DVD: INCEPTION (2010)

This isn't a review as such, more of a consideration of certain aspects of the film. So I'm going to reveal the beginning and the very end. The bit in between, however, I'll leave a bit vague. If you don't want to know what happens at the beginning and the end, look away from the screen now.

A businessman (Ken Watanabe) wants our hero (Leonardo Dicaprio) to do something for him. If Dicaprio does, Watanabe will do something for him. Result: he does and he does. I'll be going back to end to discuss its meaning as there seems to be confusion about its significance.

I actually get the impression that many in the audience find Inception confusing on their first viewing. This puzzles me as, and I may have missed something, but the film actually seems quite straightforward to me. Everything you need to know is given to you; along with at least a couple of red herrings as well. It's about dreams and writer-director Nolan lays down the rules of dreams early on and mostly sticks to them.

The premise is that by means of a drug, certain individuals get into the minds of others and, using their dreaming, find out secrets. The drug also creates a heightened realistic dream in which time passes more slowly than in the real world. Next, a dream within a dream can be created in which time passes even more slowly, then a dream within a dream, until the final level in which the dreamer can be trapped and a lifetime may pass in a few hours. I'm going to come back to this.

Now the story has Watanabe wanting Dicaprio to plant the idea of splitting the business empire of his dying business rival (Pete Postlethwaite) in the mind of Postlethwaite's son and heir (Cilian Murphy), So Dicaprio gathers a team together and goes into action. If this sounds a very familiar story, you're right: this a caper movie like the A-Team and Oceans 11, but with a twist.

Apart from his partner in crime (Joseph Gordon Levitt), he recruits several people for the team including Ellen Page who designs the architecture of the dream and who is used as the means by which the structure of dreams can be shown to the audience and also how reality within the dreams can be altered. However Page discovers that Dicaprio's wife (Marion Cotillard) also appears in dreams involving him but as a threat. Why this is is a major part of the story and one I'm not going to spoil. In Dicaprio's own dreams involving his children he can never see their faces. We also know that he can't return to them in America and that another company is hunting him. It's Page who discovers his secret and the threat it poses.

There is a means by which a person can tell if they are in a dream by creating their own talisman. Dicaprio's is a small metal top and he knows he's in a dream if it never stops spinning. Page creates her own but then there is no follow up involving it, it's just a smallish red herring. I also wondered, while watching, if her character's name (Ariadne) had some significance as Ariadne is a character from Greek Myth who designed the maze where the minotaur lived but it's just a reference to what she does in the movie.

Okay, now I can get into the nuts and bolts of the film's internal logic. Early on Dicaprio tells Page that you can never remember the beginning of a dream and he tells her this as they are in a dream. Until that moment the audience didn't know it either because what we had was an ordinary jump cut from one scene to another. This immediately put the viewer on their guard as it forces you to question the  reality of each new scene as it happens. Is it a dream or 'reality'. This is very clever and it also makes you wonder if the entire film is set within a dream. Now I would argue that it isn't for the simple reason that it would make the entire film pointless. If everything in it is a dream then there is no reality and without reality there is nothing.

This has particular resonance to the final scene. As Dicaprio goes to meet his children, he starts the top spinning. As he sees their faces it cuts to the top still spinning and the screen goes black. However, it is clear, more from the sound of the top that the sight, that it is faltering. Cutting before it falls over is Nolan's final tease, but there is no doubt in my mind that this final scene is reality.

The movie appears to be set within our present reality but the big problem I have is that is has no discernable effect on society. There is one brief scene where we find a basement full of sleeping dreamers, rather like an opium den and deliberately so I'm sure, who refer to the dreams, their keeper says, as reality. Now this scene takes place in, I think, Mombassa so it's fair to assume that these aren't rich people getting their fix. This implies two things: that the dream-inducing drug isn't a state secret, though it may not be widely known (odd, but I'll give Nolan a pass on that), but even more importantly that is not expensive to use. To me, this has a vast implication which Nolan completely ignores.

