POBB January 10 2018

Pick of the Brown Bag

January 10, 2018

by

Ray Tate

The Pick of the Brown Bag slammed into a big ol' snowdrift and was extremely late due to the human component of the blog perpetually shoveling the street.  Exhaustion followed.  Salt trucks, rare in the 'burgh as jackalopes.  

Fortunately, the tweets--#PickoftheBrownBag--were right on time.  This week I review Doctor Who, Captain Kronos, The Flash, Monstro Mechanica, Supergirl, Superwoman, Titans, the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Wonder Woman. 

Looks like somebody dropped Kryptonite green slime on Supergirl, doesn’t it? This Nickelodeon callback doesn’t occur in the comic book.  Instead, Jody Houser’s and Steve Orlando’s story begins with a brief origin for the new bad gal on the block.  Deceilia.  

A big hand for artist Robson Rocha.

Deceilia comes from a tragic past that ends, or begins depending on your point of view, with the opposite origin of Supergirl.  Her pod wasn't discovered by a Kryptonian cousin or good-hearted farmers.  Director Bones of the D.E.O. detected Deceilia's spacecraft and quickly folded her into his schemes which include Jack Kirby nutter Mokarri.

Give it up for the illustrators.  Mokarri looks as smug as the Operation Paperclip Nazis probably did when they purportedly attempted to blow up New Mexico.  The smile also signifies Bones' culpability.  Any idea that Bones is suborning villains and scientifically possessing superheroes for some vague greater good must fall by the wayside.

Meanwhile, after Supergirl takes the classic move of punching Deceilia to the moon, she begins rescue operations in fine Supergirl fashion.

This is who Bones considers a threat, all because she won’t divulge blackmail material or kneel before his skeletal might.  Bones sends yet another D.E.O. away team to capture the Maid of Might.  Bad news, gents.  There’s no innocents to get diced in the crossfire.

Not all of the D.E.O. are bad.  Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers resigned to give Supergirl a home and act as her parents somewhat as they do on the television series.  Orlando and Houser also find a more productive use for Cameron Chase.

This is about the best Chase acted since Manhunter.  Agent Ocampo experiences conflict with her current assignment, the highly illegal occupation of Cat Grant’s charter school.  Her mission is to trawl students through a net of questioning and discover Supergirl’s secret identity.  Supergirl however saved Ocampo’s life.  

Poor Ocampo.  I feel nothing for her.  Unless she does something to protect Supergirl, I’m afraid that Sergeant Schultz still wins the contest for poorest Nazi in uniform, therefore becoming closest to human.

With issue eighteen, Superwoman bows out gracefully from the comic book racks.  The New 52 Superwoman was a weird idea.  Mind you.  No more outré than the post-Crisis Superwomen.  The whole kit and caboodle can be summed up as “I still can’t believe you’re not Kara Zor-El.” 

  

It’s amazing that this title lasted as long as it did, which is no stab at Phil Jimenez or Kate Perkins.  Granting superpowers to supporting members of the mythology and planting them in their own comic book is a tough sell, especially when Superman and Supergirl happen to be present and accounted for. 

Lana Lang on the other hand works perfectly well as Insect Queen in The Legion of Super-Heroes because she’s not an original player from the Superman roster.  Twenty years passed before Lana Lang debuted in Superboy, and there she stayed, until somebody wanted her “back” in the then present.

Anyway.  Perkins rather than go scorched earth, supports feminism by characterizing Lana Lang as the superhero, not the suit she wears or the amazing abilities that she somehow acquired.  She concludes the Midnight story in a satisfying manner, and she gives Lana a future that will also keep her in the Action Comics and Superman guest lineup.  You really can’t ask for a better send-off than this.

Every once and awhile I’ll pick up some books that aren’t on my subscription list but star characters that interest me.  I’ve always liked Wonder Woman and the Flash.  So I check in with them occasionally.  Big arcs usually scare me away.  Inventory issues normally end up as keepers since the writers tend to reduce the characters to their essences.  James Robinson arrived in Wonder Woman big.  His first idea was to give Wonder Woman a brother.  

