Pick of the Brown Bag
August 30, 2017
by
Ray Tate
It’s a tiny week for the Pick of the Brown Bag. Today, I’ll be reviewing Angel, Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen and the Supergirl Annual. If you haven’t time for the full dosage of POBB goodness, you can always check me out on Twitter: #PickoftheBrownBag.
The Supergirl Annual is a mixed bag. This is another case where Steve Orlando’s schizophrenic setup for the Girl of Steel hamstrings her adventures. On the one hand, Supergirl is mostly the new 52 version of Superman’s cousin from Krypton. The minor differences result from the restoration of Superman’s timeline.
Superman and Supergirl are on much friendlier terms than they were at the advent of the new 52. She never had to win his trust. On the other hand, Supergirl now operates in an ersatz Supergirl television series emulation with an altered states D.E.O. and Cat Grant.
The best thing about the Annual is Supergirl herself. Though Neither Melissa Benoist nor the older new 52 incarnation of Supergirl, Steve Orlando’s Supergirl is still valid. Younger, more attuned to Krypton speak than English, but still possessing the essence of Supergirl’s attitude regardless of the era.
The second best thing about the Annual is the reappearance of Dr. Shay Veritas. Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort created and introduced Veritas in Superman, and she quickly befriended the Girl of Steel, despite Kara’s initial trepidation.
Veritas acts as the personal physician of Superman and Supergirl. She’s a much more interesting replacement for STAR Labs, of the Bronze Age, and Dr. Kitty Faulkner, a John Byrne post-Crisis brain. I furthermore appreciate that Supergirl’s and Shay’s scenes are extensive with well-written, character-driven dialogue that also serves the plot.
The third best thing about the Annual is obviously artist Steve Pugh. The Supergirl Annual isn’t even his best work, yet it’s still delectable.
Pugh eschewed the painted muscle man look before it was cool to do so. His artwork always evoked the illusion of depth and sinew through shadow and light. At the same time, he took into account the detail of cloth and how to blend the stretch of fabric with underlying anatomy to embellish something attractive, unique and realistic. Colorist Michael Atiyeh clues into Pugh's intent.
Homage to Captain Marvel Jr. illustrator Mac Raboy
Let me just state for the record. I didn’t hate the Annual. I’ve read far worse than this and despised a greater intensity and spectra of stupidity. For example, the Supergirl Annual is positively Shakespearean when compared to the dumbfounding moment when DC’s Powers That Be turned Supergirl into a plasma-vomiting Red Lantern.
If you thought I was going to pollute the POBB with that foul memory, think again. Here however are some points I think need addressed before you decide whether or not to buy.
Solomon Grundy is suddenly Kaiju. That doesn’t work for me, but I’m willing to accept the growth spurt as subjective. Solomon Grundy is one of the present day Fatal Five formed by the Emerald Empress to harass Supergirl. He’s never been a Supergirl enemy. So, I can’t imagine what Grundy gets out of the deal.
Indigo is another incarnation of Brainiac, introduced in Season One of Supergirl and played by former Kara Zor-El Laura Vandervoort.
It’s so daft to see Indigo in comics now. Her story began and possibly ended in the television series. Vandervoort’s Indigo overshadows this plain old robot built by the Emerald Empress of all people.
Jim Shooter’s and Curt Swan’s Emerald Empress is a very clever creation. She was meant to be a wicked science fiction sorceress in The Legion of Super-Heroes. So instead of a crystal ball or a magic wand, the Empress snatched a big alien eye, and it became her shtick. Good, evil, all works done by the eye. The Empress herself doesn’t actually possess an iota of magical power or until now any technical knowhow.
She does use the Eye in the Supergirl Annual, but the robot-building, departs from character. Orlando in addition changes her planet of origin. Originally, the Empress ruled the planet Venegar. Now, she hails from Orando, which is the home world of Legionnaire Princess Projectra. Why do this? It doesn’t add anything to the story. It just irritates faithful Legion of Super-Hero fans. As for the reason why the Empress hates Supergirl. All kinds of dumb. The Empress is only one of the people that hate Supergirl. This animosity started in Rebirth and hasn't abated.
I never understood Chase Cameron’s appeal. She was a bureaucratic antagonist that liked to expose superhero secrets, for the greater good of course, and nobody to be admired. Marc Andreyko in Manhunter gave Chase dimension by dropping her gleeful snooping and making her Kate Spencer’s friend and confidante. She’s back to being an officious bitch.
