Comments on: Fallout

By: The Jewish Culture Log of Arts » Blog Archive » 50 Jewish Reasons to Attend Comic-Con International in San Diego

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:12:31 +0000

[...] (32) Jim Ottaviani (author of Wire Mothers: Harry Harlow and the Science of Love and Fallout : J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and the Political Science of the Atomic Bomb) [...]

By: Comics Worth Reading

Comics Worth Reading — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 15:55:29 +0000

[...] It’s going to be a novella, about 50 pages of story plus the usual background material and endnotes. It explores stage magic, that blend of psychics and psychology, and will be illustrated by Janine Johnston, who did some of the art for Jim’s earlier book Fallout. [...]

By: kuniform » Blog Archive » Marvel Super-heroes Re-enactment

kuniform » Blog Archive » Marvel Super-heroes Re-enactment — Wed, 31 May 2006 15:12:22 +0000

[...] Basically, reading the trade rags, this guy knew a major new villian was introduced to mess up Batman severely, causing his 1st appearance issue to sky-rocket in value. So, the dealer put up a sign trading all these gullible 8-12 year olds their 1st appearance for crap comics, and then a few months later sold them back those 1st appearances for tons of cash. Why not take them out in an alley and beat them up for their money? It’s about as nice. Anyway, that started me on reading things like Pogo, Krazy Kat, and graphic novels like the Watchmen, the work of Paul Pope and Fallout, a comic history of the creation of the atomic bomb. [...]

By: Comics Worth Reading

Comics Worth Reading — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 02:52:13 +0000

[...] There are sample pages at Leland Purvis’ website. The GT Labs website has more information, including preview pages. A physicist reviews Suspended in Language. Jim Ottaviani previously wrote Fallout. [...]

By: Johanna

Johanna — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 16:32:08 +0000

Thanks for adding your analysis. This certainly is a transitional volume between his first two anthologies and the later long-form works, but “worst of his works” is still pretty good, I think. I’ve got reviews on more of his books still to come, so I hope you’ll continue to comment.

By: chasdom

chasdom — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 15:43:53 +0000

I think this is the most disappointing of Ottaviani’s works. This was his first attempt at GT Labs at a continuous narrative, and it doesn’t succeed at that goal. It’s just too disjointed and Bernie Mireault’s odd framing sequences don’t help the situation.

The chapters don’t hold up very well on their own, as they refer back to the events of previous chapters. So the book can’t be read the same way as Dignifying Science or Two-Fisted Science. On the other hand, the chapters don’t hold together as a continuous narrative either, jumping between major characters and cherry-picking events that don’t flow together well. The best part of the book, the Oppenheimer hearing at the end, isn’t supported by the themes of the earlier chapters. Similarly, interludes with Einstein are very entertaining, but tend to subvert the themes of the chapters they interrupt.

In contrast, I highly recommend Suspended in Language by Ottaviani. A single continuous story on the life of Neils Bohr that flows well and builds on its themes effectively. The fact that Suspended in Language has even more science content than Fallout, and yet hangs together better as a narrative, is a tribute to Ottaviani’s advancing skill as a storyteller. The scenes with Einstein and Bohr even reinforce the book’s themes instead of disrupting them!

Oppenheimer & Co.’s story could have been fascinating too, and it’s a shame Fallout wasn’t up to the task.