Customer Reviews

The Probability Broach: The Graphic Novel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This graphic novel did not reflect the visions I had in my head for these characters, it more than exceeded them! In fact, the whole graphic novel was a wonderful experience, and I sincerely hope they do more in the series.

The book presents a wild vision of a world where, for example, trying to collect income tax can get you shot - by the little old lady who lives next door. Subtle little things, like happy people who do not live in poverty, self repairing windows, and oh yeah - a realiable cure for cancer make the setting in this novel rather unique. I may not totally agree with all the thoughts in this novel, but you come away from it wishing you could make *our* world more like *theirs*. If the political philosophy does not get you thinking, I do not know what will!

Highly recommended!

The Probability Broach is one of my all-time favorite books. So, it was with some trepidation that I approached it's transformation into a 'graphic novel'. I mean, really! We all know that 'graphic novel' is publisher-speak for 'Long Comic Book'.

Well, I was totally blown away! Not only are the story, characters, and visualizations true to the original book, but the artwork truly enhances the product! Mssrs. Smith and Bieser have done themselves proud!

So, when can we expect to see 'Venus Belt' so rendered?!

This graphic novel has to be considered both as an SF/Action-Adventure story, and as a piece of Libertarian propaganda.

As SF, it's colorfully imaginative, and runs with a theme previously used in L. Sprague De Camp's Wheels of If and the TV show Sliders (with a dash of Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia thrown in). The story is usually fast paced, but there are a few points where the propaganda acts like an unwelcome speed-bump (as when the medic spends two pages preaching to our Gulliver character about the psychological problems of pacifists who won't bear arms in self-defense). The art is eye-catching, and filled with whimsical background touches (e.g. the cameo appearances by Jimmy Carter, Jimmy Olsen, Peter Parker, and Billy & Mandy).

The Probability Broach is also largely successful as Libertarian propaganda (more successful than the environmental propaganda in Callenbach's Ecotopia, which shares a similar narrative structure). The alternate history of the "over the rainbow" world has plenty of shocks for casual readers, and encourages them to delve with an open-mind into real-world history regarding the Whiskey Rebellion and minor American politicians like Albert Gallatin. More importantly, its alternate world is largely plausible, especially to readers who have already been steeped in the works of Hayek, Virginia Postrel, Ayn Rand, and Milton Friedman, or who have already been persuaded by themes in Reason Magazine or John Stossel reports.

There remain gaps in the argument, though: like most Libertarian fiction, marriage and children seem out-of-place in this world. As in Ayn Rand's fiction, children are typically ignored, or if they appear at all, they enter as though they'd wandered in from a Victorian-era book written for children: the children are thoughtful and well-mannered enough to handle the responsibility of gun ownership or contract law at six years of age, instead of being subject to the kind of wild passions and fits that seem to demand authoritative parenting and restraint. In a post-Columbine world, the idea of gun-toting seven year olds strikes a sour note (though there is a temptation to see the kind of private school system that would avoid creating either Columbine-style pressure cookers of forced attendance, or the petty tortures cited in privately-run British boarding schools like the one depicted in Kipling's Stalky & Co.).

Further, the graphic novel is guilty of card stacking. "Our" world is depicted as one in which every historical example of government encroachment (short of pre-Civil War slavery) is carried one step further. For example, Executive Order 6102 (a Great Depression measure that prohibited "hoarding" of gold) is not only still in force in 1987 (instead of having been repealed on Dec. 31, 1974), but has been expanded to cover other precious metals.

Finally, the propaganda doesn't seem to adequately address why anyone short of a would-be dictator would be tempted away from the Libertarian model. Marxism never arose in the alternate world (Gallatinism swept Europe instead), slave-holders were *talked* into emancipation (by a President who, historically, was one of the few Revolutionary leaders who didn't include a manumission clause in his Last Will), the Plains Indians were apparently quick to reject tribal authority and the notion that their land was Sacred (in the alternate history, Manifest Destiny continued as a series of peaceful trades of land for precious metals and "stock options"), the Tragedy of the Commons never resurfaced (perhaps the alternate world's Confederacy arrived at a common law distribution of property rights for the broadcast frequencies, ground water, and air?), and Freemasonry is the closest thing witnessed to religious extremism.

