The Fox: Freak Magnet
Nov. 8th, 2025 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
babbling_bookendsThe Fox: Freak Magnet
I wanted to like this so much. The Fox, aka Paul Patton, has a terrible habit of getting himself in trouble, hence the name of the book; freak magnet. Paul is a Spider Man-esque character with Paul's "freak magnet" status reminiscient of Peter's "Parker luck" but we never get any time to fall in love with Paul and why he does what he does, so it's just a little too much of Paul whining. He gets transported away to another world and continually talks about how much he misses his wife, but we barely got any time with him and his wife to see why he would want to return to her, so she is largely an object of Paul's desire to return home, and not a character with her own thoughts and motivations.
Also questionable was the choice to have three characters work together with the Fox; one a German Nazi, one a Japanese imperialist, and one a walking American propaganda symbol. Now, I'm not opposed to this kind of plot, but what irks me is that the Nazi is specifically stated as defecting from the Axis powers to the Allied cause, but the Japanese character is not, and the American character, despite mentioning that they'd all been brainwashed into staunch nationalism by their respective countries, also shows no criticism of his government. But fear not! They're all friends in the modern era (because the Fox was zapped back into WWII instead of his own time in the 2010's). I just needed more character development to enjoy this ending.
I'm questioning who this was for. The Fox, She-Fox, the Shield, and other characters in this book were based on characters originally published in the 1940's, (The Shield, according to my very surface-level research [aka Wikipedia] predates Captain America), but I didn't think this was a very good intoduction to the characters for new fans, and I don't think this could have been a satisfying story for existing fans, though maybe I'm wrong.
I thought that the plot was sci-fi and fantastical, wacky in that way older comics are, with plots that are slightly ridiculous that you just have to accept, and I really enjoyed that! The art of the Fox, flipping and fighting his way through the story, was cartoonish and matched the tone of the story. Paul Patton Jr (aka the Fox) had an unobjectionable personality and made enough humorous quips that he was easy to like. I think this needed a little more character development to feel connected with the characters and the story.
I wanted to like this so much. The Fox, aka Paul Patton, has a terrible habit of getting himself in trouble, hence the name of the book; freak magnet. Paul is a Spider Man-esque character with Paul's "freak magnet" status reminiscient of Peter's "Parker luck" but we never get any time to fall in love with Paul and why he does what he does, so it's just a little too much of Paul whining. He gets transported away to another world and continually talks about how much he misses his wife, but we barely got any time with him and his wife to see why he would want to return to her, so she is largely an object of Paul's desire to return home, and not a character with her own thoughts and motivations.
Also questionable was the choice to have three characters work together with the Fox; one a German Nazi, one a Japanese imperialist, and one a walking American propaganda symbol. Now, I'm not opposed to this kind of plot, but what irks me is that the Nazi is specifically stated as defecting from the Axis powers to the Allied cause, but the Japanese character is not, and the American character, despite mentioning that they'd all been brainwashed into staunch nationalism by their respective countries, also shows no criticism of his government. But fear not! They're all friends in the modern era (because the Fox was zapped back into WWII instead of his own time in the 2010's). I just needed more character development to enjoy this ending.
I'm questioning who this was for. The Fox, She-Fox, the Shield, and other characters in this book were based on characters originally published in the 1940's, (The Shield, according to my very surface-level research [aka Wikipedia] predates Captain America), but I didn't think this was a very good intoduction to the characters for new fans, and I don't think this could have been a satisfying story for existing fans, though maybe I'm wrong.
I thought that the plot was sci-fi and fantastical, wacky in that way older comics are, with plots that are slightly ridiculous that you just have to accept, and I really enjoyed that! The art of the Fox, flipping and fighting his way through the story, was cartoonish and matched the tone of the story. Paul Patton Jr (aka the Fox) had an unobjectionable personality and made enough humorous quips that he was easy to like. I think this needed a little more character development to feel connected with the characters and the story.