I mentioned earlier that there are dreams within dreams within dreams until you get to a level which is difficult to escape from (though Nolan's characters don't exactly find it so) in which you can live a lifetime in a world you create in a few hours.

I'd like to know this: why isn't most of the world on this fucking drug?

You have the chance to live thousands of lives within a normal human lifespan in worlds you create and yet still live a normal life. I wouldn't think twice about it because it means that you effectively could live for the equivalent of (say a thousand trips during your life with a conservative dream lifespan of fifty) 50,000 years. What difference does it make that it's a dream when it seems completely real?  

Man, I'd sign up for that in a heartbeat.

And how would society change if that were possible? Now that's a film I'd like to see.

DVD: PIRANHA 3D (2010)

Why is this movie not up for an Oscar this year?

Well, the obvious answer is because it's a popcorn movie. It's a piece of popularist exploitation trash.

But it's a brilliant piece of popularist exploitation trash. I loved it. And why did I love it? Because everything works. From the opening with Richard Dreyfuss and Jaws references right through to the abrupt surprise ending. The main cast is terrific and believable: Elizabeth Shue as the Sheriff and mother to Steven R. McQueen as the young lead, Jerry O'Connell as the manic sleazy porn merchant and Kelly Brook (unbelievably beautiful) as the particularly likeable one of his two porn stars. The feamle lead I can take or leave but she was okay. 

The underwater nude lesbian scene with Kelly Brook and the other actress (who came from adult movies)  is surprisingly tasteful and really rather beautiful and balletic to watch in an aesthetic sense and, no, I'm actually not being sarcastic.

The gore is plentiful and realistic and sometimes (as in the severed penis) very funny. The prehistoric piranha look believable, though I'm not convinced they could survive as a species in an underground lake by surviving on a cannibalistic diet.

Having said that, after watching the 3D version for 10 minutes I took off the glasses and replaced the disc with the 2D version. The 3D had muted colours and it was quite difficult to find the right angle and position of the glasses on my face to get the right image, I may, however, give it a second go when I rewatch it, which I'm certainly going to do.

Yes, of course it's rubbish, but it is extremely well-made highly enjoyable rubbish. Switch off your brain and just have fun.

 

I don't normally do cheesecake shots but this is how Kelly Brook's dressed throughout most of the movie and she plays a more important part than I expected.

Oh all right, here's the piranha.

GRAPHIC NOVEL: THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES: THE GREAT DARKNESS SAGA

 A 3-star Amazon review.

For fans of the Legion only -which suits me, as I'm one.

Despite the price tag, given that you get nearly 400 pages of story, plus a script and some Keith Giffen sketches and all on glossy paper, this isn't a bad deal. Published in 1982-83 before the impact of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, Miller's Dark Knight, et al, this is a fairly traditional if long standard piece of superheroics. With often up to 8 detailed panels on a page plus a large cast of heroes, never mind the other characters, it's a relatively slow (but never dull) read, rather there is just a lot to get through. The art by Pat Broderick isn't that great but it picks up a lot with the arrival of the art team of penciller Keith Giffen and inker Larry Mahlstedt. Indeed this is my favourite period of the Legion.

If you aren't familiar with the Legion you may find one aspect of it all a little irritating. The Legion was created in 1958 to tie with Superboy (indeed they featured in an episode of Smallville), but note the period which was when superheroes names ended in boy, girl, man, woman and they called each other by these names. As a result in 1982 they address each other by their sobriquets and when these include names like -Phantom Girl, Sun Boy, Star Boy, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Bouncing Boy, Duo Damsel (who used to be Triplicate Girl), Colossal Boy, Light Lass, and many more and that's completely omitting the Legion of Substitute Heroes- it can get you grinding your teeth. If you can accept that then this is a good piece of vintage future supheroics from the year 2982.

Of course you, dear reader, won't be able to enjoy the final reveal of the villain's identity, after a long buildup over the months, that we long-term readers of the Legion did as his face takes up half the front cover of this edition.

