Martin George. Wild Cards 8. One-Eyed Jacks

Leelas's review:
And so the Wild Cards saga enters its third triad, and the series sees a dramatic change in tone.The events in New York and Atlanta during the 1988 Democratic Convention have left the lives and careers of many of our favorite characters in ruins. Gone are the days of Aces High and Wild Card chic, the days of cooperation between Nats, Aces, and Jokers. In its place is a tension, a darkness, a sense of mistrust and societal decay. This is the mood at the outset of what seems to be one of the least popular Wild Cards triads.Although I can't speak for the rest of the triad just yet, I can say that this is a very good book. As far as first volumes go, it's considerably better than Wild Cards I, and although I personally really liked Aces High, I can say that this is a better and more accessible volume than that one as well.The overplot is written by Walton Simons, and follows Jerry Strauss, aka Mr. Nobody, who was previously known as the Great Ape. Mr. Nobody's brother is a certain Kenneth Strauss, who is the Strauss in the Latham Strauss law firm. Mr. Nobody is an engaging lead character, and this is possibly the best overplot written thus far. Although the Turtle and Sleeper stories from Down and Dirty are better stories per se, this one works better as an overplot.After being introduced to the overplot, we begin the volume with Dr. Cody Havero, Tachyon's new chief of surgery, who's written by comic book legend Chris Claremont. Claremont may be a great comic book writer, but (sorry to be blunt) he can't write fiction for crap. Run-on sentences and horrific grammar abound in what's easily the volume's worst story.Lewis Shiner, having retired his superpowered pimp Fortunato, returns with Veronica, Croyd's girlfriend and formerly one of Fortunato's ladies, who discovers that she totally doesn't need any men in her life, because she's an ace and a lesbian. It is awesome.Following this, we get William F. Wu with Ben Choy, aka Lazy Dragon, who finds himself sent on a dangerous mission clearly designed to test his loyalty to the Shadow Fists. This is an action-packed piece and one of the highlights of the volume.After Lazy Dragon, we return to one of two old PoV characters in this volume, as Victor Milan turns out his first Captain Trips story since volume
2. This is a good one, as Trips finds himself locked in a custody battle with his ex-wife, Sunflower. Trips' idiosyncratic speech patterns have been toned down significantly since his last appearance, and it's clear that Victor Milan is becoming an overall better writer by this point.The absolute high-point of the volume comes next, with Stephen Leigh giving us a story starring the Oddity, as they ('they' seems to be the appropriate pronoun for the Oddity) have a run-in with the jumpers. Leigh proves himself to be one of the best Wild Cards writers with this one, and he's created a truly compelling character with the insanely strong and constantly tortured Oddity.Melinda Snodgrass brings us our second old character, Dr. Tachyon, who shares the next story with his grandson, Blaise. I'm sure that those of you who have read the entire series up to this point have, by now, realized that Blaise is an unmitigated sociopath. Well, then, it wouldn't be too much of a spoiler to say that in this story he goes off the deep end. We all knew it had to happen, but I can't say it was handled very well. This is one of the weaker entries in this volume, but it's still pretty good.The seventh and final story in the volume is written by John J. Miller, and, as per the tendencies of this book, features a formerly minor character in a center-stage role. This character is Philip Cunningham, aka Fadeout, who, along with Lazy Dragon, so amusingly strung Yeoman along in Dead Man's Hand. Here he becomes our second Shadow Fist PoV in this volume, and through his eyes we see a power struggle in the Shadow Fists break loose.All in all a very solid Wild Cards book, and technically the strongest triad-opener. Not the best anthology (that's still Aces High), but right up there.