Monday, January 29, 2018

POBB January 24, 2018

Pick of the Brown Bag
January 24, 2018
by
Ray Tate

This small week of comic book reviews includes Backways, Batgirl, The Doomsday Clock, The Flash, Scooby-Doo Team-Up and Simpsons Comics.  You can also check out the tiny Tweets of reviews on Twitter: #PickoftheBrownBag.  

First, a shout out to Jade Hameister the amazing Australian girl teen whose positivity and feminism in a TED Talk led to being trolled by stupid lazy fat ass men


One told her to “get in the kitchen and make me sandwich.”  So, after she skied to the South Pole with her photographer Dad for National Geographic, she decided to pop on over to the North Pole as well, becoming the youngest person to do so, male or female.  She complied with orders.


There’s your sandwich, which of you wastes of flesh will go and fetch it?  As the Klingons say, "Revenge is a dish best served cold."

I picked up the second issue of Backways, and it answered some questions.  Anna, the protagonist, is in love with Sylvia, the missing girl.  So, there’s romance.  


Sylvia’s mom’s disdain for Anna therefore probably seethes from two different sources of hate.  However, Anna is just like the good-looking, nice guy in a 1940s horror movie.  Totally overshadowed by the monster.  Boring in contrast to Coyote Bones.


Coyote Bones is a human trickster with magical trinkets, and Backways is a kind of magic bazaar like the one in Hellboy II: The Golden Army.  


I’m just not interested.  I think part of my problem lies with the magic being set against magic.  The magic isn’t strange.  It’s just part of the scene.  If you took Coyote Bones out of this environment, placed her in a city and made her a kind of superhero or private eye, I’d probably be more invested.  


The Comedian was a government-run assassin that looked like a debauched Hal Linden.  


His death kicks off Watchmen.  Er, the Comedian’s.  Hal Linden is alive and kicking. 


Good on him.  The Comedian’s escape from certain doom kicks off the latest issue of The Doomsday Clock, and I’m impressed.  Not by the entirety, but certainly by the execution and explanation of the Comedian save.  In the context of comic books, it makes perfect sense.


I also liked the Batman/Rorschach confrontation, and Batman’s solution to this new problem.  I immediately felt pity for the new Rorschach just through Gary Frank’s artwork.

He looks troubled.  Possibly from the burden of the mask.  The mask is somehow sentient or parasitic.  I didn’t however need the overplay in the shower to know that Rorschach is disturbed.  He may not be crazy, but definitely unbalanced.


The rest of the book is a flatline for me.  The source of Rorschach’s broken watch, broached in the text piece, intrigues me far more than the life and death struggle of Ozymandias against the Comedian, the stupid, stupid, stupid Superman Theory artificially stirring up the DC pot or Mime and Marionette’s assault on the Joker’s bar.


Iris West debuted during the Silver Age as a reporter in Showcase #4.  She later marries the hero of the story Barry Allen and learns his secret identity.   In the Bronze Age, Eobard Thawne The Reverse Flash murders Iris West-Allen. 


Iris’ death catalyzes the darkest period in the Flash’s history.  The Flash never recovers.  Eventually, he finds a modicum of happiness in the arms of Fiona Webb.  However, Thawne comes out of time and tries to kill her.  The Flash in turn justifiably executes Thawne.  Fiona loses her mind.  So, the wedding’s off, and to compound the universe’s joke, The Flash must face a stacked jury in a trial for Thawne’s murder.


In the final issue of the first Flash volume, we learn that denizens of the future, Iris’ parents used advanced tech to snatch Iris’ soul and infuse it into a cloned body.  Of course, Barry and Iris’ happiness is short-lived due to a little ol’ thing called The Crisis on Infinite Earths.


The post-Crisis elevated Iris’ importance.  She became the chronicler of all speedsters and sometimes would reappear in the past.  Despite Barry still being dead.  

I never cared about Iris West.  I never wished her harm.  She just seemed like a boring version of Lois Lane, with brown hair.

Josh Williamson’s latest issue of The Flash centers on Iris West.  So, I should hate this, yet Williamson creates the impression that all that went before no longer exists.  That’s how it should be.  The New 52 is a clean break from post-Crisis nonsense.


I didn’t purchase the issue where Iris finds out about Barry Allen’s secret identity.  However, Williamson emphasizes that Iris didn’t know before.  Originally, Iris discovered Barry’s secret because he guiltily talked in his sleep.  This modern twist is much better.  Iris did not know who, but the moment she sees Barry’s face, she knows how.  That evinces her intelligence and powers of observation.  The ken grants her some pleasure, but she’s not letting Barry off the hook.