Here, we see Chase with a switchblade. A totally useless weapon against a Legion rogue. You may as well launch a paper airplane with the hope of hitting her in the Eye.
I don’t know what Orlando’s game with Chase happens to be. Was he saddled with the character? Does he like her? If so, he doesn’t show it. He demonstrates Chase’s idiocy and futility. He grants her practically no dialogue and rewrites her as the token lesbian along with Shay Veritas.
Chase never demonstrated any hint of of being attracted to women. Shay I can see. She’s a newer creation, with less of a nettlesome history. Nevertheless, the Chase/Veritas pairing seems to be a blatant rip off of Maggie Sawyer and Alex Danvers from the show.
Listen. I’m all for diversity, but adding a gay lifestyle to Chase Cameron’s repertoire isn’t going to improve her character. She’s lousy. Give her humanity first. Show her doing something kind. Show that she actually cares what happens to Supergirl, or anybody. That’s how you improve Chase Cameron. The reasons why the Maggie and Alex relationship works on Supergirl are too numerous to list, but it starts with the fact that the writers and the actresses imbued the individual characters with warmth. Chase has the warmth of an ice bucket.
Then there’s Cat Grant. She’s actually characterized fairly well on the bitchy side, but Orlando misses the underlying humor in Calista Flockhart’s performance and once again the character’s more enviable qualities. The fact that she’s a feminist. The fact that she named Supergirl. That she likes and respects Supergirl as well as Kara Danvers. Her relationship with her sons. That depth of character in the series cannot be found in this two-dimensional cut-up.
The two characters that like Supergirl the most are the most jarring reminders of the book’s bizarro framework.
Can anybody explain to me why, given Superman’s history restoration, nobody thought it a good idea to fuzz around the lines and place Supergirl into Jeremiah’s and Eliza’s home from the beginning? I can’t ignore the fact that Chase assigned these two to be Kara’s handlers, under the ruse of foster parents.
They probably have orders to kill Supergirl if she goes "rogue." That would be in Chase Cameron's bag of nasty tricks. If the Danvers' actually became closer to Kara, it would have been nice to see.
What the Supergirl Annual gets wrong, the Spider books get right. I dropped Spider-Gwen from my subscription list because it strayed from its direction. With a loss of spider-powers, Gwen is forced to take a spider-serum injected through power bands on her wrist. I hate this. The overall atmosphere became dark. Way too dark, and this story admits it, in the most hilarious way.
If a Watcher is present in a Spider-Gwen story, can the Watcher's favorite subjects the Mary Janes be too far behind? This issue of Spider-Gwen turns the spotlight on a one of the best uses for an alternate universe outside of Batman and Catwoman having a daughter named Helena Wayne. Mary Jane Watson, Betty Brant, Glory Grant and Gwen Stacy comprise a rock band called the Mary Janes. The Mary Janes reached a modicum of success, but their drummer Gwen Stacy habitually ditches performances.
In a wry twist on Mary Jane Watson figuring out Peter Parker’s secret, the M.J. of Earth-65 also concludes her bandmate is really Spider-Woman. The trouble is nobody believes her.
The disbelief catalyzes a running joke through the story, and the timing of its resurfacing is perfect. Whatever the reason, Gwen is not in on this gig. So, M.J. comes up with an idea of exploiting Glory. Betty, characterized 180 degrees from the more familiar Betty Brant, agrees because Glory’s got the talent and she could use some money. The execution of that rationale far surpasses the words I just typed.
The plot of Spider-Gwen now shifts to trying to convince Glory to rejoin the band and play drums. It’s a simple conflict, but the twists and turns the Mary Janes take to reach a resolution make the whole exercise fascinating. At the same time the tale examines the band's characters, peeling back surface superficiality and revealing camaraderie and soul.
Spider-Gwen culminates in the escalating behavior of a guy that just won’t take no for an answer. Despite the brevity of pages, the writers nevertheless imply an incremental change from ass to outright stalker.
Through confrontation, M.J. proves Glory’s theory of self-centeredness wrong. It and the epilogue inform that M.J.'s ego is not quite so large as suggested.
Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man transports the reader to a Spider-Man world. There’s nothing in this book that’s not Spider-Man.
Or, writer Chip Zdarsky makes it Spider-Man. I couldn’t tell you where Spidey met Karnak the Inhuman, but I’m sure he did at one point, and this whole scene is outrageously funny. I’m much more familiar with the old school version of the character, but the newer Karnak is just a walking black comedy.
