The Lavender Menace: Tales of Queer Villainy!by Sheena McNeilReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Publisher
Credits Grade: 8 The Lavender Menace is an anthology of 13 stories, each dealing with a gay supervillian and written by a gay man. They all take different approaches, but there's one point made in the introduction that rings true: gays can be just as bad a bad guy as straight guys, and there should be gays in all roles (hero, victim, and villain) in the world to better strive for equality.Most of the stories I enjoyed as well-crafted tales of villainy and troubled worlds. Some of them truly captured the idea that the villain is gay, and that that is a part of him and how and why he does things. However, some of them are tales about a man, and if it weren't for a single line or two inserted almost at random in the story, we would have no idea that the villain is gay. For those, knowing that the villain is gay doesn’t change anything in the plot, so I question how well it really fits with the theme and goal of this anthology. I do have some favorites. "The Third Estate" has a wicked twist at the end. "Lesser Evil" uses a power that's only impressive when you put yourself in the position of being used by it, and it makes the main character very real and easy to identify with. "The Knights Nefarious" is absurd and awesome in a way only comparable to Monty Python. There are only two stories out of 13 that I don't really care for. "The Meek Shall Inherit" is set in the harshest world in the whole book, which makes it uncomfortable anyway; then it blames Bush and even pulls in 9/11, which adds insult to the injury that actually happened. However, I have an appreciation for the overall plot once it reached the end of the story. "The Origin of the Fiend" is just hard to follow and doesn't seem to fit in the anthology with all the other stories. Plus, all the renaming of actual comic companies and superheroes just gets downright confusing in a story that's already hard to follow. Overall, it's a fantastic anthology. Exciting and entertaining stories of supervillains (and heroes) make for a fun read. It's quality writing. The queer aspect isn't as big as the book's covers and introduction would make it out to be, but for several of the stories it adds elements to characters and plots. Written: September 18, 2013
|
|
|
Home |
Features |
Columns |
Culture Vultures |
Report Card
Indicia | Contact | Archives © Sequential Tart, 1998 – 2021 |
