Book Report: Wild Cards 1

As if I didn't spend enough time reading comic books ... ;)

The Wild Cards series is made up of predominantly "Mosaic Novels", meaning that each novel is comprised of short stories written by different writers, each from the point of view of their own characters in the Wild Cards universe, but all the short stories taken together comprise one whole META-story, if you will. It's a cool concept, and one that gives the series several sets of fresh eyes and fresh ideas.

The basic concept: In 1946, an alien virus is released over New York City. The vast majority of people infected draw "jokers" -- either they die (sometimes horribly) or their mutated into bizarre, disfigured forms. A rare few become "Aces," superpowered humans who will be deified and reviled in turn.

A great pulp feel and lots of action characterize most of the stories, which have an underlay of some of the more tumultuous times in recent American history. I also love that this series rose from the authors' role-playing games -- gives me some hope for all the energy and creativity I pour into mine.

There's a lot of set-up and introductions in this book, as is to be expected. Some of the introductions don't seem to go anywhere (The Long, Dark Night of Fortunato), and some are bloody brilliant (Sleeper). The tragic romance of Tachyon and Brain Trust and the fall of the Four Aces are heartbreaking. Puppetman is just plain scary.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the series -- we've got the history. Now what's the future?