Karnak guarded Spidey’s sister Teresa Parker. What, says you? Peter Parker has a sister. Her presence was another case where I had no idea what went on until Zdarsky explained things in a previous issue. His recap here is even more brisk.
Spidey’s mother and father were SHIELD agents, or CIA agents, or MI-6. The explicitness of operations doesn’t matter. The espionage however is why Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man had a secret lab in an abandoned subway tunnel. Anyway. The fact that the Parkers were used to engaging on byzantine subterfuge adds weight to the idea that Teresa Parker could be Peter's sister.
Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin was behind the whole scheme, and he appears to be enjoying the chaos he sowed. It’s a mere coincidence that Spidey traced a series of phones linked into a villain network to him. Or maybe just good writing that makes carefully laid plot elements look coincidental.
I know what some younger readers of the POBB are thinking. The Kingpin is just blatant Daredevil baiting. Nope.
The Kingpin first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man. He was a Spider-Man foe long before he crossed swords with Daredevil.
Peter Parker is a book for people who really want to wallow in Spider-Man history but not suffer through the modern machinations. Zdarsky gives Spidey a partner in crime. The Human Torch, of course.
J. Jonah Jameson is still out to get Spider-Man. Zdarsky returns to the idea that Spidey is an outlaw not welcomed by the police. Wilson Fisk on the other hand is a respected businessman.
New characters link to old ones. Teresa of course we covered. Since Teresa won’t sit and wait for the Torch and Spidey to conduct their business with the Kingpin. They take her to Mason to get her properly outfitted for a superhero sphere of battle.
Mason is the brother of Spider-Man rogue. Uatu Jackson is named after the Watcher. The ratty SHIELD agent that persuaded Black Widow to challenge Spidey to a fight in a previous issue’s seemingly unrelated backup rears his head. He probably ties into why Teresa visited Peter in the first place. This is how it’s done. Everything’s linked. The old seamless to the new.
Angel suffered some new and different nightmares while on a ghost breaking assignment with his companion Fred. Any time you mention the word companion, you probably cannot help but think of Doctor Who. Connie Bechko's story involves time travel, and there definitely is a Doctor Who vibe going on, but what's very interesting is that Bechko switches the roles of Angel and Fred. As discussed, Fred shares her existence with Illyria an ancient goddess. This occurred in the television series. A cult worshipping the goddess killed Fred to make her the vessel for Illyria.
Surprisingly, Joss Whedon and the writers of Angel made Illyria as much of a victim as Fred. She didn't want this to happen. She didn't ask the cult to kill Fred. For that reason, she became closer to Angel and his friends. She is in fact last seen heading into the epic battle against Wolf, Ram and Hart alongside of Angel and company. With Fred and Illyria vacillating back forth, sometimes Illyria is the Doctor. Other times Angel, but Illyria is definitely the master of time in this series. She transported Angel and Fred to a period indicated by Angel's dreams.
Last issue, Fred and Angel narrowly escaped from becoming a) chow for Angelus and Darla, past incarnations of the vampires naturally b) an inferno on water thanks to the interference of c) occult insects that can take over one's mind. This issue continues the struggle for survival, but in Angel's case, that also includes the added danger from the rising sun.
The simple plot allows for oodles of action and exemplars of Angel's vampire powers from artist Ze Carlos. In addition, there's room for a philosophical discussion about free will.
Thanks to the larger budget of imagination, Bechko and Carlos delight in letting Angel cut loose.
There's a certain amount of sensibility in the vampire's imitation of standard superhero feats. Such displays would make vampires more attractive to their victims. Of course, Angel is ensouled. He's in reality a man in a vampire husk, but you can see a selective advantage in their preternatural abilities. Vampires are the royalty of the undead. They've just got everything going in their favor.
Angel steers Fred to a volcanic isle, but he's had the idea before.
Things become interesting as the vampires start to take notice of the similarities between Angel and Angelus. They even begin to think. Angelus and Darla are master vampires. Unlike their simple cousins who are confused almost hopping undead. Through the drinking of sire blood when first reborn, master vampires possess more intelligence and personality. They can actually think beyond mere cunning predator. They simply need a reason and respite to do so. Angel's presence gives them one. As does, Illyria's manifestation.
The excitement of the oddball team-up is almost unseated by Bechko's elliptical writing and the cliffhanger. This is a deceptively complex issue of Angel, but for those just looking for a good few monster bouts, it delivers that as well.
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