The alternate world's Confederacy participated in a few variants of the "good" wars, but always via privately raised armies of volunteers, a method that uncomfortably resembles the distinction between 2001's nation of Afghanistan and the "unaffiliated" Al-Qaeda network that it harbored. The novel is gutsy enough to directly address the security question (how does a society that doesn't believe in borders or arms control stop a foreign army from assembling within its borders?), but the answers given seem terribly weak in a post-9/11 context, and remind readers that in real world history, an organized army was able to easily defeat a rag-tag band of farmers in the Whiskey Rebellion.

But despite these open questions, the graphic novel and the society it depicts remain compelling. I look forward to reading the unabridged prose version!

Scott Bieser has real talent and brought the story to life with his illustrations. He mixes colors well, too, and has a real imagination for fashions that I loved (though I suspect El Neil helped him on this). He even made the gun belts, holsters, sheaths, and the like fashionable. The inside is even better than the cover art that you can see here.

I loved how he really brought the story to life. A lot of things that the characters said were emphasized by the illustrations. And who can beat a chimpanzee (chimps are full, participating members of society in the anarchistic world) in classic Mexican dress, a red wig, and trying to sell Khmer Rouge to a detective from our world (or one like it)?

The illustrations aren't perfect. IMO, Lucy Kropotkin should be darker, as she's portrayed in The American Zone. And I thought the part of Dr. Thorens asking where Dr. Olsen (that is, Clarissa--btw, guys, you get to see her naked from the back in this) got her hair programmed was either unrealistic or downright catty. Dr. Thorens' hair was much fuller, curlier, and even "more blonde" if that's possible than Dr. Olsen's was.

But in spite of the nitpicking, I give this one five stars.

If you liked the original novel, you'll really enjoy this new incarnation. It adds a whole new dimension (pun intended) to the story.
The artwork faithfully captures the imager of the novel, putting faces to familiar characters and bringing life to the diverse landscapes and architecture of the NAC.
It is my sincere hope that this is successful and leads to more of Mr. Smith's works being redone in this fashion.

My teenage son simply does not like to read a book unless it's a couple pages out of a text book for a school assignment. He, like most teens today however, does like to read comics. This is an excellent means for introducing teens and young adults to the Libertarian concepts.

The artwork is very well done and the story text all come together to make a very worthy graphic novel.

If you're concerned your children are receiving a limited abridged view of federal government's "ability" to provide for and take care of all aspects of people's lives, this is a story to read yourself and have your teens and young adults read. Introduce them to the concepts of independence, self-reliance, and the decency, productiveness, and prosperity possible in a world where government steps aside and lets people stand on their own two feet.

If you don't have kids and like science fiction, get it and read it for yourself. It's well worth every ounce of silver your dollars are supposed to represent.

One touch that I liked was the change in palettes between the reality the hero comes from and the one he ends up in.

When I saw Big Head Press at a comic convention recently, they had several titles that looked interesting, but the cover of "The Probability Broach" was the most promising:

Explosion? Check!
Dark-skinned dude rocking two pistols, caught in mid-air by the explosion? check.
Monkey dressed like a cowboy? check.
Two white girls clinging to each other in a suggestive, but not TOO suggestive way? check.
Sista showing lotsa leg thrown in for good measure? Check.
Everybody (including the monkey) strapped with a gun or sword (or both)? CHECK!

As the description on the back cover of the book (which also features a hot blonde scientist with a pistol and a miniskirt) suggests, this story that starts as a simple murder mystery turns into an exploration of an alternate world that has no police, no real government, where taking the law into your own hands is... well, the law!

