has been replaced by a computer generated image controlled by that Evil Lex Luthor! Pow! Bam! Oof!)

All that being said, I enjoyed myself thoroughly. It was a fun dip into the mind of Frank Miller. I don't agree with many of Miller's political stances, but I do enjoy the presentation of his arguments. The sloppy style that many have criticized was part of its strength - the reader has to closely look at the pictures to see what is going on. Miller hides lots of fun stuff in his art so it is worth a closer look. I especially enjoyed the touch of having Superman's "S" logo changing as he changed - it went from the oversized block style "S" of the 80's and 90's Superman to the more informal "S" that Superman started with in the 30's as Superman's worldview began to change.

So, final thoughts: Despite the deep, deep flaws in this series, I have to give it a grade of 4 stars.

This graphic novel can be found on Amazon.com here: Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Reviewed on October 26, 2006.

Murder at the National Cathedral (audiobook) (abridged) by Margaret Truman

Tedious at best

Originally published as a traditional in 1990
Audiobook published in 1993 by Random House Audio
Read by Rene Auberjonois
Duration: approximately 3 hours.

Abridged.

I have read a number of Margaret Truman's murder mysteries and was pleased to find this one as an audiobook so that I could enjoy it on my drive to work. However, this one was a true departure from her other works that I have read and approached what I was afraid that all of her books would be like when I first started reading them: the pretentious writings of a Washington insider. The murder mystery in and of itself is very simplistic. Truman brings in a vague ecumenical movement called "Word of Peace" and has everyone in the Episcopal/Anglican Church hierarchy express their doubts and fears about the group without going into detail why they should be afraid of it. Truman seems to think that an ongoing, out-in-the-open sexual relationship by an unmarried Bishop is not a big deal - and she would be wrong in that assertion.

Truman's descriptions of church activities and goings on have no natural feel - which is unfortunate because her other books were so much better and somehow managed to "feel" right.

My audiobook version was read by Emmy award-winning actor Rene Auberjonois (from Benson and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). he did a remarkable job with the many accents required. His female voices even sound like they were read by females! A+ for the reading.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Murder at the National Cathedral.

Overall score for the audiobook: 2 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on October 25, 2006.

Exogene (The Subterrene War, Book 2) by T.C. McCarthy

Published by Orbit in March of 2012

I approach this review with some trepidation. This is a hell of a science fiction novel but to call it a sci-fi novel is to undersell it. It is a hell of a war novel, but to call it a war novel is also underselling it. It really is the story of a woman finding out what it is to love, to be loved and to know where one stands with God - in short, to be human, but that seriously undersells this book and makes a violent tale of war, genetic mutation and out-of-controls science sound like some piece of warm and fuzzy chick lit. Exogene is certainly not that.

So, what is Exogene?

First things first - Exogene is the second book in a series by T.C. McCarthy. Read the first book, Germline, for the background necessary for this book. Germline (see my review by clicking here) explores a future war for trace metals in Kazakhstan between the Russians and the Americans. In Germline a group of cloned teenaged female warriors are introduced to the front line (males are not used because they lost control and became too violent). Exogene is the story of one of those warriors.

The clones are supposed to fight for two years and then they begin to break down mentally and physically and are rounded up to be killed. While they are maturing, they are indoctrinated into a culture of violence and death. Their universe is ruled by a god that rewards killing, rewards dying in battle and despises fear and mercy. In short, these teenaged girls are bred and trained to be pitiless fighting machines.

T.C. McCarthy

Except, they are not machines.

Deep down, they are people...and Exogene is the story of Catherine, a clone soldier that decides she does not want to die when her two years have expired. She questions everything - her religion, the orders she receives and especially the expectation that she is to give up and die because her two years are up.

Exogene takes the reader far from the battlefields of Kazakhstan into Russia, into North and South Korea and beyond. The world of Exogene is seriously screwed up - damaged by nuclear war, cloning soldiers, experimenting with human/robot hybrids and through it all Catherine pushes along: experiencing, thinking and learning what it is to be human.

A remarkable novel. I rate it 5 out of 5 stars.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Exogene (The Subterrene War)

Reviewed on June 1, 2012.

No, They Can't: Why Government Fails - But Individuals Succeed (audiobook) by John Stossel

Libertarianism thought delivered painlessly by nice guy Stossel

Published April 10, 2012 by Simon and Schuster Audio.
Read by the author, John Stossel
Duration: 9 hours, 14 minutes

The title of this audiobook, No, They Can't,  is a play on the 2008 campaign slogan of then-candidate Obama, "Yes We Can!" Stossel, of course, is the TV consumer reporter turned anchor of ABC's 20/20 who now hosts a weekly show of Fox Business News and a series on one-hour specials on Fox News. He has won nineteen Emmy Awards. He begins his book with an explanation of why he left ABC after more than 20 years and how the culture of ABC made it very uncomfortable for him to explore stories in any way except the tried and true politically correct way.

The premise of the this audiobook is that the entire thought process behind that campaign slogan is wrong  - the government cannot do a lot of the things that people want it to do, and even if everyone agreed it should give those things a try, it would do a very poor job of them because government is inefficient at almost everything it does.