Not a fan of the idea.  Robinson however does several things right.  His characterization of Wonder Woman is winning.  I also like his treatment of the Wonder Woman/Steve Trevor relationship.  It reflects the 1970s television series.  Steve even calls Diana angel, and you immediately hear Lyle Waggoner speaking the line in your head.  In addition, Starfire’s Emanuela Lupacchino provides gorgeous and exciting artwork.

The main story however is about Silver Swan, and this New 52 version just doesn’t cohere.  

Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of the Ugly Duckling inspired the original Silver Swan.  This Bronze Age Swan was a talented but unlovely ballerina who makes a deal with malicious gods for beauty.  

If the transformation had occurred in a mystery novel, beauty would have been a dynamite weapon.  Because Wonder Woman is superhero book, beauty is a lousy superpower.  So, the deities granted her super-strength and wings as well. 

Orphan Black’s Helena resembled the second Silver Swan.  Abused and conditioned by men, she became their weapon against Wonder Woman until Diana in her Golden Age tradition reformed her.  Silver Swan then occasionally fought at Diana’s side.

Diana’s best friend Vanessa, a George Perez creation, turned into the third most vicious Silver Swan under the auspices of different writers.  

James Robinson tries to pick and choose elements from all these possibilities to recreate the Silver Swan for the New 52.  I can’t buy into it.  

George Perez introduced Vanessa in his third Wonder Woman issue.  He developed the teen throughout the series.  He established her friendship and platonic crush on Wonder Woman.  So, when she snaps, courtesy of Phil Jiminez, it’s a shock.  

Robinson simply names his new character Vanessa Kapatelis.  Wonder Woman befriends this Vanessa in the line of duty.  This new version of Silver Swan negates the Hans Andersen links while keeping a trace of the ballerina angle.

Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor rescue Vanessa from Major Disaster but his schemes dropped a building on her.  Crushed legs and back result.  That sets her up for the science sculpted Silver Swan II electric boogaloo.  

The doctors infuse Vanessa with nanites.  The little devils repair everything, but Vanessa still must go through physical therapy.  Everything seems to be going fine, until it just doesn't. 

The original Vanessa while upset about Diana’s absence spiraled into a personal hell ushered by Doctor Psycho and Circe, psionic and sorcery.  In short, Vanessa was doomed.  That story wasn't great.  It was overwrought and too mean to a character that didn't deserve any of this.  I was never a huge fan of the Perez support cast, but I'm even less of a fan of persona immolation.  

The Frankenstein manipulations at least had a rationale.  New Vanessa's explosion of hate and jealousy comes from a series of contrived dominoes.  Her nondescript mother dies randomly.  The treatment goes dormant.  Wonder Woman keeps rescuing other people and "ignoring" her.  It's not a very convincing argument.  

Vanessa decides to avenge the slight against her by killing the people that Wonder Woman rescued.  The extremity of her actions seem to indicate that Vanessa was deranged all along.  It’s like hypnotism.  You cannot hypnotize somebody into doing something against her character.  So hypnotizing a non-suicidal individual to pull the trigger won’t work.  Hypnotizing a true pacifist to kill won't work.  Nanite hypnotism doesn’t work unless Vanessa always intended to slice and dice people.  That means I just wasted time reading about a psychopath who misses the ballet.  If you suggest the opposite, that the nanites are behind the rewiring of her brain, a type of technological brainwashing, then Wonder Woman is really fighting a group of nanites piloting Vanessa’s body.  Neither option is remotely satisfying.

If you want me to buy The Flash, put a classic rogue on the cover.  The Flash surprised me.  On the first page, writer Joshua Williamson summarizes what went on in past issues.  Truth is that I didn’t miss anything.  I can say without a doubt that I wouldn’t be interested in a Reverse Flash story.  Thawne works better on television.  Nor would I follow a moody Flash or a goofy negative Speed Force angle, which should be Inertia, yeah? The only thing I really needed to know is that the Trickster was framed for a murder he didn’t commit, and the Flash aims to prove his villain innocent.  A moral victory for our hero from the outset.  

