May - 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters, #152: Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers)

Joe Pace

May 31, 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters, #152: Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers)

Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird, Captain Marvel) is a fascinating study in the struggles that male comic creators have long faced in creating strong, believable female characters. A study in duality, Carol is both a kickass heroine and a repeated victim of various kinds of violation. She debuted in 1968 as an Air Force officer before Kree technology swiftly upgraded her to the super-powered Ms. Marvel. Her very name was a nod to the feminist movement of the late 19

Favorite Fictional Characters, #151: Hector

Joe Pace

May 30, 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters

Favorite Fictional Characters, #151: Hector

Homer's Iliad is an epic tragedy, the rich depiction of a Trojan War that is a total disaster for virtually everyone involved. The Greeks, though victorious, pay prices nearly as high as the Trojans. Achilles, their greatest hero, is slain, along with countless others over a decade of fighting. The tale is one of heroism and courage and sacrifice, but also one of the futility and cost of war. I've always been drawn to the character of Hector, the eldest prince of Troy. He bea

Favorite Fictional Characters, #150: Tevye

Joe Pace

May 29, 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters

Favorite Fictional Characters, #150: Tevye

My favorite stage production is 1776, but those characters are based on real people, so don't qualify for inclusion here. Otherwise John Adams as portrayed by William Daniels would be among my absolute favorites. So we turn instead to another musical I love, Fiddler on the Roof, and its charismatic protagonist, Tevye. There's a great West Wing episode where President Bartlet tells a story about Egyptian bedouins calling him Abu el Banat, or Father of Daughters. That's Tevye,

Favorite Fictional Characters, #149: Hobbes

Joe Pace

May 28, 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters

Favorite Fictional Characters, #149: Hobbes

Let's face it - Calvin is kind of a punk. Bright, inventive, adventurous, but a punk all the same, in the way only a willful six-year old can be. Watching over him (and, at times, egging him on) is his patient alter ego, the sometimes-stuffed tiger Hobbes. Hobbes is the best kind of friend. He cautions Calvin about the wisdom of his zanier schemes, but when the lad goes ahead anyway, he's there to pick up the pieces. He has a caustic tongue and fierce sense of humor, always m

Favorite Fictional Characters, #148: Harry Burns

Joe Pace

May 27, 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters

Favorite Fictional Characters, #148: Harry Burns

When Harry Met Sally...is very nearly a perfect film. It stars two performers at their respective peaks: Meg Ryan as adorably neurotic as she'll ever be, and Billy Crystal at his masochistic, hilarious best. Reiner gets the best out of them both with a brisk script that allows both of them room to do their work, and we are rewarded with an improbable chemistry that is still funny and heartwarming decades later. As much as I enjoyed Meg Ryan at this stage in her career, I am t

Favorite Fictional Characters, #147: Admiral Percy Fitzwallace

Joe Pace

May 26, 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters

Favorite Fictional Characters, #147: Admiral Percy Fitzwallace

We return to the West Wing, a show with a roster of characters so deep that as many as ten might show up on this list. One of my absolute favorites has always been John Amos' avuncular, uber-competent Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Percy Fitzwallace. His screen time is never as much as it should be, but when he appears, he brings with him a weighty dignity and gravitas that represents one of the few personalities capable of holding their own in a scene with Je

Favorite Fictional Characters, #146: Maximus Decimus Meridius

Joe Pace

May 25, 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters

Favorite Fictional Characters, #146: Maximus Decimus Meridius

Gladiator came along in 2000, when I was 25 years old and ripe for some fractured Roman history as a vehicle for a jacked-up, brooding Russell Crowe swinging a hungry sword. Because make no mistake - Gladiator isn't a very complicated movie. There are some thematic noises about corruption and wisdom and courage, and a deft bit of irony as the film extols the virtue of popular rule while simultaneously exposing the base appetites of the mob. But beyond that, this is an action

Favorite Fictional Characters, #145: Edith Keeler

Joe Pace

May 24, 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters

Favorite Fictional Characters, #145: Edith Keeler

City on the Edge of Forever is without question the finest of the original Star Trek episodes, and rightfully has a place among the best science fiction of all time, small screen or large. The original script was written by decorated SF author Harlan Ellison, and the subsequent wrangling over edits and changes is the stuff of Star Trek legend. While what finally appeared departed somewhat from Ellison's costlier and more sprawling initial vision, it remains thought-provoking,

Favorite Fictional Characters, #144: Taylor Worth

Joe Pace

May 23, 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters

Favorite Fictional Characters, #144: Taylor Worth

Worth Winning is a fairly run-of-the-mill 1989 romantic comedy with an improbably silly plot, and yet it's always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Mark Harmon is at his effortlessly charming best in the role of Taylor Worth, Philadelphia TV weatherman and confirmed bachelor. Taylor's friends, who are more or less happily married, envy and worship him openly. His well-earned confidence in his seductive skills leads the same friends to engage him in a seemingly-impossible wager:

Favorite Fictional Characters, #143: Max

Joe Pace

May 22, 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters

Favorite Fictional Characters, #143: Max

Where the Wild Things Are is such a colossal, iconic, cherished book that I hesitate to make any truly declarative observations about it. Like all great art, it means different things to different people, and I can only offer up what it means to me, and what I perceive to be at the heart of its lasting brilliance. Sendak's artwork is lush and evocative, and the Wild Things themselves suitably unnerving, but this is clearly Max's tale, and one told completely and poignantly fr

Favorite Fictional Characters, #142: Thornton Melon

Joe Pace

May 21, 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters

Favorite Fictional Characters, #142: Thornton Melon

Rodney Dangerfield was masterful in Caddyshack, but I've always felt his magnum opus was Back to School. As self-made clothing tycoon Thornton Melon, Dangerfield's earthy, brash persona is given free reign over a film that is funny, as we might expect, but also surprisingly heartfelt. There's a deep cast, with a young Robert Downey, Jr., Terry Farrell, 80s mainstay jerk Billy Zabka, and even Sam Kinison and Kurt Vonnegut. The movie's plot is improbable, with Melon returning t

Favorite Fictional Characters, #141: Mordecai Cadmus

Joe Pace

May 20, 2016

Favorite Fictional Characters

Favorite Fictional Characters, #141: Mordecai Cadmus

Since it's my birthday, I'm highlighting one of my favorite characters from my own work. As much as my mind and heart are currently immersed in the sequel to my most recent novel, Lost Harvest, there's something special about your first. Minotaur was a labor of love over a period of years, and as much as it shows all the warts of the rookie author, I cherish it. And as much as all the characters are my children and I love them all, my favorite among them is Cadmus. Writing vi

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