Pick of the Brown Bag
September 28, 2017
by
Ray Tate
Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag. Lots of mediocre books this week: Angel, Batgirl, Black Magic and The Mighty Thor. On the flip-side, Batman Beyond, Blue Beetle, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, Fujitsu, Justice League and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Red Sonja, Rough Riders and Scooby-Doo Team-Up were all notable. The POBB tweets which include brief statements on the mediocre books are already live. If you haven’t the time for the meatier reviews, check them out on Twitter: #PickoftheBrownBag.
Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter may sound like a weird, macho riff on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but Kronos preceded the movie Buffy by about twenty years and the television Buffy by approximately thirty.
Brian Clemens, known for his work on The Avengers and The Persuaders, created, wrote and directed Captain Kronos. It’s a 1970s Hammer film that justifiably gained a cult following.
Portrayed by popular German actor Horst Janson, Kronos is an ex-soldier turned vampire hunter. A “modern day” knight, he’s accompanied on his journeys by a knowledgable squire and friend Professor Grost.
The film is remarkably subversive largely because of Kronos’ and Grost’s progressive attitudes. Neither has any tolerence for superstition and injustice. Add to that the important presence of Caroline Munro as the piping hot Carla.
Carla is a good girl who likes sex but doesn’t die. Whereas many vampire films equate sex with death, or sex with evil, Kronos takes a different stance. In addition, the film gives dignity to a minor prostitute character and throughout entertains with dark humor and overall weirdness. Janson is a subtle actor and a credible action hero evinced in a killer climactic sword fight. The script also bears more mystery and puzzle solving than movies of its ilk. I highly recommend it.
This is not the first appearance of Kronos in a comic book. Kronos galloped into the short lived Flesh and Blood, and before that the ultra rare, Halls of Hammer. Titan’s foray is however the first title book Kronos carried.
In the opening scene, Captain Kronos draws his sword to deal with another vampire scourge courtesy of Dan Abnett and Tom Mandrake.
Mandrake as you can see is not attempting to draw to the actors’ likenesses. Instead, he’s creating simulacrums based on the characters. There’s probably practical reasons for this decision, but I really hoped to see a similarity to the actors. That’s just a subjective peccadillo and doesn’t really get in the way of the entertainment. These however are not the only changes in the Captain Kronos adventures.
Professor Grost played humorously by John Carter was more of a weapons maker and thinker in the film. Here he takes a more active role, still a bit funny, as does Carla.
I don’t object to Carla’s reappearance in the Kronos stories, or her participation as a vampire hunter. I just hope that she’s still sleeping with Kronos. That may sound sexist, but her interest in Kronos was part of her role in the film. I liked the arrangement. It added something different to the movie, and as I argued Carla was a rare sex positive woman in the horror genre. She didn’t need to be “set free” by a vampire in order to make love. It’s very easy to see why an actress would want to play such a complete character.
After dispensing with the vampires, Kronos and company find themselves swept into another eradication, but Abnett suggests through Carla’s observation that perhaps the vampires have recognized their merry band and promise even greater hazards.
Red Sonja begins with peeks into the lives of her enemy last seen losing his head and Sir Max deflecting a fight against a troll. Both of these brief episodes are unexpected and whimsical, respectively. However, the book is called Red Sonja, and writer Amy Chu and artist Carlos Gomez do not disappoint.
Upon learning of this critical information, Sonja, Spike and Holly travel to Las Arannas’ headquarters where Sonja takes out the bikers with extreme prejudice, her nifty new crossbow and an outstanding grindhouse climax.
Meanwhile FBI agents attempt to track down Sonja but discover they’re not the only ones following the She-Devil. A terrific issue of Red Sonja that’s loaded with blood and judicious violence as well as comedy and puberty-inducing artwork that highlights Sonja’s extraordinary physique.
Batman Beyond recently introduced a new Batgirl, who like the previous version does not seek to emulate Batman. Babs Gordon originally became Batgirl as a lark, for the police man’s costume ball. She merely wanted to show that there was more to her than mousy daughter of Commissioner Gordon. The Killer Moth turned her fancy into a crusade.
Nissa exploits the imagery in order to frighten the scum of Crown Point, a corner of Gotham City that she feels Batman and the police underserve. Batgirl during one of her hunts becomes entangled in the kidnaping of Commissioner Barbara Gordon.
This strong setup forces Batgirl to become closer to the Batman Family of the Future. That includes Max, Batman/Terri McGuinness’ confidant since season one of the television series.
Although there’s initial friction, Max and Batgirl get along fine. Batgirl doesn’t like Max per se, but she doesn’t hate her and sees a use for her. The new Batgirl is less about detective work and more about teaching a physical lesson to those who would sell poison in her neighborhood, but she quickly sees value in a plan.
Writers Vita Ayala and Steve Orlando, once again proving he works better without the constraints of continuity, attempt nothing new. This is a basic kidnapping gone horribly wrong story, but against the favor of the abductors. For fun the writers throw in a name that echoes to the past. They didn’t have to do that, but it gives the outcome a sharper edge and creates a rationale for perhaps cleaning up the mess lethally.
A lone gunman appears to be the culprit in the McKinley assassination. Historically he was. Writer Adam Glass took the rumor mill farther and blamed the anarchists. He created a cult of them that required the then Vice President now President Theodore Roosevelt to call in the Rough Riders: Thomas Edison, Annie Oakley, Harry Houdini, Jack Johnson and Monk Eastman.
