Mark Heroic is a series for children. If it isn’t obvious upon learning the protagonist’s name, maybe the fact that the first three novels are named FlashPoint, MegaBlast, and CyberDeth respectively can convince you. Why am I reading a book for children? Because I have a nostalgic streak and because my Mom has a passion for getting rid of books periodically.
Last weekend we dragged a box of books down from my closet shelf. My mom, who knows my pack-rat nature, expected me to keep them all. I, on the other hand, expected them to be a bunch of books I had completely grown out of. We met halfway. I kept about fifteen, among them a trio of books with the title character Mark Heroic.
I have fond memories of Mark, and particularly of the third book in the series. Unfortunately, this is not the third book, but the first (FlashPoint, by Curtis Taylor and Todd Hester). However, even here I can see why I was drawn to Mark. When asked in the first chapter if he would ever lie, even if his life was threatened, Mark answers, “No, Blue [the character he is speaking to], I wouldn’t lie for anybody, no matter what they would do to me” (7). It spoke to me as a child, and it still has a faint echo somewhere inside my gut. As a child, I had an inordinate respect for the truth. I’m not sure that made me lie significantly less, but it certainly caused me more guilt when I did. In my book, my slightly child-mind-twisted book, telling a lie was worse than stealing, or even killing, really (after all, think how many heroes never have to tell a lie just because they kill instead). So Mark must have been the epitome of valor, just because he would sacrifice himself.
So it shattered me, even now, when Mark proved himself a liar twice over, for having told a lie, and for saying he never would. In a nightclub, threatened by two bouncers who are interfering with the teens’ investigation into a drug ring, Mark lies readily to save himself. He says to a woman, dancing, that the bouncer “‘wants you to drop the loser you’re with and dance with him’” (27). Of course, this causes the woman’s boyfriend to go temporarily insane and attack the bouncer, giving Mark Heroic and his pals enough time to escape. This is just twenty pages after he claimed he would die before lie.
Also questionable was the level of racism depicted. Mark is either one-half or one-fourth Lakota, and his grandfather (full Lakota) is another significant character in the novel. However, the grandfather himself constantly refers to his actions using cliches and stereotypes. As much as political correctness can seem overdone at times, media directed at children is a place where it should be applied in full.
Finally, the style is in keeping with a children’s book, with one exception. The requisite “brawny” character, Blue, “lowered his shoulder and charged,” (27, 28, 74) one too many times. That really bugged me. Enough said.
I still intend to read the series, (well, the three I have—I’m not going to go out of my way and buy the two I don’t have) but this has dulled my interest in powering through them quickly. I’d much rather watch movies like La Haine.
Today (or technically yesterday) I went to Askwith Media Library and rented two movies. And then a third, just because the mustachioed man at the desk asked me if I had the time. He suggested La Haine, and I bit. I am very, very glad I did. The last film the nameless mustachioed man suggested was a ridiculous one named District B13. It was a lot of fun visually, but had the depth of a tunnel painted on a wall. So La Haine was a big surprise.
It depicts a single day in the life of three French kids from the projects. A riot happened the night before, and one of their friends is in the hospital due to police brutality. The film describes the cycle of hatred and discontent in the projects due to the racism and lack of respect accorded to the inhabitants. One of the characters gets hold of a gun, and promises to kill a policeman if their comatose friend dies. It goes from there.
I loved it, and it definitely numbers among my favorite movies of all time. It’s somewhere in the top five or ten, though I haven’t decided quite where. I would say more, but would much rather let it speak for itself. One thing I can say is that I was surprised by my own reaction to it.
“It’s not how you fall that matters, it’s how you land.”—La Haine
Sincerely,
Spencer Miles Kimball
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