This isn't great comics by any stretch of the imagination, but it does have its own charms and if it wasn't for those damn stupid names I'd have rated this 4 stars.

TV: SKINS 5.5 NICK

Nick is the one whom seems to have it all. Brains and good looks. Mini the beautiful blonde trophy girlfriend (see earlier post for her episode). He's captain of the successful rugby team and therefore highly popular. So, no surprise that it all goes to shit.

We meet his father who makes a living by writing books about motivation and by counselling people but at home is a martinet who rules the roost and already alienated older son Matty (see last week's Skins post). Matty himself has returned to make peace which pleases Nick were it not for the fact that he has the hots for Liv who is sleeping with Matty (see last weeks. etc). At least the producers have put together two actors who actually look as if they're brothers (see below).

Nick's life goes down the toilet and it's his own fault because he can't come to terms with what he wants and can't have and what's expected of him. We also find out that Matty, despite being shorter and less bulky than Nick, is actually the better athlete of the two.

To be honest I didn't find this episode tremendously interesting because I find it a little hard to empathise with a jock (as in athlete not as in a Scots person). There is an interesting scene where Nick formally introduces Matty to the group, after his earlier encounter the previous week, as it establishes that the ensemble is a group of friends which has gelled.

Next week's should be interesting as the focus is more obviously outsider figure of Alo.

DVD: ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976)

I saw this not long after it first came out and I thought it was terrific. Over thirty years later and I see no reason to revise my opinion. Simple story, clearly defined characters, a ruthless seemingly unstoppable and mostly unseen enemy, taut dialogue, crisp editing (by John T Chance aka writer/director Carpenter), a repetitive but hypnotic score by -guess who?- Carpenter, escalating tension. Initially overlooked in the States, it was British critics who recognised it for the superior piece of genre (it's a western in drag) moviemaking it is.

I'd have given it five stars if the 'special edition' had been special. However, no subtitles which I can forgive on no budget horror movies but really annoys me on a classy film like this one. An interview with Carpenter and Austin Stoker videod at some film festival or other has murky almost unintelligble sound. There is a commentary by Carpenter but that hardly makes it a special edition.

But this is still a must-see movie.

Spoiler Warning: don't look at the picture below as it shows the survivors at the end of the movie.

GRAPHIC NOVEL: ALAN MOORE: SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING VOL.4

As far as I'm concerned, it's Moore's Swamp Thing which had the biggest impact on comics creators at the time, not Watchmen, not V for Vendetta, and not the little seen Miracleman, brilliant as they all were. Moore's swamp Thing came out of the blue and transformed the conception of what could be done in a commercial comic published by a major publisher. Without Swamp Thing, Moore's impact would be considerably less as it gave him the clout and credibility to enable DC to publish Watchmen and reprint and complete V for Vendetta. This series is a major event in the history of contemporary comics, an impact which is unparalleled by anything that came before. The terrain of commercial comics was changed forever by it.

This volume contains eight issues which culminate the climax and conclusion of Moore's American Gothic series. The climax confounded many readers at the time, despite the constant (and guided by new character John Constantine) foreshadowing of it. Here the ongoing story is the thing with only three standalone issues, one a scathing attack on gun culture, another dealing with a serial killer which was later developed and amplified by Neil Gaiman in The Sandman.

Speaking of whom, he is one of two writers who contribute introductions to the book. And here is where my grouch wakes up and gets ugly. The presentation of this series is not all that it could be and that it deserves. The paper quality is poor, little better, if that, than the paper of the original comic. The introductions were written for earlier paperback reprints of this series back in the late 80's. Something new would have been nice. Also the 8 issues per volume seems a little meager to me.

But don't let that put you off. It is what it is and it's likely to be the definitive presentation of Swamp Thing for some time so get it while you can. Every comics fan should have this series.

