POBB October 18, 2017

Pick of the Brown Bag

October 18, 2017

by 

Ray Tate

Hark what yonder comic books we have to review.  This week in the Pick of the Brown Bag it’s All-New Guardians of the Galaxy, Aquaman, Batman, Green Lanterns, Monsters Unleashed, Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man, Superman and Titans.  We start however with the 700th issue of Thor.  

How does Marvel arrive at such a number?  Believe it or not, Journey into Mystery ran for 125 issues.  True, Thor debuted in number eighty-three, but why split hairs?

For such ballyhoo and a jacked up price, with an admittedly larger page count, it’s fair to ask whether or not Marvel does something that counts.  The unnatural progression of Malekith’s war against the realms answers that question.

The Norns are the Norse fates.  They’re not just Thor characters.  They are genuine deities from Norse mythology.  I’m surprised that Malekith’s baleful plans include them.  Normally, the purveyors of destiny tend to be excluded from such mortal concerns.  Alternately, they’re simply paralyzed by events as a side effect of what happens in the physical world, but Thor in any comic book form always has been surreptitiously strange.

Jack Kirby and Stan Lee treated the Norse Gods as ancient aliens, Thor included, and the realms as actual places to visit.  Alien worlds or other dimensions.  The magic in Thor is actually advanced science and practical hokum as opposed to the myriad made up incantations or total rubbish to be found in decades of Dr. Strange.

With this in mind, the Norns are beings of flesh and blood.  In Norse myth they are embodiments of ephemeral forces.  They are usually referred to but not seen or subjects to visit.

The dark elf Malekith intends to destroy the Norns along with everything else he cannot conquer.  Odinson seeks to protect them.  What’s weird is that should Malekith kill the Norns, the fabric of reality won’t unravel.  Rather, apparently, others can wield the Norns’ power.  That means, the Norns are essentially designated custodians, in the same way that Heimdall is appointed the guardsman of Bifrost and can be forcibly relieved from duty.  This reinforces the idea that the gods of Asgard while not mortal are also not miraculous.  The Fates of the Aegis are not above the fray nor beyond the ken of even the so-called gods.

Juxtaposed with the heady stuff, writer Jason Aaron introduces Jane Foster, she who is the Mighty Thor, to a Thor tradition, fighting the Hulk.  True, Jane faces She-Hulk, but She-Hulk turned savage for reasons I don’t know and don’t particularly care about.

As you can see, different artists serve different stories, but all the illustration is high level.  The multiple-artists for each tale laud different myths in Thor.

Once, Thor was a frog.  Enough people liked the idea.  So  the Powers That Be turned another guy, dubbed to honor wacky creator Walter Simonson, into a frog.  

Aaron gives Frog-Thor a mystery to solve in a most interesting way.  He’s not a deductive genius like Sherlock Holmes but actually impresses as a detective.  Frog-Thor questions eye-witnesses, gathers clues, tracks down the culprit and squeezes out a confession, through a darkly humorous method.

Some of the stories in Thor meld together in fascinating and unexpected means.  Others, such as the Loki episode muddies the Trickster-God’s motives in the current arena.  The story of young Thor recalls the back-up features that fleshed out the history of the deific brothers, and Jane's contests as the Thunder God continue to thrill.  Furthermore, The 700th issue of The Mighty Thor is a thick entertaining read with uniformly good artwork.  I’d say it’s worth the price.  As a gift, it’s also a cheap way to expose a new reader to the adventures.

After being bamboozled by the Elders of the Universe, the Guardians of the Galaxy take up the cause of finding the Infinity Stones.  This issue gets them absolutely nowhere, but it does grant the reader lots of laughs as the Guardians consult with various superheroes.  

To do this, the Guardians naturally visit the earth, and there’s at least one of the team that’s none too happy about that.

Rocket’s opinion not withstanding.  You can’t judge a state let alone a planet by Centralia.  Pittsburgh is lovely, especially when sunny.  The book divides into Guardian away teams.  Gamora seeks out Dr. Strange.

Drax visits Cable, but writer Gerry Duggan institutes a surprise in the poster boy of nineties bad taste.  Deadpool and Ant-Man stow away on The Milano.

Although the tone of Guardians of the Galaxy suggests disposability, Groot’s visit with Man-Thing proves anything but.  

Man-Thing provides important information about the Infinity Stones while adding to the overall weird knowledge the Guardians possess.  

The Guardians who are essentially ne’er do wells are aware of so many cosmic things yet get on with their lives unbothered by such mind-blowing revelations.  Perhaps this is why they’re in such high demand.  The stresses that would drive other beings mad are to the Guardians mere occupational hazards.

Tim Seeley pops in for an issue or two of the Green Lanterns.  He sends the Lanterns on a mission to save adorable mole-people from a supernova.

For a Lantern, that seems like a milk run, but Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz run into several problems.  

One being a religious protocol in the ring that forces them strike off the simple and safest solution.

The dilemma creates dangerous outcomes for the Lanterns and their allies alike.  These colleagues share a strong history with the Corps, and their appearance is welcome.

Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira and Alex Solazzo create stellar artwork.  Whether presenting Jess’ many expressions during her talk with her therapist or the myriad feats of daring against elements of space and extraterrestrial worlds.

Although Green Lanterns isn’t a hyped blockbuster like the forthcoming Doomsday Clock, it’s good, solid drama with character driven comedy.

Before Superman’s restoration, Lex Luthor joined the Justice League.  During this period, he disrupted a prophecy which seemed to predict Superman’s ascension to Darkseid’s throne and took his place.  After Lex left Apokolips with the League, the story appeared to be resolved, but Superman writer Peter Tomasi sees a loose end.

