The Ricochet Reviewer: Books, Movies, and Comics

  MARVEL EVENTS AND CROSSOVERS PROJECT Taking a broad historical overview of the Marvel Universe by reading through the major events and crossover events in order. (Thanks to The Marvel Event Timeline at https://comicbookreadingorders.com/marvel/event-timeline/ and Marvel Unlimited) Writer: Roy Thomas Artist: Sal Buscema A bit of a sloppy follow up to the la st exciting ish. Dejected after failing to stop Intergalactic Sentry 459 from absconding with Captain Marvel,  The Vision, The Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Rick Jones return to Avengers Mansion just in time to view an emergency message from Goliath.  He has gone north to Alaska on a mission to back up Yellowjacket and The Wasp and implores his teammates to catch up, which of course they do.  No need to dress for the weather, apparently. And who do they discover but…Intergalactic Sentry 458 and his master, Ronan the Accuser. Isn’t that convenient?  They’re on hand for the initiation of Project Atavus, whi...

by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp This edition of the classic Lancer Conan series takes  him from the desert to the ocean and benefits from a high percentage of Robert E. Howard material.  Three of the four tales are exclusively Howard, with L. Sprague de Camp tagging along to complete an unfinished manuscript.   "Conan the Adventurer" (French) The first and last stories are the highlights: “The People of the Black Circle” mixes political and sorcerous intrigues and concludes with a clash of armies to cement that epic feel at which Howard excels; “The Pool of the Black One” sees Conan as a buccaneer captain once again, encountering a truly eerie menace on a mysterious island.  "Conan the Adventurer" (German) “The Slithering Shadow” is a pretty minor Howard effort with a city-bound setting that gives it a claustrophobic feel and an over-reliance on coincidence that makes it read more like one of his posthumous collaborators.   "Conan the Adventurer...

by Friedrich Durrenmatt A filmmaker is hired to investigate the rape and murder  of a woman in an unnamed North African country and becomes entangled in a web of secret plots and repressed sadism.   I am generally impatient with experimental literary techniques because they usually strike me as self-indulgences on the part of the author rather than attempts to communicate with the reader.  However, there is something to be said for Friedrich Durrenmatt's use of chapters that consist of a single long sentence.   Friedrich Durrenmatt It lends a certain breathlessness to the narrative and forces the author to winnow out all extraneous detail.   "The Order" (Spanish) Indeed, this is a very short novel.   "Observer's Observer's Observation" (Turkish) In the end, I did not find it effective.   "The Mission" (Greek) Durrenmatt is making a statement about the nature of observation, but it was lost on me, perhaps because the headlong nature of the struc...

 MARVEL EVENTS AND CROSSOVERS PROJECT Taking a broad historical overview of the Marvel Universe by reading through the major events and crossover events in order. (Thanks to The Marvel Event Timeline at https://comicbookreadingorders.com/marvel/event-timeline/ and Marvel Unlimited) Writer: Roy Thomas Artist: Sal Buscema  Inker: Sam Grainger The Avengers are on hand as Rick Jones and Captain Marvel finally free themselves from the condition that requires one of them to always be in the Negative Zone, causing Mar-Vell to be dangerously irradiated in the process ... ...and allowing the opportunistic Annihilus access to  our world.  Meanwhile, the stage is set for war between the Kree and the Skrulls. Roy Thomas tells a compelling story with just a handful of Avengers second-stringers and Sal Buscema on hand with the pencils that epitomized the Marvel look. I love the way this story sets us up to think that the Avengers and Captain Marvel are antagonists (even though we...

by Ian McEwan A composer and a newspaper editor become locked  in conflict when a former lover dies even as they both face failure in their professional lives.   Ian McEwan writes beautifully about these morally compromised men who find themselves failing miserably at every tribulation that life sends their way, thereby intensifying their disappointment and disapproval of each other.   Ian McEwan However, he derails his own story in the end; after displaying such astute psychological understanding of his characters, he forces them to participate in a very unconvincing resolution.  It's as if he had the conclusion in mind right from the beginning and refused to listen to his characters when they told him they didn't want to go there. "Amsterdam" (Russian) "Amsterdam" (Portuguese) "Amsterdam" (Hebrew) "Amsterdam" (Lithuanian) "Lovers" (Vietnamese) "Amsterdam" (Romanian) "Amsterdam" (French) "Amsterdam...