Till I discovered this book, I had associated George R.R. Martin only with “A Song of Ice and Fire”; what a lovely surprise this has been! This science fiction / modern day superhero series has been edited by Martin, who is also one of the writers of this anthology. Wild Cards, the first of the series which is still being published currently, contains 12 short stories which establish the Wild Cards universe and introduce the main characters and on-going themes.
I was fascinated by this story from beginning to end because it is like nothing else that I have read before. In an alternate Earth, on September 15, 1946 an alien virus, xenovirus takis-A, from the planet Takis is unleashed in the skies over New York. The virus, which has the power to rewrite the human DNA’s genetic code, immediately kills the majority of the population. With far more deadly and everlasting effects, is its ability to mutate the survivors into horrifying beings with little or no resemblance to their original forms. This is the weird world of tragic superheroes and twisted super villains, which forms the backdrop of Wild Cards - the term borne out of the unpredictable effects of the virus.
Aces and Jokers. Superpowers from flying to shape shifting, and deformities from a transparent skin to a trunk-like nose tipped with fingers. The characters of Wild Cards were really fascinating. It wasn’t just the fact that they were so imaginative - it was that their creation came of so much helplessness, their existence was coloured by so much pain, and their stories were so very, very memorable.
This will have to be one of those rare occasions where I cannot name just a few favourite characters … I loved ‘The Four Aces’ - the team of superheroes comprising of The Envoy, who can make others agree to his thoughts and actions; The Black Eagle, who helped capture Nazi war criminals and saved Gandhi from an assassin’s attack; Brain Trust, who has the power to absorb another’s mind and gain their knowledge; and Golden Boy, whose force field grants him immunity from every kind of attack. I loved Dr. Tachyon, the alien from Takis, who originally helped create the Wild Card virus, but, realizing the catastrophe, uses his telepathy to help people. I was fascinated by the Great and Powerful Turtle - especially his back-story and how a bullied child came to become the superhero in an invincible shell. I actually looked up to Yeoman, a victim of dirty politics, who later uses his superior martial arts skills and Zen archery to fight against evil and wrongdoing. I was in awe and fear of Puppetman, whose secret identity and mysterious powers created so much havoc. And I loved the ongoing reference to Jetboy, the real live superhero version of the heroic Robert Tomlin.
I also really liked the narrative style. This book is a collection of short stories - by different writers. However, at no point did I feel any kind of break going from one story to the next. This has to be to the credit of the editor, that each story was an integral and unbroken part of the book. What was truly fascinating was the manner in which each story seemed to start off with no relation to its predecessor, only to suddenly establish a link - small at first, and then growing to create an even bigger and better tale. Just to take one example, we read about a homeless, drunk man in a park. A bit of newspaper flies over to where he is sitting. News about the death of Blythe Stanhope Van Renssaeler happens to be face up. The following section ignores this incident completely and takes us to a story about Dr. Tachyon and his attempts to help victims of the virus. We read about his meeting with the abused woman who comes to be known as Brain Trust. We read of their doomed love for each other, ending with her forceful admittance in a mental asylum. Finally we are brought back to the scene in the park and see the grieving ‘homeless’ man.
What was really interesting about Wild Cards is that it is a universe where there are superheroes, sure, but superheroes stuck in the real world of dirty politics and questionable Government polices and day-to-day mundane questions of choosing between the use of powers for petty theft or living morally and dying of starvation.
And in this universe a very bright light is thrown on human nature in general which treats with derision and suspicion anyone that is remotely ‘different’, and move from fear to loathing to brutally attacking all those ‘freaks’. A society where a policeman can say that the rape of a Joker woman is a lapse of taste, and not so much a crime, shows just where human nature can drop. It is small wonder that such a society creates people like Judas Ace. The highlight of that base human nature was, for me, the horrific tragedy of Jokertown’s Parade. “We are not a race, we are not a disease, we are not contagious”, and yet the bigotry continues.
The story was told through some fantastic dramatic and action scenes, such as the spectacular rescue of Angel Face by Dr. Tachyon and the Great and Powerful Turtle. It was a story rich with intense imagery, from the horror of the funhouse in Jokertown to the sensuality in Lenore’s apartment. Above all, it was a story filled with amazing experiences, from Fortunato leaving his body and going out in astral form to unearth the murder of Erika to - one of the highlights of this book - the series of events in the subway from the attack to the grand clue in the coach marked “CC”.
The fact that events in this story move through the decades - and we get to see the whole backdrop of the aftermath of the war of the 40s, through the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll of the 60s, to the crime and the mafia of the 70s, to the widespread post-apocalyptic paranoia of the 80s - gives Wild Cards such an epic feel.
Books like this are the reason why I read so much - this complete transportation to a whole new world of wonder and discovery!
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