I like the friction between Iris and Barry because there wasn’t any in their relationship in any other era of comic books.  Yeah, she’d complain that he was late all the time, but that’s about it.  She was literally made for Barry.  When her parents saved her life, Iris was perfectly okay knowing that Barry canoodled Fiona Webb.  I can just about believe that Barry was too square to actually sleep with Fiona before the wedding.  However, Iris didn’t really seem the type that would tolerate an open marriage or have the wherewithal to readjust to the vagaries of time travel.  River Song is okay with the Doctor also being married to Marilyn Monroe.  That makes sense.  River and Marilyn are alive and dead simultaneously to time travelers.  Iris condoning Fiona.  Nah.


In addition to the new focus on Iris’ and Barry’s relationship, or lack thereof, Williamson turns his attention to the much healthier friendship, possibly romance, of Kid Flash and Avery Ho, the Chinese Flash.  Another character from New Superman, which is lasting longer and becoming more integrated than I ever imagined.  As for the monkey on the cover, I really wish the Powers That Be had kept his appearance secret.  I already intended to buy this issue of The Flash.  So, Gorilla Grodd’s role in the book didn’t influence me either way, and Williamson builds to a reveal that could have struck with more impact had Grodd's guesting been guarded.


It’s been up and down with Hope Larson’s Batgirl.  This issue is an up.  Can this be a trend? I certainly hope so.  The story begins with dopey bandits attempting to extort a going out of business party for the local doughnut shop.


The perps are frightened of Batgirl, just like their ilk were in the Bronze Age.  Unlike Batman, Batgirl rarely terrorized criminals.  They feared her because she habitually beat the crap out of them.  


After Batgirl puts the kibosh on these low-level crooks, Larson's story segues to a brief moment when the writer amusingly examines the repercussions of a normal person fighting crime; crusading at night, then getting up in the morning.  Fun fact.  Certain mutants among us can get by with only six hours of sleep.  Batman must be one of them.  Babs is not.  After the sequence, Larson gets to the gist.  A freak snowstorm that brings out the Penguins.


Batgirl already crossed swords with the Penguin, and she immediately suspects him of…something.  Batgirl’s investigation takes her to the Federal Building and a hipster doofus that almost makes it out of the minute without embarrassing himself further.


Larson is in full Wheaties mode.  Batgirl’s tough.  She’s skillful.  She’s hyper-intelligent.  Can this get any better? Can the plot actually make sense?


Why, yes.  Yes, it can.  The snowstorm is natural and inevitable.  Somebody uploaded a virus to hide it.  That’s elegantly brilliant.  That doesn't sound like the Penguin's craft.  

Larson throws a spur into the works that leads Batgirl to an old-new nemesis.  The physical evidence gibes with the miscreant’s rational.  The confrontation against he and his cronies is filled with lovely, violent athletics.  Kudos to artists Chris Wildgoose, Jose Marzan and Mat Lopes.  I also love Batgirl’s new wheels.  Skis.


Scooby-Doo flies with the Birds of Prey.  Sholly Fisch writes the Birds with remarkable distinction.  First, there’s Batgirl.  Ratiocinator extraordinary.


Oh my goodness! She has blue eyes! That’s how she’s supposed to be!  Next, Black Canary.  Snarky, fierce and feminist.

I love that she refers to Batgirl as her best friend.  Finally, the Huntress.  I have no idea if Fisch is writing Helena Wayne, but it certainly sounds like it.  Surly and suffering no fools.

Let’s just get the job done and get onto the next.  She does have a Bat Symbol on her bike.

Anyhow, Batgirl calls in Velma and Daphne while Shaggy and Fred deal with a hilarious and most unexpected cameo.  Once again exemplifying Fisch’s astounding knowledge of the DCU.  

Fred suggests Scooby tag along with the girls, who discover that Batgirl seeks to tap their knowledge of cryptids.  Every character is a detective in this story, and Fisch demonstrates each character’s strength while Dario Brizuela coups the honor of illustrating these classic characters beautifully.


Ian Boothby’s Simpsons Comics parodies three different detective series including Scooby-Doo.  


Cartoonist Mike Kazaleh fuses Hanna-Barbera with Matt Groening to metamorphose something bizarre.  This odd art design fits with an even odder sendup.  