TV: SKINS 5.4 LIV

I won't say the new series keeps getting better because it doesn't. What it does do is maintain the high standard it set at the beginning. The new show is much more down to earth and realistic than previous series. This week's episode focussed on Liv who previously seemed bit of a blank other than being 'easy'.

Here we find out she has a nice home where she lives with a mother into New Age crystals, an absent father, an older sister in prison (for what isn't stated but it's probably either violence or selling drugs, or so my tv-induced stereotyped prejudices believe), and a pre-adolescent sister who is always -gasp!- reading. Mother goes away to a crystal convention for a couple of days leaving Liv in charge. Her mates (the whole gang now bar the previously barely glimpsed mystery boy) arrive, Mini wants to make peace and brings a bag of weed. Party on, kids. But Liv leaves with little sis whom she dumps at a 24-hour Science Fiction movie festival and goes to see big sis in the nick. Later she bumps into mystery boy (whom we later discover is named Matty) with whom she spends the rest of day and night stealing, getting high, drinking too much, beating a pervy shop owner, and having sex. Not long after that we find out who mystery boy really is and his link to another of our cast which is quite a surprise. Lots of other stuff happens including Mini refusing to forgive Liv for shagging her boyfriend Nick. (Okay, Matty is Nick's estranged brother.)

The trailer for next week suggests a more ensemble action-packed episode. Can't wait.

No question that Skins is back at the top of my don't-miss tv list. It's fresh and compelling again.

BOOKS: RECENT AMAZON BOOK REVIEWS

As any kind of reference book on comics, this just doesn't cut it because of the limited number of titles mentioned which, because numerous titles have multiple entries, is considerably less than 1000. As a critical guide to comics it is, bluntly, a joke. 40 words per entry (actually this was the highest of several entries I counted) doesn't allow much space for anything other than the most superficial of comments. On these levels alone the book is a complete failure.

That doesn't mean, however, that it's a complete waste of time. What it does succeed at being is as a nice piece of nostalgia because of the wonderful and often garish covers it reprints. While it does cover a broad range of comics it's still difficult to find a page that doesn't have at least one super-hero title and usually more. This a colourful and undemanding fun and very lightweight read where the illustrations are far far more important than the text. If you're looking for a decent historical survey of American comics (manga barely gets a mention) then look elsewhere.

Addendum 22nd Feb.
Actually, the more closely I look at this book, the more annoyed I get. Now you may well think I'm over-reacting about something which is basically designed to be a fun piece of trivia but it's inconsistent even on its own terms. The title alone, and this may well be its intent, is silly. Personally I'd call it unreasonable. Given that huge numbers of its entries are effectively unobtainable unless you're earning seven figures a year or have vast personal wealth, it's effectively impossible for you to even get your hands on hundreds of the titles included if they weren't published by Marvel or DC.

It's also unlikely that you'd enjoy them all even if you could. More than a few are pretty dire comics by most standards (several of them written by the author himself who is including them out of sheer mischief or misguided vanity -Astonishing Tales featuring It! The Living Colossus for example which I wouldn't include in a list of 50,000 titles) and included for historical reasons or appalling taste on the part of the writer. That apart, because of the sheer variety included no-one will have a taste broad enough to enjoy them all. I doubt if there are many, if any, British readers who understand the appeal or, and actually enjoy, the Archie-Betty-Jughead-Veronica long-running series.

Isabella is also inconsistent in that he includes Graphic Novels and Trade Editions (i.e. collected series). I don't mind him including these but he's inconsistent even on his own terms by including the comic Love & Rockets by the Hernandez Brothers but also the massive hardback collections Palomar and Locas which originally appeared there. I said earlier that Manga doesn't get much of a look in though he does include the American edition of the graphic story by Osamu Tezuka of MW (a brilliant piece of work) but omits Tezuka's seminal and widely available Astro Boy series.

I could go on but I've spent enough time on what is basically an otherwise likeable piece of nostalgic ephemera.

