REVIEW: A Comparision of Superfreaks Season 2 # 6 and Encyclopedia Brown

[Tom Russell]

On Aug 13, 8:57 pm, Martin Phipps <martinphip... at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Given that these are the only possibilities (other than the cliche
> "room of suspects") I find it annoying that you've criticized me not
> only for "cheating" but also for finding suspects too quickly or (in
> one case) not at all.

It's not a matter of what's done, but _how_.  Plot mechanics are often
secondary or, rather, are only of primary importance when they reveal
character, theme, or interesting details.  And, like I've said before,
sometimes you really pull that off.  Other times, you don't-- and I
personally feel that this was one of those times.  In instances like
that, in which there aren't as many interesting details or character
bits to mask it, the mechanics of the plot become kind of transparent,
and, for me, that's not as enjoyable.

I'm not trying to annoy you, just telling you how I feel.

> The other possibility is that, as Martin Rock is attracted to both of
> them, it makes sense that they would have similar personalities.  If
> you don't mind, I think I could summarize Pam's character as "Dani on
> a good day" or vice versa.

Well, I respectfully disagree there, but then I would, wouldn't I? :-)

I think Pam is more forthright than Dani was and far less likely to
hold grudges.

And, from what little reader response I do get, people seem to dig Pam
a lot more than Dani.

> I can't believe, for example, how
> insenstive Dani was when Martin got sexually assaulted.

Well, that's a big problem for her, being unable to see things from
another person's perspective.  She can't fathom someone not wanting to
go public with it.  It offends her sense of law-and-order.  If such a
thing happened to her, she would definitely do everything possible to
put her attacker behind bars-- or, at least, that's what she says:
since she hasn't been in that spot, she can't say for certain.

While Pam hasn't been attacked in such a way, she has been hurt in
other ways.  And she can sympathize with-- and understand-- that
Martin doesn't want to go public.  Dani is, in many ways, the
"ingenue" role; you'd be hard-pressed to call Pam an ingenue.

> > I can't promise that my reviews will always be positive, and I can't
> > promise that you'll never be offended by them.
>
> I don't know why you devoted an entire post to reviewing an issue you
> didn't like.

1. Because if I was to review a whole bunch of issues at a time, it
would take me infinitely longer to write a review.

2. I write reviews whether I like the story or not.  I know that if
you don't have something positive to say, that you'd rather not
comment at all, but that's not the way that I look at it.  We just
differ on that point.

> I stand by the reaction to your review.

Ah well. :-(

==Tom