Tim Kring's HEROES Reminds Me of Jeff Smith's BONE

A number of people are saying that they weren't sold on HEROES at first, but that they saw enough potential in it to stick around. Then, as more episodes were shown, they came around and now like it quite a bit.

Well, it's the other way around for me. I liked the pilot, really liked it, but since then, my interest's tapered. In the earlier weeks, watching the disparate cast come to grips with their abilities, each reacting in his/her own way, responding to their mundane lives turning extraordinary -- that was captivating. People have said that it's a clichéd premise, and I agree that it certainly *feels* like one. I can't actually think of too many stories featuring that particular plot, though. Also, unlike pretty much *everyone* else, I liked *all* the strands, all the characters. But now that they've had time to adjust and the plot's shifted to their efforts to save the world -- I don't know, there's the feel of a stock sci-fi thriller.

I do still enjoy the show enough to watch. I'm just not on the edge of my seat about it like I was in the first several weeks.

That's my reaction to a lot of fiction actually. I love at first but only at first. I think it's because in the beginning, you don't know exactly what the plot is, what kind of tale it'll turn out to be. You see all the possible paths and the sight of all the interesting ones buzz in your brain. That's where a lot of the enjoyment comes from: "Ooh, this is what it's shaping up to be! Or that!" Amidst that excitement, you don't notice the un-interesting paths that the plot could just as easily go down. And why should you, when you're having so much fun?

That's how I was with BONE. I love the early chapters where the comedy and wacky hi-jinks are a lot more prevalent. The more the story shifted into a high fantasy epic, the less interested I became. That sort of fantasy story, set in a made-up land resembling our past -- I simply have no interest in it. I can only recall a handful of works along those lines I've enjoyed, George R. R. Martin's being chief among them. (Everyone talks about his A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, but his short fantasy stories are as good if not better, dammit!) Other flavors of fantasy like urban fantasy or magical realism, I do like, though.

Anyway, as I came to realize BONE was actually *that* kind of story, my interest lessened. I was sufficiently uninterested in the world-building that I couldn't keep it straight. Ghost circles, the dreaming, all that stuff. And because I couldn't keep it straight, I just ended up confused when it was elaborated on, and the confusion just made me even more uninterested. It was something of a vicious cycle, really.

Still, enough people have raved about BONE that I'll probably give it a second try some day. Maybe I was just in a bad mood.

And I *am* looking forward to Smith's SHAZAM. He did have a great way with humor when he chose to express it, and this will be a genre I'm more predisposed towards. Plus, hey, magnificient art.