Post by Meriades Rai on Oct 10, 2007 12:25:23 GMT -5
Alternate Unlimited # 36 by Violet Mackenzie
Marvel 2000 Alternate Branch
m2k.omegacen.com/altunlimited/AU36.html
In a word: Gorgeous.
In many words: One of the best things in being involved in this community is seeing a new writer with talent emerge on the scene, and this is, hands down, the best debut issue I’ve read in the three and a half years I’ve been part of the crowd.
There’s so much to like about this story I know before I even start that I’m not going to be able to cover half of it. First and foremost there’s the fearlessness of the environment; I love stories that take familiar characters and place them in unfamiliar settings, and I’ve always wondered why there aren’t more of them in fanfic (surely the ideal platform for such experimentation). This is a tale set in an alternate London of 1862 (obviously close to my heart, given one of my own series at M2K’s Alternate Branch) where technological advancement is beginning to blossom, and Tony Stark is the perfect character to embed at the heart of such a narrative. The writer throws in a kettleful of recognizable elements, as in commonplace in most elseworlds-style tales, but isn’t scared to let the story develop in its own fashion rather than follow a pre-determined path, giving events an essential unpredictability.
Secondly, the writing itself is exceptional. The descriptions of location are vivid without becoming flowery or introspective, the pace and plot progression is all entirely natural, and the characters are clinically realised without sacrificing personality. In fact it’s the characterisation that really hooks me here. Each individual has their own voice and stands distinct from every other, through their dialogue and mannerisms; that’s not only pretty rare it’s also damn difficult to maintain, but if there was any weakness in this particular discipline I couldn’t spot it. Stark, Miss Yinsen and Jim Rhodes all came alive off the page as I was reading.
Thirdly, there’s always a real enjoyment in any story that successfully evokes other writers or narratives. It isn’t just the setting that’s reminiscent of H.G.Wells and Jules Verne here, the flavour of those two authors is highly detectable in the prose throughout, and the climactic island scenario brings to mind the original black-and-white King Kong movie with the fog-soaked jungle. I also loved the subtlety of the name-dropping, such as Milos Masaryk and Chen Lu. (Fanfic easter eggs are always to be treasured!)
Finally, when Stark eventually becomes Iron Man, the story somehow manages to kick into an even higher gear and that’s a mark of really superb storytelling. All too often a writer puts every last drop of sweat into the first half of their tale and the ending then falls flat because they’ve got nothing left to give; the fact that this issue just keeps getting better and better is, quite simply, high class. The descriptions of the armour and the steampunk Victorian tech are, as before, pitched just right, vivid without being overdone.
Negatives? I have to be honest, I’m struggling to think of any. Perhaps Violet could have stretched out the confrontation with Marasyk and made this more of a scene, then ending the first issue after this incident and with the arrival on the island; I’m not fussed by lengthy issues, but it came across that some of the energy of that middle scene was sacrificed so we could get to the real climax, and that was shame. In a similar vein, the defeat of the metal behemoth was also a trifle sudden, and after such vibrant description of the workings of the Iron Man armour and Stark’s other technological innovations it would have rounded everything off nicely to have a paragraph explaining the beast’s Achilles heel and why the denouement was the way it was. Perhaps, however, this explanation will be forthcoming in the continuation of this adventure.
Otherwise, 10 out of 10.
And that’s the first time I’ve given one of those on these boards, to my knowledge. Do yourselves a favour; regardless of whether you like alternate world stories, check this out for the sake of the writing, and put Violet Mackenzie on your must-read list.
Marvel 2000 Alternate Branch
m2k.omegacen.com/altunlimited/AU36.html
In a word: Gorgeous.
In many words: One of the best things in being involved in this community is seeing a new writer with talent emerge on the scene, and this is, hands down, the best debut issue I’ve read in the three and a half years I’ve been part of the crowd.
There’s so much to like about this story I know before I even start that I’m not going to be able to cover half of it. First and foremost there’s the fearlessness of the environment; I love stories that take familiar characters and place them in unfamiliar settings, and I’ve always wondered why there aren’t more of them in fanfic (surely the ideal platform for such experimentation). This is a tale set in an alternate London of 1862 (obviously close to my heart, given one of my own series at M2K’s Alternate Branch) where technological advancement is beginning to blossom, and Tony Stark is the perfect character to embed at the heart of such a narrative. The writer throws in a kettleful of recognizable elements, as in commonplace in most elseworlds-style tales, but isn’t scared to let the story develop in its own fashion rather than follow a pre-determined path, giving events an essential unpredictability.
Secondly, the writing itself is exceptional. The descriptions of location are vivid without becoming flowery or introspective, the pace and plot progression is all entirely natural, and the characters are clinically realised without sacrificing personality. In fact it’s the characterisation that really hooks me here. Each individual has their own voice and stands distinct from every other, through their dialogue and mannerisms; that’s not only pretty rare it’s also damn difficult to maintain, but if there was any weakness in this particular discipline I couldn’t spot it. Stark, Miss Yinsen and Jim Rhodes all came alive off the page as I was reading.
Thirdly, there’s always a real enjoyment in any story that successfully evokes other writers or narratives. It isn’t just the setting that’s reminiscent of H.G.Wells and Jules Verne here, the flavour of those two authors is highly detectable in the prose throughout, and the climactic island scenario brings to mind the original black-and-white King Kong movie with the fog-soaked jungle. I also loved the subtlety of the name-dropping, such as Milos Masaryk and Chen Lu. (Fanfic easter eggs are always to be treasured!)
Finally, when Stark eventually becomes Iron Man, the story somehow manages to kick into an even higher gear and that’s a mark of really superb storytelling. All too often a writer puts every last drop of sweat into the first half of their tale and the ending then falls flat because they’ve got nothing left to give; the fact that this issue just keeps getting better and better is, quite simply, high class. The descriptions of the armour and the steampunk Victorian tech are, as before, pitched just right, vivid without being overdone.
Negatives? I have to be honest, I’m struggling to think of any. Perhaps Violet could have stretched out the confrontation with Marasyk and made this more of a scene, then ending the first issue after this incident and with the arrival on the island; I’m not fussed by lengthy issues, but it came across that some of the energy of that middle scene was sacrificed so we could get to the real climax, and that was shame. In a similar vein, the defeat of the metal behemoth was also a trifle sudden, and after such vibrant description of the workings of the Iron Man armour and Stark’s other technological innovations it would have rounded everything off nicely to have a paragraph explaining the beast’s Achilles heel and why the denouement was the way it was. Perhaps, however, this explanation will be forthcoming in the continuation of this adventure.
Otherwise, 10 out of 10.
And that’s the first time I’ve given one of those on these boards, to my knowledge. Do yourselves a favour; regardless of whether you like alternate world stories, check this out for the sake of the writing, and put Violet Mackenzie on your must-read list.