POBB May 2, 2018

Pick of the Brown Bag

May 2, 2018

by

Ray Tate

Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag.  This week the POBB investigates Red Sonja, Infinity Countdown and the Avengers.  In addition, I’ll have a few, a very few words about Tom King’s Batman.  Not because it’s bad.  Perish the thought.  You simply can't discuss Batman without revealing all of the story.  Any hint says too much.  It’s a triple whammy of mum’s the word.

First I cover the new book from Rick Remender Death or Glory.  Oh, and should you lack the time for even a small Pick of the Brown Bag review, you can always get the gist on Twitter: #PickoftheBrownBag.

Ostensibly, Death or Glory is about a heist gone wrong.  This should be in my like column.  All writer Rick Remender demonstrates is the potential of Death or Glory.  That potential unfortunately occurs at the very end.  

Simply put.  This issue is not the heist I’m looking for.  The story begins with an utterly fascinating talk about anal sex that’s disgusting and gratuitous.

Let me be perfectly clear.  If consenting adults like anal sex, enjoy.  The way the two young men refer to anal sex precludes eroticism and degrades the woman in question.  That could be Remender’s point.  Honestly, though, I cannot see how this discussion improves the story.  It characterizes the first two men we meet as idiots.  The speech doesn't give them any dignity.

As the narrative continues, Remender introduces a psychopath with a method that’s straight from the Flash’s Rogues Gallery.  

 I'd rather be watching the Flash.

This villain appeared on the original Flash television series in a similar form that Remender uses.  So, no points for originality.

Remender then spotlights the protagonist Glory.  The title you see is a pun.  Let the record show that I love a good pun, but combined with everything else, the pun falls flat.

Glory looks scrumptious and badass simultaneously.  I first encountered Bengal’s art in Batgirl.  Decent illustrator with a somewhat anime leaning.  The art in Death or Glory is actually better than that.  So no complaints about the optics in Death or Glory.  We get an even better look at the title character in the next scene.

It’s Glory in all her glory!  How’s that for a pun? And the punchline to a limerick?  Anyway.  I like female nudity.  Who doesn’t?  This scenario however is just silly.  Glory decides to get out of the tub, allowing for an ass shot.  Oh, wait.  Anal sex.  Ass.  Is it a motif? No.  She’s naked staring at a red box.  Note the obvious dramatic colors.  The contrast is just emblazoning juicy importance to that box.  

It’s a gun.  Right.  Spoilers and everything.  Nah.  

The impact of the reveal isn’t quite as powerful as Remender hoped.  Glory’s got a gun.  Big deal.  My objections.  Glory keeps the gun on the vanity near her perfume in the bathroom.  She also likes to pose with the gun like a naked Travis Bickle.  I want to see myself naked with a gun.  Who does that?  That’s insane. 

This is what I’m getting from the scene.  Remender really wanted to show Glory naked.  Nothing wrong with that.  It’s a mature audience book you should have expected something naughty.  He also wanted to advertise that Glory got a gun for the heist.  Why he combined the two baffles me.

He didn’t need to put the gun in the bathroom as an excuse for Glory to get up from the tub starkers.  There's no logic in it.  To get Glory naked, he could have put in a sex scene.  Could have just bared her like a jaybird in the shower or the bath as an apology for the bad movie in which you are about to partake.  He could have put a vibrator in the box instead of a gun and let Glory have at it.  That would have made more sense.  

It would have been better for everybody had Remender simply eliminated the moment.  Opting instead to show Glory fully clothed taking the box out from a hiding place in her garage.  Also making much more sense.

Oh, and here’s a little secret.  Remender and Bengal don’t actually have the courage to show you anything more beyond a crack in the butt.  No nipples.  No nether regions. Yeah! She's sort of naked with a gun. Yeah!  Any supposed gutsiness of the intent is an illusion.  Dumb.  Absurd.  Mind-blowing in the worst possible way.  

Once we get out of this chain of allegedly adult material, Glory eventually clashes against the Big Bad and his organization.  This includes the psychopath from the diner.

Setting and structure now becomes a cross between the excellent Jackie Brown and the amazing television series Banshee.  Notice the Amish women standing in silence.  You would in fact enrich your life gentle reader if you invested the time wasted on Death or Glory in Jackie Brown and/or Banshee.  You can also pick up some Elmore Leonard from your local library.  Jackie Brown is based on Leonard's Rum Punch.

The crooked cops delivering the money soon encounter Glory, and this is the only part of the story I found marginally interesting.  Glory is taking the smash-and-grab technique on the road.  