Stossel is an outspoken but soft-spoken Libertarian and he makes a very thoughtful presentation of Libertarian thought on a variety of topics. He generally starts with a variation on this phrase: "Intuition tells me...but reality has taught me..." and presents a commonly held belief (like minimum wage laws helping younger workers) and then presents research that shows that that belief is incorrect (many have no skills and having to pay them more than they are worth means they are unlikely to be hired in the first place).

Stossel covers a variety of topics including free trade, how federal regulations can help the businesses they are intended to regulate, food police, government-provided health insurance, the "nanny state" government, gun control and lots more. The strength of the audiobook is not the ideas (they are fairly standard Libertarian fare) but the way that Stossel presents them. Stossel is inherently likable and he has done a lot of thinking and research to present his arguments in clear, everyday language. His "Intuition tells me...but reality has taught me..." format acknowledges the logic of people that disagree with him and then he lays out his arguments with his nice guy style.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. it can be found on Amazon.com here: No They Can't: Why Government Fails - But Individuals Succeed by John Stossel.

Reviewed on May 30, 2012.

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

The first of a set - "Guns, Germs and Steel" and "Collapse"

Published by  W. W. Norton and Company (April 1, 1999)

Most readers of those two books read Guns, Germs and Steel before Collapse in the order in which they were published. I, however, read them in reverse order of publication. Many were critical of Collapse because it was too close to Guns, Germs and Steel in theme and topics covered. I suppose that I am a bit disappointed as well, but not too much.

Yes, they cover some of the same material, but really they are the twin sides of the same coin - the rise of societies and the fall of societies. With a little bit of editing, Jared Diamond could have merged these two books into one and created one monster-sized tome (800 plus pages) on the rise and fall of societies around the world.

Diamond's theses are cogent, coherent and clear. Really, it is a wonderful volume for the student of world history who wishes to take some steps into the deeper end of the scholarship pool. Despite the easy writing style (Personally, I've never had much respect for some serious scholars who seem to delight in making their texts as dense and difficult as possible), these are lofty thoughts that are often painstakingly laid out.

The author

On occasion, Mr. Diamond's descriptions were a little too detailed (especially concerning the domestication of grains) and I found myself skimming several pages. But, those moments were rare and normally I found it to be interesting in the least and from time to time I had an "Aha!" moment while reading.

If you enjoy this one, be sure to read Collapse.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Guns, Germs and Steel.

I give this one 5 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on October 3, 2006.

15 Seconds by Andrew Gross

To be published July 10, 2012 by William Morrow (DWD's Reviews received a preview copy from the publisher)

Andrew Gross has learned a thing or two from his former writing partner, James Patterson. In this case, he has learned to deliver a great summer read. Nothing too complicated. Don't think about it too much - just go with the book and let it take you for a ride.

In 15 Seconds, we get a man-on-the-run story featuring a man who is falsely accused of murdering a police officer. Henry Steadman is a well-respected plastic surgeon who donates lots of time and money for worthy causes. Suddenly, he's being hunted by every police officer in town for a murder that he did not commit (but he did witness it) - and they are in a shoot first, ask questions later mood. To make matters worse, Henry gets a phone call from the real killer telling him that his daughter has been kidnapped and will be killed if Henry turns himself in.

So, Henry runs for his life while he tries to figure out who really killed the police officer and has taken his daughter.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: 15 Seconds.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on May 23, 2012.

Hell's Legionnaire (audiobook) by L. Ron Hubbard

 

Join the French Foreign Legion for grit, danger and adventure.

Multicast performance  
Published by Galaxy Audio
Duration: 2 hours, 18 minutes

First published in the magazine Mystery Adventures in 1935, Hell's Legionnaire is part of a large series of books and stories that are being re-published by Galaxy Press as part of their Golden Age Stories series. In reality, they are a collection of L. Ron Hubbard's early works that were published in magazines and as pulp fiction books. Hubbard was a prolific writer and he wrote a lot of action stories that translate quite well into the multicast performance audiobook format. The book is performed by several cast members with sound effects and are reminiscent of the old-time radio shows that were popular when the stories were written.



This audiobook consists of three short stories. All of the stories are about the famed French Foreign Legion and their fights with the Berbers in North Africa. The first is the title story. Hell's Legionnaire features a member of the Foreign Legion who has gone AWOL because he has killed an officer in self-defense. As he is fleeing, he stumbles across a Berber camp that has taken a group of American geographers prisoner and has tortured and killed them all, except for one beautiful woman. The escaping Legionnaire must decide if she should save her and possibly lose his own life (to the Berbers or to the French).

The second story, The Barbarians, is the best of the three stories, but also the most gruesome. It features graphic violence and details a torture scene. When the head of a legionnaire is sent to a Legion fort in a box, Captain Jack Harvey is sent out to find Caid Kizigh, the Berber tribal leader who is responsible. Of course, lots of violence and mayhem ensue.

The last story, The Squad That Never Came Back, is a sad commentary on human nature. It is the longest story (at 1 hour, 10 minutes it is longer than the other two stories combined). It tells the story of a corporal who leads an eight man squad out on a patrol only to find that the Berbers are a dangerous enemy, but gold-crazed legionnaires are even worse. It turns out several of his men know where a long-hidden stash of gold and jewels are hidden in an ancient Roman city and some of them are determined to get it  - and get rid of everyone who could claim a share of it.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Hell's Legionnaire.

Reviewed on May 21, 2012.