Boothby’s story first explains the way the meddling kids obtain their dog.  He next turns Nelson the bully into Shaggy the coward.  There’s probably a deep philosophical answer in this, but I was just too busy laughing at the antic.  As to the face behind the sheet, that’s yet again a stroke of creative genius.


Speaking of masterful detectives, Boothby and artist Nina Matsumoto turn Homer Simpson—crayon disabled slow thinker—into Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot.  I have no idea if the transformation doubles as a critical commentary on Kenneth Branagh’s performance, but it certainly seems that way.  Anybody can pose as Hercule Poirot, and he doesn’t need to physically resemble the part.  It's not like Poirot is a short, finicky man with an egg-shaped head and tight little mustache.  Wait a minute.  Boothby's takeoff cleverly involves all the usual suspects and adheres to the red herrings of Murder on the Orient Express to find its set of killers.

Last no trilogy of tecs would be complete without a Sherlock Holmes goof.  Bart takes stupidity and mischief to a high art thanks to Skinner’s even greater gullibility as Lisa desperately seeks attention from the slightly sexist men surrounding her, finally getting a reward I've discussed in the end.



Tuesday, January 23, 2018

POBB January 17, 2018

Pick of the Brown Bag
January 17, 2018
by
Ray Tate


The Pick of the Brown Bag is back on track with reviews of All-New Wolverine, Aquaman, Batman, Green Lanterns, Jupiter Jet, Monsters Unleashed, Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man, Red Sonja, Sheena, Spirits of Vengeance and Superman. As always should you lack the time for the full POBB experience, check out the tweets: #PickoftheBrownBag.



Jupiter Jet is Jacky Johnson.  She's the gal with the rocket pack illustrated in a cartoon style that's friendly for all ages.  The newspapers have a different idea of what Jacky might look like.

Pretty zaftig, no? Jacky is actually no more than sixteen.  She and her ten-year old brother Chuck, a child prodigy in engineering, use the rocket pack and other inventions to rob from the rich and pay off their debt to gangster Bruno Brimante.

At least that’s the idea.  Alien sources power the pack and the gun, and this naturally attracts super genius villains.


Jupiter Jet set in a depression era city draws upon a lot of cultural history.  Such as kids unsupervised working to make ends meet and citizens with hearts of gold reaching out to the needy.   At the same time the book pulls the serial hero through the wringer to create something modern, feminist and fun.

It would almost be bad manners to shut down this issue of Superman, and I’ve never been accused of lacking etiquette.  Still, readers will be pleased to know that Superman is genuinely sweet and imaginative.  The story begins with the Demolition Team biting off way, way more than they can chew.

The Demolition Team are Green Lantern foes, but I don’t know how they ever presented a threat.  I suppose if the Team’s old hardhats were yellow that may have granted them a moment of surprise.  But wouldn’t a Lantern just deliver a big green-fisted uppercut? 

Anyhow, the Demolition Team prove to be remarkably stupid, ineffectual and extremely entertaining for the reader and a group of terminally ill children watching from the window of a local Children’s Hospital.


Here then lies the real story.  Superman arranges with the doctors and parents to give the kids a day out.  This is the kind of thing you expect Superman to do.  Today though, the New 52 is a brighter, shinier version of the DCU.  The Justice League back up the Man of Steel.  Including Hal Jordan.


Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz currently hold the GL positions in the Justice League.  Jordan could be visiting, or this tale may take place in the past.  Doesn’t matter.  All that matters is that the League entertain the kids, and Superman instigates a well thought out scavenger hunt.


The way in which one of the tykes secures the last and most treasured item in the hunt provides the punchline in a humane look at our heroes and the resourcefulness of a group of kids that reflect some of those in the real world.


Green Lanterns Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz battle super racist Lisbeth Vok on the planet Ungara, former home of honored Green Lantern Abin Sur, who gets excellent exposure here.  

Tim Seeley knows his comic book history.  Who Cruz and Baz actually fight is the new Composite Superman, one of the World’s Finest team’s deadliest foes.  The villain was the alter-ego of a janitor that experiences power transference from special Legion of Super-Heroes statuettes.


This new version isn’t quite so versatile, potent or intelligent.  Cruz and Baz therefore are more than up to the task to defend all the inhabitants of Ungara from the lunatic.


Vok of course mirrors the Nazi resurgence.  Her hateful talk is filled with racial epithets, and she’s utterly blind to a simple fact.  Abin Sur picked an alien that could overcome great fear to replace him.  The Green Lantern Corps is a unity of aliens.  Furthermore, Vok, a two-toned Ungaran, wouldn’t be alive without an alien’s kindness.