Remender and Bengal characterize her superbly as a skilled driver who prepares for resistance.  That makes the subsequent snafu all that more depressing.  

She fortified the car, but she didn’t bring a bullet proof vest.  There’s Blood Simple, then there’s Blood Stupid.  Glory proves to follow the latter.

Half of Death or Glory could have been dropped because Remender is really just juggling tropes and traditions from old pulp novels updated for magazine capacity.  He should have eliminated the useless material in the diner and opened the book at Glory's garage.  He should have dumped the nude gun expo, hop to the uneventful scene in the bar that lays out some exposition and speed to the meat of the story.  We're more focused on the money in the attache, the smash and grab that goes wrong and the surprise at the cliffhanger.  That's a leaner narrative with a rapid pace.  The method of the psychopath though derivative would have been more shocking without a prologue.  The lack of protective armor still inane but at least quickly glossed over.  The end result would have been a flawed but better heist.

When Amy Chu began her run of Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword fought Khulan Gath on behalf of the Meruvians.  Sonja appeared to score a decisive victory.  Gath pulled a rabbit out his towering hat.  He sent himself and Sonja forward in time.

In the present, Red Sonja adapted.  She demonstrated her intellect in addition to her battle prowess.

Sonja made pacts, friendships and allies.  One of those colleagues now accompanies her back to the past.  His name is Professor Wallace, and he dabbles in magic.  

Sonja's want to return home arises from rescuing Sir Max from the clutches of Khulan Gath, still very much alive and seated back where he belongs.  Sir Max is in fact a police officer she bonded with in the present.  He spoke her language.  He also demonstrated a certain amount of sorcerous aptitude.  Here now, we continue the story with writer Eric Birnbaum riding shotgun.

The story starts in the middle of battle against Khulan Gath's minions.  Bengal depicts Glory sort of nude in Remender's latest.  Despite retaining her chainmail bikini, Sonja under the auspices of artist Carlos Gomez is sexier and fiercer.

Even without the sword, I'd be terrified of Red Sonja.  Not to mention awed by her pulchritude.  

Wallace creates a special trick that becomes the center of the tale.  He's been performing this bit of magic since his entrance.  The difference lies in his utilization of a certain source.  With the addition, Wallace's trickery backfires in a spectacular way.

Can this be the end of Red Sonja? Perhaps.  With her capture, Gath decides to play with his food.  He sticks Sonja in an arena and pits her against a foe that may be her match.

So, you may have heard about the latest movie from Marvel called Avengers Infinity War.  If you haven’t, welcome to earth.

Most people know the Avengers consist of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye,  Some may know that they added to the roster Black Panther, Spider-Man, the Vision and Scarlet Witch.  If you’re really into the films, you can also chalk up the Falcon and Ant-man.  That’s not actually the case in comics.

The original Avengers disbanded in issue sixteen.  Captain America formed a new team out of three villains who sought to reform: Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye.  Since then, the Avengers roster grows, shrinks and changes at the whim of the writer.

For the latest iteration of the crew Jason Aaron takes over the keyboard.  Ed McGuinness supplies the artwork.   The change in the creative team this time around was so monumental that the Powers That Be at Marvel decided to renumber the book with a brand new number one.  

Actually, the Powers have a point.  Brian Bendis left Marvel for DC.  Bendis wrote a helluva lot of Avengers stories under various banners like New Avengers, The Mighty Avengers and Skrullvengers. It was really called Secret Invasion, but I like my title better.  What Bendis didn’t write, he influenced, either by amending the continuity, forcing writers to dig out of the holes he formed or embracing the new status quo.  Starting a new volume with a new number one stands out, and after Bendis, this title does need to stand.

Of course, had Marvel just given the book to scribe A. Schmoe and artist N.O. Talent renumbering would be a futile tactic.  Jason Aaron just finished a memorable, historic volume of The Mighty Thor.  Ed McGuinness cut his teeth on Vampirella, where I became a fan.  He’s better known for Superman.  

On Superman, McGuinness morphed his style of anatomy to a balloony look that didn’t appeal to me.  I’m happy to say that he’s reverted back to his svelter, leaner figures.

With the behind the scenes shifts comes a shift in the lineup.  The present day story begins with Iron Man, Captain America and Thor reuniting and commiserating.

Aaron handles the exposition well in this scene.  I only vaguely know what happened to Captain America.  I didn’t know anything about Iron Man’s condition, and though I follow Thor, Aaron turns the knowledge I already amassed into meaningful dialogue that suits the God of Thunder.  Adopting a very Hemsworth like tone in the process.

