The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf
The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf |
- Big ramifications for Marvel universe as crossover event ends
- Book review: Carnival of Souls
- Malaysian Booker Prize nominee Tan Twan Eng wants to keep evolving as a writer
| Big ramifications for Marvel universe as crossover event ends Posted: 26 Oct 2012 07:35 AM PDT Marvel's big crossover event of 2012 comes to an end, with huge ramifications for the entire Marvel universe. Warning, spoilers ahead! Avengers Vs X-Men #12 (of 12) IT usually starts with a bang, but ends with a whimper – this has been a consistent trend with the last few Marvel mega-crossovers, i.e. Civil War, World War Hulk, Secret Invasion and Fear Itself. Therefore, as I reviewed the finale to this year's Avengers Vs X-Men (AVX), I felt a glimmer of hope that the House of Ideas will finally live up to its namesake. Starting off on a positive note, AVX #12 finally brought closure to 2005's House of M event, in which the Scarlet Witch cast the omnipotent "No More Mutants!" spell, which consequently downsized the mutant population to fewer than 200 members. Things will be different after this issue, though, as the Mutant gene pool receives an unexpected boost albeit with drastic ramifications. The mutant repopulation is not the only thing that AVX should be remembered for. Other highlights of the series include Professor X's "death", the return of the Phoenix Force, the emergence of Hope Summers, Scarlet Witch's redemption, and the end of Cyclops' reign as mutantkind's spokesperson. With all of the above packed into a dozen issues (plus preludes, spin-offs and epilogues), we should have been in for a treat, right? Well, yes and no. With great creative powers come great expectations, and AVX sizzles and fizzles throughout the journey. While the battle scenes trigger some adrenaline rush, the "rush effect" is also evident in the art work and plot, especially when trying to do justice to Phoenix Force's role. Marvel helpfully breaks the 12-parter story into three acts, namely "It's Coming!", "No More Avengers" and "There Can Only Be One". The first act focuses on Phoenix Force's return to Earth in search of a new host. With Hope Summers identified as the host, both the X-Men and Avengers have separate plans to capitalise on (or neutralise) the situation. While Cyclops views this as a turning point for mutantkind, Captain America (and the Avengers) perceives the Phoenix as a bringer of chaos. Inevitably, both teams engaged in several mouth-watering clashes – with Iron Man's attempt to destroy the Phoenix Force resulting in it being separated into five parts and possessing the "Phoenix Five" – Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, Magik and Colossus. With the Phoenix's might shared by five mutants, the balance shifts towards the X-Men, as Cyclops retaliates with a "No More Avengers" battle cry. Act two of AVX outlines the dark side of the X-Men as the Phoenix Five are gradually corrupted by their newfound powers (Magik's act of bringing Limbo to Earth and using it to "host" captured Avengers is a good example of this). With the Phoenix Five dedicating their powers towards remodelling Earth in Utopia-fashion, the Avengers and governments are wary of their intentions and opt for the offensive, with Hope as their main protagonist. Having trained under Cyclops' "tough love" regime, Hope's mutant abilities are enhanced via the "Kun Lun experience" on the ways of the Iron Fist. In between, Wakanda gets the dubious honour of becoming this mega event's first ground zero, as Namor wrecks havoc on the Black Panther's home turf. It takes the combined might of the Avengers to halt Namor's trail of destruction but the outcome proves futile, as his "Phoenix essence" is transferred to the other four hosts after his defeat. With the odds against the Avengers seemingly insurmountable, the usual head-on collision and test of brute strength is cast aside in preference of an unorthodox combination – Hope and Hex (Scarlet Witch's chaos magic). Ironically, the two mutants are humanity's last hope (no pun intended) and it takes a combination of good luck and greed for the Avengers to defeat the remaining Phoenix hosts (Cyclops excluded). However, these victories ring hollow as Team-Avengers suffer a massive casualty in Professor X – who is killed by his greatest prodigy, Cyclops. Realising that having just half of the Phoenix Force is insufficient against an evolving Hope, Cyclops usurps the other half from Emma Frost, which completes his transformation into Dark Phoenix! However, even that proves inadequate against the combined might of Hope and Scarlet Witch, as they thrash Cyclops and Hope fulfills her prophecy by becoming the new Phoenix. Fortunately, then comes the twist, with the Scarlet Witch redeeming her past sins by collaborating with Hope to cast a "No More Phoenix" spell. Reversing her earlier "No More Mutants" spell, this new spell disperses the Phoenix force and reactivates the mutant gene pool. As the main culprit behind this whole fracas, Cyclops certainly deserved the worst punishment; but somehow only gets thrown in prison, and is even playing the martyr who "saved mutantkind". To prevent an immediate mutant resurgence, Captain America and Wolverine form a new Uncanny Avengers team to hunt Cyclops' former followers, who are now in the wind. These post-events form the foundation to the upcoming Marvel Now books, but what I am more interested in is the restoration of Wakanda, and the irreconcilable state of affairs between ex-couple, Storm and Black Panther. Overall, AVX is not the finished article, just like the mega events of the