Wild Cards I

The first volume in the Wild Cards shared universe fiction series edited by George R. R. Martin. It was published in 1987 and contains several short stories establishing the Wild Cards universe, introducing the main characters, and setting up plot threads that continue to play out over the course of the rest of the series.

The stories that make up this book are:

'Prologue' - Introduces Dr. Tachyon, the virus and its effects.

'Thirty Minutes Over Broadway' - Introduces Jetboy and his efforts to stop the release of the virus.

'The Sleeper' - Introduces Croyd Crenson and our first look into a world with Wild Cards.

'Witness' - The rise and fall of the Four Aces in McCarthy era America.

'Degradation Rites' - Dr. Tachyon's doomed romance with Blythe van Renssaeler.

'Shell Games' - Thomas Tubury discovers his ace abilities and become the Great and Powerful Turtle.

'The Long, Dark Night of Fortunato' - Fortunato, a high class pimp with powerful ace abilities, discovers the first signs of a Masonic conspiracy.

'Transfigurations' - Wimpy Mark Meadows takes a trip into the hippie world and discovers his unique ace abilities.

'Down Deep' - Introduces several characters in the sewers of New York and gives a glimpse into the mafia's machinations.

'Strings' - Introduces Puppetman and Gimli at a joker political rally gone wrong.

'Comes a Hunter' - Introduces Yeoman and Chrysalis and shows the gang presence in Jokertown.

'Epilogue' - A young boy discovers his ace power.

Tropes used in Wild Cards I include:
  • Alternate History Literature: To a greater extent than other novels in the series.
  • Angry Black Man: Gimli, except it's his Joker status that drives him.
  • Anthology
  • Ascended Fanboy: The Great and Powerful Turtle.
    • Mark Meadows becomes one as well.
  • The Atoner: Doctor Tachyon.
  • Badass Normal: Yeoman.
    • Jetboy too.
  • Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: The Lizard King is Jim Morrison.
  • The Beautiful Elite: Aces. But only after the fall of the HUAC
  • Broken Ace: Literally in the Sleeper's case.
    • Ditto, Golden Boy.
    • Doctor Tachyon.
      • Hell, the entirety of the Four Aces.
  • Camp Straight: Doctor Tachyon and, to a lesser extent, Hiram Worchester.
  • Captain Ersatz: Golden Boy for the Golden Age Superman (more of a Deconstruction, however).
    • Yeoman seems to be, for all intents and purposes, Green Arrow.
    • The Lizard King is one of Jim Morrison, if he's not Jim Morrison himself.
  • The Cape (trope): The Great and Powerful Turtle.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Kid Dinosaur, who discovers his Ace in the Epilogue. He was created solely to be killed in a later volume.
  • Deus Sex Machina: Fortunato and Succubus both have these powers.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: The Turtle to his tormentor in college and never did it feel so good.
    • For those who wonder, the future Turtle telekinetically smashes up his car after a year of collective torment.
  • Doomed Moral Victor: Jetboy
  • The Eighties: The Yeoman story. It was also The Present Day.
  • Encyclopedia Exposita: The Prologue, Interludes, and Appendix are all excerpts from fictional books, newspapers, and articles from the Wild Cards universe.
  • Face Heel Turn: Golden Boy
  • Fantastic Racism: Prejudice against Jokers and Aces is a big theme in this book, involving them in many analogues to the black experience.
  • The Fifties: The Historical Fifties, mostly in "Witness".
  • Golden Age: The postwar years with the Four Aces. It turns out to be just a Hope Spot.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Jetboy
  • Human Aliens: Doctor Tachyon and all the other Takisians.
  • Innocent Fanservice Girl: Ghost Girl. Due to her clothes falling off due to her intangibility.
  • Interspecies Romance: Tachyon and Blythe.
  • Jerkass: Croyd a.k.a The Sleeper.
    • Fortunato and the Lizard King also count.
  • Meaningful Name: Doctor Tod -- tod is German for "death".
  • Rape Is Love: Gregg Hartmann a.k.a the Puppetman.
  • Really Gets Around: Doctor Tachyon, Fortunato.
  • The Seventies: The later half of the book.
  • Shout-Out: Jetboy is a shout-out to the entire Pulp genre; his death while failing to prevent the release of the Wild Card virus is an intentional reference to the replacement of pulp heroes by superheroes.
  • The Sixties: The Mark Meadows story is the quintessential Sixties story, complete with a "Mister Sandman" Sequence in the beginning.
  • Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: Jetboy vs Doctor Tod. Also the Lizard King vs Hardhat vs the Radical.
  • Younger Than They Look: Succubus.
    • Croyd also, goes from a 14-year old kid to a grown-up appearance.
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