 This is an enormously entertaining supernatural police thriller which goes down smoothly and effortlessly like draught Guinness. Its deftness, however, almost hides what the author has done so well. He's extremely knowledgable about London, which becomes a character in its own right, without ever resorting to infodumps. The system of magic he uses appears to be well thought out. The two separate plot strands are, for this type of book, quite original. The protagonist is fallible and likeable. I enjoyed this book a lot.

Shame about the cover. Yes, it is appropriate to the content but it makes it seem like some kind of trendy modern literary middle class type of thing rather than people getting ripped up by a mysterious monster in the middle of London. The title, again appropriate, doesn't convey the novel's flavour either. Anyone browsing for a supernatural thriller in a bokshop would pass it by and anyone who did find the cover interesting is unlikely to be the target reader for the book. No wonder Aaronovitch's American publisher has changed the title to something more fitting and I'm pretty certain the cover will be too.

No matter, this is a terrific start to a new series and I'm looking forward to the rest. 

Setting a story in a Virtual World seems to be the new popular trope for Science Fiction, indeed it's only a couple of months since I read one such by Ken Macleod (also good) and I don't read that much SF these days.

The initial impression I got just by looking at the book is that it was likely to be hard going. Maps of the Demi-Monde (the virtual world) and a substantial glossary, the latter always a put-off for me. However once I got started reading, the author had me hooked. Despite the complicated setup, he eases the reader into the story with a clear plot, strikingly diverse settings, and interesting characters. Once I got into it, which was much easier than I expected, it's hard to put down.

What makes this different from many of its ilk is the created world itself which, in some ways, is a microcosm of our own viewed through a cracked mirror created by a psychopath. It is an overpopulated world ruled by psychotics who dominate societies which represent ideological extremism of our world taken to even more insane lengths. This also allows for some brilliant word constructions and multi-layered puns. Just check out 'Suffer-O-Gettism' 'Dialectic ImMaterialism' and 'UnFunDaMentalism' which are scary and hilarious and there are many more like that.

This 500 page brick of a book is the first of four so it will come as no surprise if I warn you that nothing is resolved by the end. But, like me, you'll be wanting the second installment in your hands as soon as possible. I really can't believe that SFX only gave it three stars. Great stuff!

MUSIC: BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO...

Pretty much any kind of music you can think of really so long as it fits roughly into the category of world music. It's an extensive series of 3-CD box sets on the Nascente label (no, I'd never heard of it either), often priced at £3.99 on Amazon though some can be had cheaper from marketplace dealers and others can be more expensive. But at £3.99 they're a steal, averaging around an hour's worth of music per CD. They are all readily identifiable from other CDs with the title Beginner's Guide To... by their cover design: a neat 4*4 grid of small images with 3 squares on the second row given over to the title.

I've just ordered these two along with BGT Celtic which is a kind of companion to the English folk volume and on my Amazon wish list is BGT African Voices and this one-

-which, with its emphasis on the 50's, is basically the successor to Jump Blues. Already in my possession are these-

This one is a kind of groove dance thing which I thought I'd try. I was, however, on more sure ground with the next one which, despite the title, covers a wider range of styles than it suggests.

And on a whim-

I considered-

and-

 but I already have a couple of descent Trojan box sets in these genres, plus other stuff. There's also a very good BGT The Blues but I already have nearly all the tracks so I'm passing.

The packaging is minimal but there are brief notes on each track and each set is authoritatively compiled. I've bought plenty of compilations over the years but when it comes to value for money this series just can't be beaten. The biggest temptation I've found is that it's too easy to buy more than one at a time. I currently have 9 CDs waiting to be listened to, with three on the way, and that isn't counting the 2-CD Rough Guide To Afrobeat Revival, plus that massive Fela box set I'm working my way through. The Rough Guide compilations can be considered a more upmarket (they have booklets, only 2 CDs, and are more expensive) version of the BGTs. The range is very extensive (Country & Western is included, but not -sorry Barry- Film Music) and I've a feeling I'll be buying more. These really are a good and cheap way of dipping your toes in the waters of that musical genre you've always fancied trying.