"The Probability Broach" was adapted from the L. Neil Smith novel of the same name by Scott Bieser (Roswell, Texas; The Rovers), whose art reminds me at different times of Dave Gibbons, George Perez, or Kevin Maguire. Bieser's art on "The Probability Broach" is dense and imaginative, seamlessly blending contemporary fashion, architecture and design with the fantastical elements of the world the protagonist (police detective Win Bear) lands in. He is also quite good at drawing period costumes and architecture, which comes in handy, since the story often bounces into the past where we see how the history on Lt. Bear's new world diverges from the one he left.

This book, (or rather, the novel that spawned it) was initially conceived as a summary of Libertarianism and "the promise it offers of a better, more peaceful, and more prosperous world" according to Smith. Wisely, he threw as much cool stuff in as possible (advanced 'paratronic' technology, talking apes, dolphin scientists, etc) to keep it from reading like a 185 page political tract. Instead, Neil and Bieser managed to create a wild and engaging science fiction story that makes as strong a case for getting rid of the government and passing out nines as you'll read anywhere.

Hardcore gun control advocates will no doubt be offended by the book, but since I'm not one of them, I was able to consume (and really enjoy) the book without letting the occasional speech-making of the characters derail the story. So unless you're a gun-control activist, I recommend it!

holla!
samax.

Too often, when a good novel makes the transfer from one media to another, the result is less than stellar. How often have you seen a good book make it to the silver screen, only to have the heart and soul of it lost in the translation? I saw that this comic was available for quite a time, but hesitated purchasing it because of what I "knew" was usually done in these situations. However, I weakened because I do enjoy Smith's Libertarian Universe series so much. I was curious too, if truth be known, and besides, I needed a fix of something by LNS.

I am very glad I did!

The artwork is typical of the genre... garish colours, almost cartoonish drawings, but close enough for you to tell who is human and who isn't,... but they are very effective and lovingly drawn. They do the job of presenting the characters involved effectively. If only one artist did all this work, his work ethic is amazing. I would be interested in finding out just how long the project actually took!

The "heart" of the novel, "The Probability Broach" has been kept, especially the heartfelt dialogue between Clarissa and Win just after his forceful interrogation of their Federalist prisoner. This is, I feel, a very key point in the novel/comic, and it is well done. I understand LNS himself had a say in what was presented, and I feel it shows. Even if you have not read the original novel... and who in their sane mind would NOT read the novel?... you get the total overall picture of what the book "means", and what the author is trying to make you understand about Libertarian values. All the important events and characters are presented in the correct sequence.

After I completed the comic version... and it was good enough to get me to read it almost uninterrupted... I couldn't resist, and so broke out the original novel again, and read it for perhaps the 20th time, just to compare. It was good to read it again, but I was satisfied that the graphic novel "does the job" nearly as well. Yes the novel is better, for me, in giving detail and feelings, but the comic version was great too!

I lent the comic to my son-in-law, and he totally enjoyed it, not having read any LNS before. When he finished he asked me if I had the novel. He is presently reading it. But, we are two very satisfied readers of the graphic novel of The Probability Broach. If you are an L. Neil Smith fan, you should get this work of art, simply as a collectors piece. However, I feel you will be very satisfied with its presentation. New readers will be able to see and understand what they should about this particular political viewpoint, and go away happy. I ,for one, wish this were a reality, however, I fear Man's evil nature prevents it. There are just too many "Red Barons" out there who want or need to control others to allow this revolution to take place.

I just hope "The Venus Belt" gets published in this format as well, but I doubt it will. The work involved in producing something like this is worth it for a one-of-a-kind effort, but since no "new" Libertarian values are presented in the second book, the need to publish is simply not there... but, I hope I am wrong.

Having read the novel The Probability Broach, I was very interested in seeing the graphic novel. It was very well done, and compliments the novel well.

I would highly recommend it to any Probability Broach/L. Neil Smith fans.