last few years. Combining the X-Men, Avengers and Phoenix in one plot is a no-brainer when it comes to sales, but the creative team's failure to capitalise on the "ingredients" resulted in a rather shallow plot. No doubt, AVX turned out to be quite eventful, especially with milestones such as the mutant gene pool being reactivated, Scarlet Witch's redemption and Professor X's death, but the manner in which the Phoenix Five was formed and defeated seems rather haphazard, and provided minimal build-up space. Marvel's persistence in applying the crossover approach to its books is fast losing appeal and runs the risk of over-hyping its universe. Compounding matters further is the exploitation of characters like Wolverine and Spider-Man, both of whom feature in a combined double-digit number of monthly titles. Perhaps it is best that Marvel consolidates its machinery and spends more time focusing on individual characters (like what they are doing with Daredevil), instead of relying on mega-sleepovers like AVX. Comics courtesy of earth638 (2nd Floor, Kelana Mall, Jalan SS6/12, Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Tel: 03-78048380, email: earth638@yahoo.com) |
| Book review: Carnival of Souls Posted: 26 Oct 2012 07:34 AM PDT At the Carnival of Souls, daimons can fight in the once-in-a-lifetime Competition to become a ruler of the City. Carnival of Souls THE Carnival of Souls is the heart of The City, the other dimensional home of daimons and, once upon a time, witches. A war between the witches and daimons resulted in the victorious daimons exiling the witches to our Earth, where they live in hiding. The only exceptions are a few "tame" witches under the control of their daimon owners. In the rigid daimon caste system, there is little room for social advancement except through the once-in-a-generation Competition organised by Marchiosas, ruler of the City. Kaleb is a cur, a member of the lowest daimon caste. Tired of killing and selling his body to survive, he joins the Competition to seek a better life for himself and his packmate, Zevi. Aya is of the ruling caste, but being female means that her only option is to marry and bear children for her husband. However, Aya carries a secret that makes it impossible for her to do this, even though she is in love with fellow ruling caste member, Belias, who has proposed to her. Her only option is to join the Competition, where the prize is to become one of the true rulers of the City. Meanwhile, Mallory is a regular teenage girl on our Earth. Or as regular as you can get, with an adopted father who is a witch, and constant moving around to avoid daimon detection. Although she thinks she is just a human girl, Mallory's heritage is more complex than she knows. Things get more complicated when she develops a crush on Kaleb, who, unbeknownst to her, has been contracted to travel to Earth to track her down and keep an eye on her. The lives of these teenagers come together in an unexpected way, and their decisions may determine the fate of the City and the outcome of the vendetta between daimons and witches. Author Melissa Marr obviously has a very well-realised vision of her fantasy world in Carnival Of Souls, which translates into her writing. However, she appears to sometimes forget that the reader doesn't know this world like she does, and certain basic concepts are either left to the reader to figure out, or explained only much farther into the story – which basically means you spend the first part of the story trying to guess what certain things mean. She also drops us right into the middle of the action, with Kaleb and Mallory already having known each other for a month or so, and the Competition already moving into the final stages, with 10 fighters left. This can be irritating if you're the type of reader who likes to follow a story right from the proper beginning. Personally, this decision of Marr's didn't bother me too much. I do wish that she had fleshed out the City and the Untamed Lands that surround it a bit more, though. Marr concentrates fully on describing the Carnival of Souls, leaving the rest of the daimons' dimension a rather blankish slate, even though she does drop tantalising hints about what may be out in the Untamed Lands (where Zevi spent a large part of his life). And you have no idea how grateful I am to be reading a Young Adult story where there are no love triangles! Conflicted romance there definitely is, what with Mallory discovering that Kaleb is a dreaded enemy daimon, and Aya stabbing Belias to death when they are matched against each other in the Competition. But at least who likes who is clear enough, even though they all have various issues – and some pretty big secrets and revelations – to work through. The story is told from the various points of view of the main characters, and Marr has chosen to give them a very stream-of-consciousness type of narrative style. While the style, to me, reflects the way thoughts would run through a typical teenager's mind, it did tend to get a little too much at times – possibly a reflection of my age (sigh). Otherwise, I would recommend this book to supernatural fantasy book-lovers of the witchy and magic persuasion. Do note that the ending indicates a sequel is planned. |
