A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

I know. I read an honest-to-God novel and it wasn't based on a comic book or superhero or established TV show or film. I was inspired to find this book after seeing the trailer for the upcoming series Paramount+. But I don't have that streaming service. So I took a shot to see if my local library had the book on hand. I guess I hit the bullseye because I found it. Boy, was that one of the smartest moves I've ever made in my 40 plus long years of being an avid reader!

The story is about a Russian aristocrat at the dawn of the Russian revolution. It's 1922 and the Bolsheviks have taken power and are creating the foundations for establishment of the Soviet Union. Count Alexander Rostov has been summoned to a tribunal.  Declared an enemy of the state, normally Rostov would be taken to a firing squad and shot or shipped off to Siberia. However, because of a poem he wrote that inspired the spark of the October Revolution, he is sentenced to permanent house arrest at the Hotel Metropol for the rest of his life. 

Should he exit the doors of the Hotel, Count Rostov will be executed. Over the span of 4 decades, the confined gentleman will make do the best he can, living in exiled luxury as guests and staff of the Metropol come and go while the Soviet Union grows into a world power.

My first experience with writer Amor Towles, I was enthralled by this 2016 work. It was pure magic. After the first 100 pages, I was no longer a reader. I too was a resident of the Hotel Metropol. I could not stop reading this book. The desire to read another page turned into an extra 5, 10, 15 pages before I realized it was way past my bedtime and begrudgingly needed to call it a night.

I realize that Ewan McGregor is playing Count Rostov on the live action series. Yet no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't picture anyone else in the role other than Kenneth Branagh. Turns out I wasn't alone in this as the Murder on the Orient Express director was on tap for the lead role for a very long time. As much as in my head, I kept hearing Branagh speaking in that French-Belgian accent as Hercule Poirot, I can't get past hearing McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi instead of a Russian polymath of refinement every time I watch the trailer for the forthcoming series.

I wish I could say that this book was perfect. It was pretty darn close. If not for having recently read the massive graphic novel Petrograd, I would have been a lot more lost understanding the early days of the Soviet Union. While written by an American, this book is very Russian. The more you know of the country's rich cultural history, the better you'll enjoy this book and I just don't know jack about Tolstoy, Chekov and their kin. Thankfully, there's so much heart and wonderment in this book, it makes up for those gaps in my knowledge. 

This book is like a dream come true for me. I've always wanted to get stuck in an airport or be snowed in at an all-inclusive ski resort or have to spend a season at a research base in Antarctica. A Gentleman in Moscow was a chance to live those bizarre fantasies vicariously through the writing of Amor Towles. Unlike most novels I read, this novel is something I see myself making another stay at Hotel Metropol!

Worth Consuming!

Ratiing: 9 out of 10 stars.

G.I. Joe Special Missions #1 (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

"There are some missions so secret, so sensitive that even the Joes who go on them are told only the bare minimum, on a strictly need-to-know basis. As far as the other Joes are concerned, these missions never existed. These are the G.I. Joe Special Missions."- from G.I. Joe #50

G.I. Joe Special Missions was the first spin-off of the wildly popular Marvel Comics series based on the legendary Hasbro action figures. Of course, the main goal of this comic was due to the dollar signs both Marvel and Hasbro saw with the production of a sister title. But for writer Larry Hama, it was a chance to write slightly more grittier stories. In a Raleigh, North Carolina comic con panel, Hama told the audience (that I was a part of) that with the main G.I. Joe series, he was tasked with featuring the newest toys being released in the line. With Special Missions, since the enemies weren't just from Cobra, but conventional terrorists as well members of the Soviet Army, Hama was able to write those clandestine war stories that he always wished to write starring your favorite Joes. 

The spin-off was first introduced as the backup feature of the anniversary special 50th issue of G.I. Joe. In the 'pilot', a commercial jet hailing from San Francisco is hijacked by Russians. Calling themselves members of the Leon Trotsky Brigade of the Fourth National, the terrorists plan on flying the plane into the Soviet Union and crashing the ship into a chemical warfare depot, making the flight the ultimate dirty bomb!

While the plane refuels in Alaska, several Joes sneak about the plane through its landing gear. With only minutes to spare, America's finest must take control of the cockpit for if the plane enters Soviet airspace, there are several MiGs ready to blow it out of the sky! At the very last minute, Joe commander Flint grabs the controls and veers the air taxi away from Russian boarders.

The Soviets factor into the first issue of G.I. Joe Special Missions. Several of the ship-worthy members of GI Joe are posing as Scandinavian fishermen in the Baltic sea. An American submarine has broken down and members of the October Guard, the USSR's version of GI Joe, are on a nearby navel destroyer, observing the very transparent ruse. Should the sub's location be discovered by the Soviet Navy, it will violate countless treaties as the sunken submersible is deep inside Russian waters. 

Adding to the stress of this situation is the presence of Cobra. The Baroness and Firefly are on hand to commandeer the sub for themselves. Should Cobra get their hands on the American ship, the vessel's nuclear armament will make the terrorist organization an even more deadlier force to be reckoned with. 