The Flash's goal conflicts with the other Rogues.  The story proper begins with Captain Cold duking it out with the Flash.

I need practically no information to understand what’s going on.  Why are the Flash and Captain Cold fighting? Pshaw.  It’s Captain Cold a classic Flash foe.  He enjoys beating up the Flash.  The Flash is the fastest man alive.  How can Cold even hit him? Must have something to do with the snow, ice and blue tint.  Captain Cold’s, we’ll call it a beard, is the only thing I find curious in the scene.  Some may say this moment is too brutal, perhaps too modern, too dark.  As if Williamson is trying to say “This isn’t your Daddy’s comic book, kid.”  Like every writer in the post-Crisis kept squealing while crippling or icing female characters.  You can see where we are in the spectrum. Williamson also does this.

Ha-Ha! The old school villain sure that his enemy is about to pine for the fjords divulges his plan.  Bonus points for the double cross.  So, is this the end of the Flash?

Uh-oh.  It takes Barry a page to bring the speed to the Rogues, and it’s a righteous Flash Splash.  See what I did there?  The Flash now knows of Captain Cold’s plan, and must save his protege and another enemy from becoming frosty snow-people.

Scott Kolins’ design for the new Copperhead is fantabulous.  It’s the kind of retro look that the old Flash television series might have opted for.  Her attitude is wonderful.  She clearly knows her rights and refers to the Kid Flash with all due politeness.

Even the clean-up in the story is interesting because Barry still must clear the Trickster of all charges with science.  For the cherry on top, Williamson reminds the reader of the absurdity of the situation.  Because Leonard Snart is a frequent guest in Central City’s penal system, he knows Barry Allen.  Unlike the television version, Captain Cold doesn’t know the Flash’s secret identity.  Unlike Wonder Woman, the dominoes Williamson sets up fall smoothly creating a graceful pattern well worth enjoying.

The Flash and Wonder Woman as Justice League members also appear in Titans.  Donna Troy’s comic book history started in the Silver Age.  Wonder Woman rescued Donna as an infant from a burning building.  She naturally took the orphaned Troy to Paradise Island where she became an Amazon.  

Time moves differently on Paradise Island, and Wonder Woman does not age in any significant way anyhow.  When Donna matured enough, she became Wonder Woman’s occasional partner and formed the Teen Titans with the rest of the sidekicks.  All well and good until the Crisis on Infinite Earths mucked up her history along with everybody else’s past.

The New 52 Donna Troy actually has a decent enough origin, that differs starkly from her post-Crisis mockeries.  Rogue Amazons and a crone, for some reason, built her out of a homunculus mud kit to be a boobified weapon against Wonder Woman.  Diana and the Amazons implanted false memories of the pre-Crisis rescue to temper her bloodlust against Wonder Woman.  

It’s not that simple though.  When Wally West returned, Donna developed memories just like the other Titans that positioned them as a teen team in the New 52.  The Justice League found out about Donna Troy in a Titans Annual.  Their memories about the Teen Titans are now cementing.

  

Batman knows Lilith Clay.  I can't remember a moment where they met.  However, somewhere down the New 52 line, Batman encountered all the Teen Titans with the League.  Nobody questions Wally West’s existence or his cosmic statements about somebody stealing ten years of the heroes’ lives.  The Justice League are here however for a different, very good reason.

A future version of Donna Troy as evil as evil gets attempted to destroy the Titans, succeeded in killing Wally West--for a little while--and threatened to destroy the world with Mr. Twister, the Fearsome Five’s Psimon and the Key.  The Titans defeated them.  Donna Troy denied and defied her future.  Much rejoicing.  The League however exhibit concerns.

The League and the Titans have butted heads before, but Dan Abnett’s story isn’t a repeat of those.  It’s a mature and thoughtful exercise.  Abnett’s story incorporates the absurdity of future incarnations, false and retrofitted memories as well as the friction between elders and youths.  It also never lets the reader forget that the real reason why the League are in Titans Tower is that they care about the kids.  Their closest shadows.  