TV: SKINS 5.3 MINI

The new series of Skins with its all-new cast continues in its less-heavy-than-previous-series vein, which isn't to say that it isn't serious. it's just a bit less angst-laden. In this episode, Queen Bitch Mini finds that everything is coming apart.

There had to be more to her than the superficial boss bitch image and there is. It doesn't mean though that there's a nicer person underneath because there isn't. Mini needs to be in total control. The episode dances around a charity fashion show that Roundview is putting on and Mini is in charge. When rebellious Grace turns up with the dresses and, firmly established as her friend, Franky in tow, Grace unwisely fires her which puts all the responsibility on her and she ultimately crumbles. Making things worse is effort her boyfriend is putting on her to have sex and we learn that Mini is actually a virgin as well as being obsessively body-conscious. It doesn't end very well and it finishes on a poignant note when she meets her randy  mother (Claire Grogan) as they are both walking home in the early morning.

Skins has regained its place as my favourite show on tv with its fresh engaging approach, gradually revealing the characters with each episode being less of an ensemble piece than in the past.

As I've mentioned before, this pieces are deliberately short as I intend to write a more detailed overview when the series concludes.

TV: SKINS 5.2

 

The new series of Skins continues being promising and enjoyable after its promising and enjoyable start last week. This week it's the turn of Richard the heavy metal fan who is totally into the subculture. His problem: he can't talk to girls. As his mate Alo is also pretty crap at it they turn to Franky for help but she doesn't know much more than them so she suggests Grace.

What we have from then on is pretty much a two-hander which leads to some pretty funny scenes such as the one when Grace adopts the mode of a hard-core metal fan in order to understand where Richard is coming from. Like I said last week, I'm not going to go into any detail about these episodes as I'm hanging on till the end of the series when I'll have a better idea. Like last week it ends on a hopeful note, with Grace coming over as a very likeable and altruistic person. Which makes me wonder what the hell she is doing with the queen bitch Mini. Perhaps we'll find out next week when Mini herself becomes the focus.

SCIENCE FICTION REVISITED: FREDERIK POHL -GATEWAY (1976)

Above, the first edition, a Del Rey Book (an imprint of Ballantine), which I bought when it first came out and disposed of in the Great Purge when Susan and I got married and I moved into her small flat. And below is a copy of the cover of the 1999 SF Masterworks edition which I picked  up in our charity shop when it was about to be thrown out. Pity they couldn't have sprung for a new cover.

As you can see from the cover above it won all three of the major awards available in 1976 and I remember being pretty damn impressed with it, so I was wondering how it would fare some 35 years later. Now there's no question that Science Fiction dates and it isn't a very good guide to predicting technological development. Even ten years ago, few could have imagined how all-pervasive and essential to modern life the Internet would become. SF is particularly vulnerable to this change. Sometimes titles stand up, sometimes (indeed more often than not) they don't. For every still brilliant Alfred Bester's Tiger! Tiger! (aka the more prosaic The Stars My Destination) there are umpteen turgid tomes by the likes of E.E. 'Doc' Smith.

That said, the SF idea behind Gateway still holds up well. Some time in the near future the remnants of a vanished alien race is found on a tunneled-out asteroid, now named Gateway, on the edges of the solar system. All that's left behind are scattered mysterious objects and hundreds of ships with pre-programmed destinations. Volunteers can take out a ship which are for one, three and five persons. Most of the time they return with nothing, sometimes a little, sometimes they don't return at all, sometimes the crew are found dead, and sometimes they hit it big and the crew are made for life. The story itself alternates between sessions with a computer psychiatrist and his patient, our protagonist who made a big find and with the story of his life and relationships on Gateway. Dumped throughout the text on separate pages are a variety of fragmentary pieces which form a collage of life on Gateway.