These past issue, the Rough Riders dealt with the anarchists in style, and Theodore Roosevelt got to the heart of the matter. While a turncoat seemed unlikely, Glass made the case. I wasn’t wild about it, but that’s what he went with. Fortunately, Glass took the out I saw for the possible traitor in the ranks. Nevertheless, it was Roosevelt’s discoveries that snapped the suspension of disbelief.
The best part of this issue of Rough Riders, is Annie Oakley becoming a superhero.
The transformation occurred due to events in the previous volume of Rough Riders. In this issue, we see ample examples of Oakley’s bravery and experimentation with the limits of her newfound powers. That’s the good news. The bad news is, I just cannot fathom how this alternate history can possibly exist.
The last volume explaining the Spanish-American War as alien interference/pestilence actually makes far more sense. In this volume, Glass contaminates history with ordinary speculative notions. I cannot accept his solution for McKinley’s assassination. There’s no motive. There’s no rationale behind a conspiracy. I cannot accept the even more outlandish “rumor of death being greatly exaggerated.” Even if I factor in Edison retrofitting alien tech and those plans being stolen, I cannot explain why anybody would resurrect this personage. I cannot fathom why anybody would believe the claim of being this dead personage, nor can I explain the reasons behind the actions. It just makes no sense.
Blue Beetle helps Terri Magnus the Flash get back to the future of Justice League 3000. So, here’s the deal. Blue Beetle is a technically well done action adventure, but it’s really more for Justice League 3000 readers. At the same time, the reveal will matter for Blue Beetle readers and leave Justice League 3000 fans scratching their heads. Bottom line. Anybody who read both comic series will get more out of this issue of Blue Beetle. That said, the artwork by Scott Kollins is really impressive.
Writer Keith Giffin places Kollins outside of the Blue Beetle comfort zone. Because of the story, Kollins must illustrate the League of 3000 fighting a reimagined Legion of Super-Heroes, under the influence of a new version of Eclipso. In addition, Kollins takes all of these attractively designed characters and puts them together in such a way that’s narratively sound.
The Justice League and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is more of a match for either audience. This all started with Brainiac colluding with Rangers foe Zedd to strike a blow against the Power Rangers’ earth. The Justice League became involved when the Power Rangers accidentally entered their sphere. Mistakes were made. Eventually, the two teams realized they were on the same side.
While those only following Justice League won’t really care about the big brouhaha between giant Zedd and the Power Rangers’ Voltron like robot, they will enjoy the character moments such as Batman caring too much his friends' well being.
On some level, Batman knows he cannot stop that gian sword. On another level, Batman does not care. He's going to stop that sword from skewering his best friend. This is an amazing scene in a book that could have been dismissible if not for Tom Taylor’s understanding of the Justice League’s characterization. That he made the Power Rangers likable to somebody who never watched the Power Rangers is another boon.
The League and the Rangers come up with a clever strategy to dupe Brainiac, and when the smoke clears, Taylor injects some final humor into the proceedings. So good that the encounter deserves to be remembered in both teams’ books.
When a gnome offers government agents the promise that he’ll save the world should they find the ingredients to a magical elixir, the naive agents of U.S. Land Management agree and call the one group capable of locating these elements.
It’s a duel pitting sleuths against adventurers living on borrowed time in Sholly Fisch’s and Dario Brizuella’s latest Scooby-Doo Team-Up.
The Challengers deny Scooby and the Gang a partnership. They being adults feel the mission is too dangerous for kids and a dog. Besides, they have the upper hand.
The Challengers completely underestimate the Gang’s resourcefulness and repeat the mistake. The race is on, and even Shaggy and Scooby are all in.
The great character-based comedy is just one of Scooby-Doo Team-Up's many assets. As the Challengers and Mystery Inc. find themselves achieving the same goals, they run into other adventurers from DC’s books, offering jokes and added adventure. In addition, when you least expect it, Fisch divulges his solution to a secret identity that remained hidden forever. His is not the candidate I would have chosen, but since nobody ever removed the mask, and the group's creators remained mum, I can’t fault the answer.
New book Fujitsu focuses on an immortal boy who just left sensory deprivation in Antarctica. The boy is not a normal lad, but a multimillionaire expert in the martial arts. He also appears to be a kind of metaphysical scientist. I liked everything about this book except the inclusion of James Dean as a mercenary.
I just don’t get that. James Dean was an actor, and a normal guy. I can buy he faked his own death or experienced some sort of science fiction last minute rescue, but I just don’t know why he would suddenly become a hired killer. It’s not as annoying as what happens in Rough Riders, but his presence took me out of the story and had me quickly questioning what I read.
Wadlow, the man who hired James Dean, remains a mystery, but his method of power acquisition is steeped in mythology and an intriguing remix of comic book traditions such as the Spear of Destiny. Wadlow naturally feels that Fujitsu is the only obstacle to global domination, and that may be true. Fu exhibits some unusual skills.
Martial artists of old and in film believed in the power of Chi, a life energy that could be manipulated through the force of will. In some infamous, goofy chopsocky, one of the many Bruce Lee impersonators used Chi to open holes in his opponent's heart. Fujitsu applies these principles to his wound, but I never once saw the plot device/folklore depicted so amusingly. It’s almost like artist Wesley St. Clair is doubling down on the pseudoscientific claptrap.
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