The vacuum left behind by Luthor’s return to earth causes massive war between Darkseid’s minions.  The order of Apokolips dissolves to unwanted chaos.  Back on earth, however, things couldn’t be spiffier for the historically unexpected bromance.

In a previous POBB, I covered all the reasons why Lex Luthor’s motives for killing Superman fizzled over the years.  In this story Apokolips attempts to reclaim their prize, and Lex calls Superman for help.

Bad timing.  Superman just wants to spend a nice quiet evening at the movies with his Family.

Superman isn’t being a dick.  Lex is often the boy who cries wolf.  Lex’s pleas become stronger in the form of Lexbots, leading to a bout of fisticuffs, and a Mother Box generated Boom Tube, soon brings everybody together on the hellworld.  Sort of.

Well-written, light despite the presence of Apokolips, Superman also eliminates some more of the staidness of Lois Lane’s life through her choice of movies.  Old, terrible Lois Lane no doubt would have opted for some sort of musical with dancing sailors.

Now that Tom King’s “War of Jokes and Riddles” is over in Batman, he can settle into comfortable mediocrity.  Right? Wrong.

Batman and Catwoman are on the road to Khadym, a DC location in Arabia.  I can’t tell you why the Bat and the Cat get a tan, but the spoiler pertains to the conclusion of “The War of Jokes and Riddles.”

I can tell you that Batman’s traveling to the location represents a gross breach of Justice League protocol, which King has a ball with joke wise.

I furthermore cannot explain why Alfred gathers all the Robins, but their conclave offers more characteristic humor; such as Jason being the Robin with the worst luck.

I can however evince Joelle Jones’ and Jordie Bellaire’s exquisite artwork for the book and their redesign of Batman and Catwoman for desert action figures.  Batman kicks off what promises to be another of Tom King's memorable stories.

In the Titans, Dan Abnett frequently turns Tempest, the artist formerly known as Aqualad into a funny man that doesn’t know it and/or a simple bruiser.  In Aquaman Garth is an intelligent, dangerous young man loyal to Arthur and not to be toyed with.

Somewhere down the line Aqualad became an Atlantean magician.  I couldn’t tell you where because I hate to hell when magic gets into my Atlantis.  Usually.

I loathed when the Powers That Be attempted to turn Arthur into Arion.  Boy, did I hate that, but Abnett uses magic judiciously in Aquaman to enhance the characterization and inject humor to the plot.

Away from Mere and Garth's attempt to penetrate the magic that isolates Atlantis, Vulko and disgraced warrior Ondine travel to the Vault of Atlantis.  The phantoms that protect the vault where all the weapons of power lie can be dismissed when they are named.  Vulko knows quite a few titles of Atlantean royalty.  He finally meets up with a more substantially minded if not corporeal specter.

Their conversation is hilarious and counterpoints the brilliantly illustrated discussion between Aquaman and young Dolphin.  

Dolphin is so spritely in this scene.  Arthur so bedraggled and battle worn.  Aquaman’s admission of failing indicates that when he finally disposes of watery Donald Trump imitator Corum Rath, he will never voluntarily sit on the Atlantean throne again.  It's fitting.  Aquaman should be Aquaman.

In The Titans still written by Dan Abnett, Garth throws down some energy blasts but primarily stands out when he decks the Big Headed Big Bad.

Psimon’s promises fruit in most unexpected ways for this issue, and yes, as the cover promises, Wally’s dead.  I have no doubt that he’ll get better.  However, his demise catalyzes the actions of the Titans, which play right into Psimon’s far from simple scheme.  Though, I doubt he counted on getting man-handled by Aqualad and pummeled psychically by Omen, psionically beefed up to Jean Grey level.

The surprise conclusion is a genuine surprise.  It nevertheless derives from all of the clues that Dan Abnett gave about the traitor amongst the Titans and the threat to the world.

In Monsters Unleashed writer Cullen Bunn begins to question the logic of how Kei Kawade’s Inhuman powers actually work.  Any monster he draws comes to life, or does it?

Kid Kaiju and Elsa fight for their lives in the Savage Land against the infamous dragon Fin Fang Foom, but this incarnation hails from another universe.  Clever twists in the plot plausibly keep our heroes from getting squished.

When all his usual tactics and the stratagems of his friends fail, the Kid pulls a really good rabbit out of his sketchbook.  The boastful dialogue of the guest star is a delight, and the rulers are out to measure.

Chip Zdarsky’s Spider-Man recalls Spider-Man Homecoming, but there’s still plenty of enjoyment in the execution.  The Tinkerer hired the Vulture to kidnap his brother Mason.  Mason helps super-heroes with their equipment.  In the case of Teresa Parker, Pete’s might be sister, he outfits them.

The Vulture’s ploys fail to give the villain a respite.  Teresa, a former SHIELD agent, demonstrates heroism runs in the family.

Teresa’s former status is due to she uncovering a spoilsport plot in the CIA.  The division known as Gray Sword searches for specific ways to put down super villains as well as super heroes, and they're stockpiling to implement not just as a break glass in worst case scenario.  The higher ups turn Teresa into public enemy number one.  That puts Teresa in the spotlight of not just law enforcement but also the press.

The engrossing underpinning theme gives J. Jonah Jameson and Betty Brant something worthwhile to do.

This easy entry Spider-Man book is a godsend for anybody fed up with continuity.  Although Zdarsky mentions some modern moments in Spider-Man’s life these can be easily glossed over.  The shocker for me was finding out that Aunt May married Jonah’s father.  WTF.