Seeley dramatizes the conflict between Baz and Lisbeth as equally well as he draws upon a more humorous battle between she and Jessica Cruz.


Just for fun, Seeley pays tribute to Mobile Suit Gundum.  Lisbeth Vok’s adopted mother Regent Vok dishes out some parental responsibility.


Dan Abnett offers political intrigue in Aquaman.  The former Sea King attempts to persuade King Shark to throw his lot in with the Undercurrent, the resistance to Trump like throne-poser Rath.

Aquaman in turn learns of Mera’s fate.  Attempting to use magic to breach the Crown of Thorns that surrounds Atlantis, she becomes an air-breather.  Not to worry, the matriarchal cult the Widowhood has an out.


There’s not much action in this issue of Aquaman but the words count, the dialogue is heartfelt and Abnett wants to direct your attention to Dolphin for some reason.


Regardless, this whole situation could have easily been avoided had the Widowhood stopped being enigmatic and actually explained what they wanted and why they impeded Aquaman’s marriage to Mera.  Typical mysterious cult behavior.

Finally, a less than perfect Batman book from Tom King.  I exhausting my vocabulary and thesauruses for words of praise.  Oh, I can still recommend King's latest for Batman, Catwoman and/or Wonder Woman fans.  If you’re not and you’ve read Action Comics #761, then you can skip it.


In Action Comics appropriately titled “For a Few Thousand Years…” Superman and Wonder Woman battle monsters in another dimension where time flows faster.  The gist being Wonder Woman and Superman fight side by side for thousands of years in the realm.  Wonder Woman gets horny, and Superman just really can’t get down with Diana because he’s still in love with Lois Lane.  Unsurprisingly, Lois was never keen on the field trip in the first place precisely because she suspected Wonder Woman would make a play for her Man of Steel.   It’s not a great premise for a book.  It’s not even a good premise, taking Ragnarok using it as slash fiction that doesn’t even have the decency to pay off, but it happens to be first. 


For Joelle Jones fans, this is a must buy for her many renditions of Wonder Woman and a continued feel for the new world of the Dark Knight.  King however doesn’t really offer any improvements to the original situation.  He puts in a little more details such as alluding to the Norse boat made of human nails and adds a twist that’s so far completely meaningless.  Your fandom is better served in the beginning where Commissioner Gordon meets Wonder Woman, she uses the Bat Signal and Catwoman reacts to the new Batsuit.  Maybe the second issue will distinguish itself better from Action Comics.



I first bought Monsters Unleashed because I generally like Cullen Bunn’s writing, and I’ve always been fond of Elsa Bloodstone the pithy British badass monster slaying daughter of Ulysses Bloodstone.  Cullen Bunn left the book to be part of the upcoming return of the Phoenix saga.  Now, Elsa departs.

Still, I’m not sure I’m going to drop Monsters Unleashed because Justin Jordan’s writing as evidenced from this story is a lot of fun.

Elsa infiltrates a cult worshiping a Cthulhu like monster at the bottom of the sea.  This leads to much head bashing.


Because of Bachan’s artwork these Elsa Unleashed moments become visual feats of cartoony slapstick delight.  Jordan and Bachan in addition involve a James Bond like villain complete with a cat that gives Elsa no end of trouble.



When Kid Kaiju receives Elsa's mistaken call for help.  He naturally asks the creatures to join him.  Only Aegis--the Ben Grimm like robot--chooses to help, and his encounter with the giant octopus-thing is priceless.


There are obviously different techniques to writing.  The implementation of these techniques helps define the genre of the story.  For example, if the narrator of a story keeps certain things to himself, you probably will have an element of mystery.  If the narrator however reveals all, you can end up with a procedural, or in the case of Spirits of Vengeance a two pronged drama.



This treatment is tricky because if you’re revealing everything, you better hope that the dialogue is so amazing and the characters so enthralling that your reader will enjoy treading in unsurprising waters.  Personally, these types of tales tend to bore me.  Columbo being the exception.  Writer Victor Gischler lays all the cards on the table in Spirits of Vengeance but he’s got a secret weapon other than an ear for dialogue and interesting characters.  That weapon is comprised of David Baldeon and Andrew Mossa.  Baldeon and Mossa provide such visual strength that even this chapter that features mere hints of violence is engrossing.


Red Sonja has left the building, or has she?