It’s not long before talk about re-establishing the Avengers occurs.  Tony is the least interested, but events make the trio of friends and heroes creating a fold to return to inevitable.

You can argue that Aaron and McGuinness cynically attempt to cash in on the success of Marvel cinema.  I’m not certain that argument is valid, especially given Aaron’s and McGuinness’ plot.

Captain Marvel’s about the only space hero I can think of with enough power to deal with the Jack Kirby inspired situation.  She’s been associated with the Avengers for a long time.  It furthermore looks like Aaron ignores her participation in some controversial garbage, which to me is a good thing.  Keep Carol a straight up space champion.

As far as I know, Dr. Strange has never been an Avenger, but he’s certainly worked with them before.  Aaron’s familiarity with the character may be comfort food.  Strange’s team up with Black Panther makes sense when factoring in the legacy aspect of the tale.

She-Hulk was a former West Coast Avenger.  In terms of participation for the issue, she gets the short shrift.  Her reintroduction in Avengers is the most self-contained, and she only acts as an observer.  This will hopefully change next time.

Ghost Rider is the most surprising addition to the cast.  Ghost Rider never rode with the Avengers, apart from a guest spot here and there.  Ghost Rider however has many avatars.  

The 1940s Blazing Skull, one such visual reference, appeared in The Avengers famous “Kree-Skrull War.”  An incarnation of the original gunslinging Ghost Rider from the Old West became associated with the West Coast Avengers.  The latest version of Ghost Rider Robbie Reyes is better known for his timely interventions in Agents of SHIELD.  

That guesting occurred last season.  So, you really can’t accuse Aaron and McGuiness of a sort of media nepotism.  Ghost Rider’s inclusion is quite novel, and rest of the role call are Avengers through and through.  The story itself is a serviceable means for the Avengers to unite and a terrific springboard for McGuinness to ply his skill.  Definitely something to consider.

Infinity Countdown finally branches away from the Guardians of the Galaxy by opening the current issue with Ultron attempting to assimilate the Silver Surfer.

Under normal circumstances, this shouldn’t be possible.  Ultron’s formidable, but the Surfer possesses the Power Cosmic.  His shape forged by Galactus.  Ultron however wields an Infinity Stone.

So for the first time since a fateful encounter with Doctor Doom, the Surfer is actually in real danger.  Fortunately, and I cannot believe I'm saying this, Adam Warlock is here. 

I remember golden boy as more of a thinker than a doer.  He was apt to chat with Thanos and broker a philosophical debate rather than flex his muscles.  As you can see in the depiction above, this Adam Warlock takes names.  

Writer Gerry Duggan also turns something the Warlock's progenitors set up into a superpower.  Warlock is an artificial human being initiated by a group of Lee/Kirby mad scientists dubbed the Enclave.  Think of them as a proto-Cadmus.  That origin is long forgotten.  Roy Thomas associated Warlock with the High Evolutionary, and Jim Starlin turned him into a star child.  Duggan appears to meld all of these forms into one badass new incarnation.

Holy Crap!  Warlock doesn't shed a tear once in this story.  Not one time.  If Duggan can make Adam Warlock as fascinating as the Guardians of the Galaxy, you better believe I'm going to recommend Infinity Countdown.

Wait, there's still more.  The Guardians of the Galaxy fight to protect the Nova Corps.  They face the Chitarri and engage an uneasy truce with the Darkhawks.  The truce results from the relationship between one of the Novas and one of the Darkhawks.  That relationship gives Peter Quill a way out of the situation, and brings the chapter to a close in an unexpected, spectacular way.

The Girl

The Gold Boob

And Everything

Without divulging anything that happened, suffice to say that Booster Gold's gift to Batman keeps on giving.  One of the more interesting things to note this issue is how writer Tom King inverts everything he's done.  

Selina and Batman sometimes need not talk.  They're so in synch that one knows what the other is thinking.  You can witness this in "I am Suicide" and "I am Bane."

Selina is sometimes so taciturn that she jokingly meows like a cat.  The weird thing is that Batman understands everything in that onomatopoeia.  Selina also uses the catcalls along with purrs in the art of seduction as seen in the spectacular couplet "Super-Friends."  

The meows in the current issue of Batman signify something else.  Booster Gold believes he's so in tune with Catwoman that he can read her thoughts, just like Batman.  Nothing can be farther from the truth.  Booster Gold blows it big time.

Tony S. Daniel accompanies Booster on this journey, and his sexiful illustrations of Catwoman contrast the spurts of realistically rendered violence, that's never the less over the top due to the subject.