Steve Vance

So I kind of had hopes for this. I don't remember when it came out and it came out during a period when I was still pretty DC buying happy, but that should probably tell you something right there (my LCS was very big on marketing anything "girl" comic oriented my way since I was one of the few girls who came in and read almost anything and gave them feedback).

This wasn't BAD, but it was kind of...unexceptional. Okay well I liked the artwork. And I appreciated the attempt at diversity they did, but everyone was so under developed. And the main character Lauren was a total bitca. She sort of learns a kind of lesson, but she's so determined to be popular that its not until the Popular Girls are actual VILLAINS that she realized how cruel, vicious and mean they were.

Meanwhile the Popular Girls were this side of deranged and so over the top. They didn't really act in their own self-interests, like you'd expect supposedly "clever" and "manipulative" girls to do nor were they terribly subtle. I don't understand how they got away with half the shit they did before their powers since a lot of it was just this sign of psychopathic criminal. BARELY this side of it.

In all it wasn't a bad buy at $2, I did really enjoy the art (I like Christine Norrie & Jennifer Graves from other DC works of the time), but ugh the actual story...… (mehr)

Oooh, ooh, ooh, these are all the Elseworld stuff I couldn’t find (although isn’t there one with a Green Lantern Superman story too?) In Speeding Bullets it’s what if Martha and Thomas Wayne found Kal-El’s ship. In Superman:Kal, he gets found in the past in Medieval type times. Superman: Distant Fires is a super dystopian tale where Superman may be going a little crazy. In A Nation Divided it’s Superman in the civil war. Superman, Inc. Has Superman making quite a bit of money, or a guy named Dale is at least. And in Superman: War of the Worlds he’s going up against Mars with a surprising ending.

They were all pretty cool. I definitely liked the Superman, Inc. the best and Speeding Bullets and Superman: Kal were pretty cool too.… (mehr)

The copyright on my copy is 1990, but it reads like those old 70's movies; "The Posiden Adventure", "The Towering Inferno", & such. Lots of strangers thrown into a dangerous situation together & they have to make a dash to survive. The situation was a bit stranger - an alien spaceship - but the rest was quite prosaic.

I don't like a ton of characters without any hook to hang them on. I was confused as to who was who & didn't give a rat's butt about most of them. I took a long break in the middle & finally read the rest. The second half of the book was much better than the first.

Worse, I think I did read part of this before. My son said so, but I had only the vaguest of memories. I won't be re-reading it.… (mehr)

This was an interesting find & not what I expected at all. My memory of Steve Vance's writing is long, but all based on one action SF adventure, [b:Planet of the Gawfs|362547|Planet of the Gawfs (Inflation Fighter Series)|Steve Vance|/assets/nocover/60x80.png|352635]. I recently re-read this old favorite & found that Vance had written quite a few other books, so I bought some including this one. I first tried reading [b:The Asgard Run|1178869|The Asgard Run|Steve Vance|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1181674645s/1178869.jpg|1166678], another SF adventure. It has huge, confusing cast of characters &, at the halfway point, had finally gotten around to what I thought should have been at the beginning. I may finish it at some point, but only out of a sense of obligation.

This book was completely different than the other two. It is a psychological drama with a strong element of horror, but of the kind we humans make for ourselves - nothing supernatural. The dozen characters are well drawn & the story is well paced. I did not foresee the ending at all. It wasn't handled as well as it could have been, a bit choppy & abrupt, but quite powerful, especially in retrospect. I almost want to re-read the book immediately to see what I missed, but I doubt I missed anything. Vance's style of writing is easy going & he just played on my prejudices.

I'm torn between giving it 3 or 4 stars, so I'll give it 4, but it's really a 3.5. Pretty darn good. If you get a chance, it's worth the few hours it takes to read.

… (mehr)