Dumped is an emotive word but that's now how these sections appear. They don't break up the narrative which they would do inserted within the text but by appearing on separate pages they distract from the narrative forcing the reader to turn away from it.

The psychiatrist sections are obviously structured to build up to the big reveals, or rather reveals as there is more than one. Although one of the major plot strands is between the hero and his lover Klara, towards the end he has sex with a bisexual man who is also a sometime lover of Klara's. But even then this reveal is glossed over so quickly and obliquely that it comes over as an embarrassment on the protagonists part. This is where changes in society come in because these days it wouldn't be that much of an issue and from a modern day viewpoint is quite irrelevant and unimportant. Smoking is also very prevalent which is now, viewing the future never mind the present, almost unthinkable and shocking. The psychiatrist sections also don't work because the protagonist isn't really very interesting and, therefore, they go on far too long. As it is, the really big reveal, the guilty secret, isn't that much out of character.

While I wouldn't say that it doesn't deserve to be included in the SF Masterworks series, it is still a seriously flawed work but with a terrific central idea and one which Pohl expanded up over the course of another two novels. I don't, however, feel the urge to revisit them.

GRAPHIC NOVEL: BRIGHTEST DAY VOLUME ONE

You're going to have to be very patient with me because, unless and like me you are a fan of DC superheroes, this takes a little explaining. All the characters in the picture above were, until recently, dead. Some have been dead longer than others. They include major and minor heroes and some villains. Following the events of a major cross-over series set in the DC Universe (DCU) entitled Blackest Night (which I didn't read) wherein dead heroes and villains came back as psychotic zombie versions of themselves, a powerful energy source brought back to true life the characters depicted above. They are-

Firstly the major iconic superheroes, mostly created in the late 50's or thereabouts: 

Hal Jordan, the Silver Age and second Green Lantern.

Barry Allen, the Silver Age and second Flash.

Arthur Curry, Aquaman.

Carter & Shiera Hall, the Silver Age and second Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

J'onn J'onnz, the Martian Manhunter (actually one of my favourite superheroes).

Then there's the second tier, more or less.

Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond plus, um it's a bit complicated).

Hawk (Hank Hall who makes Ronald Reagan look like a liberal).

Jade (Jenny Lynn Haden, daughter of the Golden Age and first Green Lantern).

Osiris (a Middle-Eastern superhuman who wasn't around five minutes before he was eaten by a talking crocodile he thought was his best friend).

A couple of villains:

Captain Boomerang (Digger Harkness).

Reverse-Flash (Eobard Thawne)

And then there's the mind-controlling Maxwell Lord whom I last saw having his neck broken, and for very good reason, by Wonder Woman. He thinks he's a hero.

Lastly there's Boston Brand aka Deadman. He only became a superhero after he died, having the power to take over the bodies of living people. Now that he's back in the land of the living he's in need of a new sobriquet and fast. He's also the only link, so far, between the various characters. Wearing the white ring (see above) which has something to do, or maybe is, the power which resurrected them all, it drags him, unseen, from situation to situation. What also may be the same power has incarnated itself as a white battery (see Green Lantern mythos). 

The main thrust of the narrative, other than the mystery of the power, concerns the various heroes and the new threats they face. Just some examples: J'onn discovers there's another but psychotic Martian on Earth; the Hawks get transported to the primitive Hawkworld; Aquaman learns that his wife of many years was originally supposed to be his assassin and now her sister has arrived to finish the job; and much more.

Crossover series like these can be a mixed bag. Some are very good like DC's terrific 52 and the legendary Crisis on the Infinite Earths, and some are very bad like the Invasion series of some years back. On the evidence so far, I'd say this falls on the good side of average. There's a lot of interesting stuff going; the two writers, on form, are excellent super hero writers, the art is slick and despite six different pencillers drawing different sections the styles don't noticeably jar. The package itself is good: 192 pages of story, plus a selection of variant covers, and glossy paper. It's a slick and reasonably entertaining package.

I'll be back for the next installment. Here are some more covers.