The level of violence in this debut issue was on par with the standard G.I. Joe main title of its time. The addition of Cobra gives this tale a comedic foil. However, the level of technobabble and secret ops was unlike anything seen in the pages of a G.I. Joe comic. While 'That Sinking Feeling' isn't on par with a Quentin Tarantino film in terms of death and mayhem, the end of the age of innocence for G.I. Joe was at hand. 

It's true, that prior to G.I. Joe #50, some characters and a whole lot of Cobra troops died. After the introduction of G.I. Joe Special Missions, that death count got higher. A Cobra Civil War sees many villains die at the hands of their so-called brothers-in-arms. We learn of the tragic deaths of the heads of the Arashikage Clan, the Head Master and his younger sibling, the Soft Master. But nothing will prepare readers for issue #109 where 8 Joes are brutally slain; including fan favorites Doc, Quickick and Breaker!

Art duties for this issue were by Herb Trimpe. Trimpe, along with Hama, would stay on for the entire run of this series that ran for 26 issues. However, X-Men legend, Dave Cockrum would assist frequently as a fill-in. Special Missions started as a bi-monthly publication, quickly becoming a monthly with issue #12. The series was revived both by Devil's Due Publishing in a number of one-shots and IDW Publishing, which ran for 14 issues. In 2010-11, IDW collected the entire Marvel run in a series of 4 trades, which are no longer in print.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #11 (More Than 20 Years Old) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Marvel Comics Presents #73

Wolverine's Weapon X story shows just how much pain and torture the mutant went through. No wonder Logan had no memories of this and his life prior for a very long time.

The Shanna the She-Devil story is going through what I consider a chess-move phase. Nothing huge is happening other than getting all the main players into position for the final act. Sometimes you only need 1 chapter to do this. Some writers take several. And it's not always a bad thing. We'll see if Gerard Jones, in his Marvel Comics debut, can do this succinctly or make too many moves and bore me to tears.

There are 2 one-shot stories in this issue. The Black Knight stars in one. Namor, The Sub-Mariner in the other. 

I've always thought that the Black Knight was an aesthetically fun character. But I hate the concept that he'll be eternally damned if he kills anyone with that family heirloom sword of his. If it was me, I'd ditch the bad sword for a non-soul crippling one. Or just not be a superhero and leave the hunk of junk on the family estate mantle. Only thing about this story I liked was the all too brief appearance by Doctor Strange.

The Namor story was a little better. He decides to help a sub full of Soviet/Russian sailors from destruction. A good story that showed the promise of the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of USSR. Unfortunately, in today's climate, it really seems that this archaic story could become timeless if certain evil parties succeed in Eastern Europe. 

Not a very thrilling issue. But one that is timely all of a sudden.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Tetris: The Games People Play

Tetris: The Games People Play isn't just the story of the beloved Russian video game. Covering prehistoric excavations, the Egyptian game of senet, and the creation of the Nintendo Playing Card Company, this non-fiction graphic novel is a complete history of gaming. Written and illustrated by Andre the Giant: Life and Legend’s Box Brown, this was an enjoyable read. But it's not without some difficult sections to cull through.

  The main story takes place during the waning days of the 1980s Cold War. Anytime one tries to craft a capitalist business venture with a Communist nation, there's going to be red tape. Several companies thought that they had the rights to distribute Tetris including Atari and Nintendo. Of course, the Soviet Union wasn't about to let their claim to the puzzle game go without milking the contract to their advantage.

    Thankfully Brown gives introductions to all of the players that entered into the dealings. But there was a lot of characters involved with turning Tetris into the cultural icon it became. So I had to go back from time to time to refresh myself over who was who.

   I promised to pass this book to a little fella after I read it. But I'm not sure if he's going to be able to enjoy it. There's no cussing or sex in this book. Some mild discussion of violence towards the end of the book however. But I think that the lengthy discussion of international trade law might just be too much for fan of Tetris under the age of 14. (The boy who saw my with this book at the library couldn't have been older than 7!)

    I'm really digging Box Brown's style. Pop culture and geek history seems to be Brown's genre of choice. He's a very good story teller of nonfiction, much like Rich Geary or Marjane Satrapi. Being that this volume on games doesn't really cover role playing (RPGs) that much, maybe that could be a companion piece to Tetris.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Soviet Super Soldiers # 1

Recently on an episode of Avengers, these baddies showed up. So, I decided that it was time to finally read this one-shot that I had been hanging on to for so very long...

When I first saw the cover, I was thrilled. A special about Soviet era Super Heroes. The cover says “Super Soldiers” but most of the “heroes” are mutants and not the USSR’s answer to Capt. America.

Speaking of Capt., he makes a brief cameo at the beginning as prior events leading to this book took place in the pages of Captain America. But that's it!

The story splits into 3 teams. With these teams, I didn’t realize how many rivals Iron Man had that were Russian. I knew Crimson Dynamo was, but I did not know Unicorn and Titanium Man were Ruskies as well.

The multiple plots cause the stories to be very thin almost like an old Justice League of America comic. Also, there is some bleed over of characters and plots from other books in these tales and it was hard getting things straight. The art was pretty good but again the dialogue and story itself wasn’t so. Also, a small Who’s Who of secret files about these various heroes should have been included in order to help the average or uninformed reader, the latter myself, be able to understand what’s occurring.

An okay book, but it could have been so much better.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.