[REVIEW] The Tribulations of Kid Review #1

[Tom Russell]

Thank you very much for the kind words, Kid Review!

> "An important part of this is that Martin's problems aren't just the
> world dumping on him; sometimes, he causes them himself. Â He makes
> dumb decisions on the spur of the moment, and is stubborn and
> muleheaded towards people he really shouldn't be.

I'm glad you picked up on all that, and that you find it interesting.

> "Jolt City actually reminds me of one of my favorite non-RACC
> superhero things, the Red Panda. Â If I may be permitted the
> digression, the Red Panda (athttp://www.decoderringtheater.com) is
> an online radio show, a love poem to the radio shows of the '30s and
> the Golden Age of Superheroes. Â The best part about it is that, for
> all that the characters follow certain hero tropes even closer than
> the Green Knight does, they feel like actual people, not just puppets
> acting out a story. Â And that's how Martin feels; like someone who
> could exist out there, doing these things. Â It's all in the details."

(blushes) Thank you.

> "Another way Jolt City reminds me of the Red Panda is that it's not
> afraid to have silly moments, even in the middle of dramatic events. Â 
> Yet these don't feel like jokes; they feel natural, even if it's
> something like a hand-to-hand jousting match on unicycles."

One thing I love about the superhero genre is its ability to transform
the potentially ridiculous into the sublime.  Whether I achieved that
or not is, of course, for the reader to decide, but I will definitely
say that it is my ambition to do just that.

> "Of course, one thing about Jolt City is that, while it has silly
> moments, it's not, overall, light-hearted. Â Indeed, there is more than
> one dark night of the soul for Martin Rock.

The first story arc, comprising I guess the first eleven issues, could
be termed one long dark night of the soul for Martin.

> "I see from editorial notes that, apparently, there was a Green Knight
> series before this - unless it's a 'referring to issues that don't
> exist' joke. Â I haven't read it (though I definitely plan to,

It does exist; it was seven issues long.  There is a corrected TEB
edition floating around somewhere on RACC.  The next step after those
seven issues would be the Green Knight Annual, which then leads into
Jolt City.  But, as you say,

> but it doesn't matter, because all you need to start
> out with is in the opening story.

And that's just about the best compliment you can pay me, right
there. :-)

Thank you again for the wonderful review.

=Tom