We do not know, nor will we know if scholar and sorcerer from the past Professor Wallace sent duplicates to the land of Kulan Gath or the duplicates follow the originals.  What can be said is that Carlos Gomez knows no mercy when depicting Red Sonja’s bodacious form.  Damn.  Sonja and Wallace meet a clue to their whereabouts.


The next town proves dicey in discerning the locale.  It’s clearly from the past, but things don’t add up, like a dearth of mead, the common brew of Sonja’s history.


Opportunity literally comes bursting through the door, and Sonja’s eager for coin.  This comes with some difficulty.


Once, Sonja’s established her credentials, the trek begins in earnest.

Now, writers Amy Chu and Erik Burnham fall into familiar Red Sonja territory: sword fights with ancient foes, rescuing the helpless and hapless and of course finding herself in a wose situation than she left.


Sheena pads across similar territory as Red Sonja, but Marguerite Bennett’s and Christina Trujillo’s execution differs.  Sent on a snipe hunt to rescue an interloping Cadwell agent, Sheena runs into a well-meaning environmentalist named Chano.  Together they traverse the dangers of the Forbidden City only to come out with knowledge of death.  That should sign the warrant on Sheena’s adopted tribe, but Sheena presents a bigger problem to Ransom, Cadwell’s away team leader.


Moritat left a few issues ago.  Left in his place Maria Sanapo who does simply splendid work.  


Maria’s depiction of Sheena is sinewy and sexy, but what caught my attention more is the similarity between the monsters and the legendary Zuni fetish doll from Karen Black’s star vehicle Trilogy of Terror.


The toothy grin, crawling and mimicry gives the verdant ghouls an underlying creepiness that benefits the story.  Their presence plausibly forces everybody Cadwell's people, tribesmen, Sheena and Chano to work together in order to fight an enemy that just wants to kill every living thing on the planet.


Whack jobs Orphans of X intend to slay the X-Men, starting with the Wolverine Family who they see as the X-Men’s greatest asset.  So far, same old.  The survivors of victims caught in the crossfire of X-Men battles however comprise the Orphans of X, and their visionary lunacy make them different and dangerous.


To that end, the Orphans of X acquire special metal that Logan intended to use on his son Daken back when Daken was a troublesome anti-hero.  The Orphans reshape the sword into bullets and begin their fruitcake crusade.  The Orphans captured Daken, whom they knew would draw Laura into their web.  


Now, Laura and Daken put their lives in the hands of Murumasa who forged the sword Logan needed.  Murumasa now seeks to smith defenses for the surviving Wolverine Family.


The latest chapter in the war between the Orphans and Wolverine is a stunner.  The revelation of the armor is timed perfectly and the involvement of a Marvel staple villain group comes as a surprise. The graphics I included are not the most exciting in the book, but to reveal the contenders, the fights the reaction of fledgling gabby would be a crime.  




Peter Parker Spider-Man is just dripping with reveals.  Fortunately there’s a lot of tomfoolery before these secrets open sesame.  This I can comment upon.


So, for those that came in late.  Peter Parker has a sister, or maybe he doesn’t.  Teresa Parker was introduced in a Spider-man title some years ago.  


She was brainwashed into believing she was Peter Parker’s sister.  Why this was done is beyond me, but hey, it was done.  Peter Parker suggests that maybe brainwashing wasn’t actually needed, and Pete’s parents, former CIA agents murdered by the Red Skull, just may have kept Teresa’s existence quiet.  There’s a precedent for this action.  The fact that Richard and Mary Parker hunted down criminals like the Red Skull is certainly reason enough.

Teresa joined SHIELD and discovered something rotten in the organization.  What else is new? The SHIELD of comic books sucks when it comes to internal security.  How many times has SHIELD been infiltrated? It's the Swiss Cheese of secret employ.

A division of SHIELD is looking for ways to defeat supervillains and superheroes.  Teresa stole the information from their database and hid it in her DNA—via Star Trek: Enterprise—and went to her maybe brother for help. 

This prompted shitty SHIELD agent Mintz to declare Teresa, Peter Parker and Spider-Man public enemies number one.  

Black Panther entered the fray to apparently help, but Spider-Man this issue is not so sure about T’Challa’s good intentions, and Hawkeye got wind of the whole operation through SHIELD.  So, he cannot be trusted either.  Fortunately, Spidey knows exactly what to do with both of them.

The plot itself is interesting.  The interaction between Peter and Teresa emanates a very cool brother/sister vibe.  The intersection of the Marvel Universe and the light continuity add depth to the story, and the comedy is just brilliant.  Best Spider-Man book on the racks.