| Malaysian Booker Prize nominee Tan Twan Eng wants to keep evolving as a writer Posted: 26 Oct 2012 07:33 AM PDT Having been shortlisted for the literary world's most prestigious prize, Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng is our best bet at eventually winning it. But while his fans might wait with bated breath, all he wants to do is keep evolving as a writer. TAN Twan Eng, the first Malaysian to be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, has had a busy couple of weeks. In London last week, his schedule was so packed that he declined to meet for an interview, preferring to respond to questions via e-mail instead. His busy schedule is not surprising considering that Oct 16 was the day that the prize winner was announced. (It was Hilary Mantel, for Bring Up The Bodies.) An e-mail interview with Tan had to suffice, and it turns out that his answers are as fascinating for the way they are crafted as they are for their content. Here's his description of how he first heard, while he was in London, that his second novel, The Garden Of The Evening Mists, had been shortlisted: "I was walking up and down Oxford Street on the morning Sir Peter Stothard and the other judges were going to reveal the six names they had whittled down from 12. It was early and many of the shops had not opened their doors." Tan goes on to explain that he managed to forget about the announcement while reading the newspapers at a cafe. Then, "My agent rang me at around 11.30am. I had made the shortlist. I looked at the people around me, a huge silly smile breaking over my face. It was hard to restrain myself from telling all of them the news," he writes. Later that the evening, he attends a dinner hosted for the shortlisted authors to meet the judges, members of the press and other people connected to the prize: "They packed hundreds of people into The Orangery in Holland Park. The noise level was crushing." That he would be so descriptive in merely a reply to a nosy journalist not only indicates how well Tan tells his stories but perhaps also how much he loves doing so. After all, the Penang-born Tan, 40, gave up a career in law to write full time; he has written two books so far in his current base in South Africa. Tan's first book, The Gift Of Rain, published in 2007, was critically acclaimed and has been translated into several languages. Set in Penang during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya during WWII, the book was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize – not a bad feat at all for a debut. The long-listing brought Tan a lot of attention, but even he did not expect it to scale to the level that it has with the shortlisting. "I thought I had my experience of being longlisted a few years ago to rely on, but I have discovered that the media scrutiny is much, much more intense and demanding," he says, adding that he has had to start making time for interviews and deal with requests to write articles. However, the publicity also brought him much support. "The goodwill expressed to me by people from around the world – friends, strangers, and interviewers – was immense. They were all so enthusiastic in cheering for me, and I was disappointed for them when I did not win," he says. And he's no sore loser: Tan has only good things to say about Mantel. "I'm sure all five of us shortlisted authors were disappointed we didn't win. But we lost to a formidably talented writer," he says before going on to do what he does best, elaborate on his story: "Before I met (her), I thought she'd be a difficult person to get along with, but within minutes of our first meeting I found her to be a lovely person – gracious, extremely friendly, down-to-earth, and sincere. A week before the dinner at the Guildhall I told my agent, 'If I don't win, then I hope Hilary does.'" Even though Tan had made it a point not to read the books of his fellow nominees until after the winner had been announced, he admits to having "cheated" and read a couple of pages of Mantel's book – and "It was extremely difficult not to keep on reading. I'm very keen to get started on her book now," he says. A good storyteller doesn't only work with his or her words, but also keeps the audience – in this case, the reader – in mind every step of the way. In an interview with The Star in 2007, Tan explained his formula for keeping the pace of his book entertaining for readers: "I thought that if I got bored writing a scene, then people were going to get bored reading it. And I get bored easily." Five years on, Tan still thinks of his reader's experience as much as he did before. When asked if he has any actors in mind for the lead characters from his books should they be adapted for the screen (Mantel had recently announced that her two books would be turned into stage plays), Tan declines to answer. "I never state my preference for any actors to play the lead characters – it would reduce my readers' enjoyment of my books as they already have their ideas of how the characters look like," he says, adding that, while he has received adaptation offers, he has not yet found the right people "for various reasons". Tan's rise to success as a fiction writer seems to be moving at a steady pace and in the right direction. His first book was long-listed while his second was shortlisted. Could a win be in sight with his third? This might just be the case if Tan has anything to do with it. "Even if I had not been long-listed or shortlisted, I'm always striving to improve my writing, to evolve. Each book I write has to be better than the previous one. That's the only way a writer can grow," he says. That response suggests that a third book is in the works, although Tan does not want to discuss it ("I don't like talking about my works-in-progress; I'd rather be writing them"). Still, it would appear that storytelling is what Tan will continue doing and, no doubt, with the success of both his books – Tan said that the shortlisting has boosted the sales of both his books tremendously – the literary world awaits his third with bated breath. |
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