The change in artists from Brett Booth to Paul Pelletier is a smart one.  Pelletier's style is traditional, and this gives the League a quintessential look that lends to a commanding presence and gravitas filled words.  Not just the latest models.  This is the Justice League and despite the shenanigans with their pasts these are the Titans.

Monstro Mechanica posits that Leonardo Da Vinci built an android.  The android works with its master and his fictitious assistant Isabel in an intrigue filled Florence.  Leonardo’s genius is in great demand.  The Vatican and the Medicis see great things on their behalf for Leonardo.

People in the modern age know Leonardo mostly as an artist, but his sketchbooks detail the mind of a scientist and engineer, including a weapons engineer.  It's unlikely that these weapons saw the light of day mind you, but it was nonetheless a great achievement not only to imagine the devices but to imagine the design of the models.

Monstro Mechanica supposes that a man that designed such an armory must be at least somewhat devious, and that sets the stage for conflict.  Isabel intends to use the title android as Leonardo’s nemesis should his ambition reach farther than than his ethics.  To that effect, she secretly eschews resetting the android--thereby wiping out his memory--with the hope that he can learn.

The story begins at the historical Battle of Volterra.  Machiavelli teams up with Leonardo to put an end to the siege once and for all.  At the same time, somebody must sneak into the city and rescue two important prisoners before the citizens turn savage.

Isabel and the android make easy headway, but she finds the ruthlessness of the prisoners more of a challenge.  Isabel is a bright spark of optimism in the Renaissance ably illustrated by Chris Evenhuis whose crystal clear visual narrative describes the comedy in Isabel's relationship with the android and the suspense peppering the rescue operation.

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter, his associates Professor Grost and Carla face Slake, who should be the sire of the myriad bloodsuckers that the band face in the lonely town.

Things do not go quite as predicted, and it turns out there’s a deeper root to the vampire infestation that leads to all sorts of impressive dusting courtesy of evocative artist Tom Mandrake.

The Doctor, Nardole and Bill materialized on a space frieghter with a Serentity themed crew.  Seems some of the complement turned up missing, and when that happens the Doctor and company quickly fall neatly into the role of scapegoats.  

However, the Doctor quickly ingratiates himself with the Captain.  This allows Nardole and he their freedom.  Still, the question remains.  Who or what is killing or absconding with the crew?

Bill already escaped and wound up making a friend in engineering.  The engineer built herself another friend before meeting Bill out of spare parts.  The robot turns out to be an old acquaintance of the Doctor’s but is this creature innocent of the crimes?

This issue of Doctor Who features even more familiar faces to murk up the waters of a far from simple open and shut case, and once again Francesco Manna swiftly and skillfully renders the cast and familiar alien faces.

When Nancy vanished, Squirrel Girl knocked on the door to Doctor Strange’s domicile.  Instead, she found Loki, who usurped the position.

Not as bad as you might think.  Squirrel Girl is on good terms with Loki, and Loki loves Nancy since she mocks his brother Odinson with the Cat-Thor comicstrip.  Loki is therefore more than willing to transport Squirrel Girl on an away mission.

The one-way ticket turns out to be not much of a problem. With Dr. Strange gone, the Dread Dormammu shows up to claim the earth as his own.  

This prompts much running away.  Loki decides it might be a good time for a space trip with Squirrel Girl.  Of course he must defeat the Dread Dormammu first, and that might be an issue.

The hilarity of Loki’s schemes generate much of the amusement for this issue of Squirrel Girl.  Squirrel Girl once again proves herself unbeatable when she comes up with a plan to defeat the Dread Dormammu that actually, sort of makes sense.  Dr. Strange actually pulled something like this on Galactus.  Different execution though.

With the plan executed and Dormammu licking his wounds, Loki and Squirrel Girl are clear to leave the earth and save Nancy.  However, Loki just can't get the better of the whole Sorcerer Supreme gig.  Prompting an excellent guest appearance. 

Jetting to the planet of green squirrels, Squirrel Girl reunites with Nancy.  She and her companions furthermore quickly see through the extortion racket alien criminals engage on the hapless critters, but little does Squirrel Girl realize that the true Silver Surfer got wind of the confidence game and there's a reason it hurt so much to hit the "false" Surfer.