Pick of the Brown Bag
September 5, 2018
by
Ray Tate
Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag, in this blog, I review the best and worst comic books for the week. If you don’t see a comic book that’s a frequent subject in the POBB, it’s basically blah and skippable unless you’re a completist or a fan of a particular character featured. The contenders this week are: Athena Voltaire, Batman, Immortal Hulk, James Bond: Origin, Nightwing, Project Superpowers and Relay. If you haven’t time for the entire blog, check me out on Twitter: #PickoftheBrownBag.
Athena Voltaire is notable for the eponymous aviatrix’s first meeting with Pippa Nightengale, spy partner to her friend and sometimes lover, Desmond Forsyth.
The art by Yusuf Idris is drop-dead gorgeous, especially when considering that half of the illustration visually establishes a working relationship between Pippa and Athena.
This without a hint of action. More like talking and traveling through corridors, the air and the city of Shanghai. Thrills slam-bang through the second half.
All of it gets warm color enhancement by Juanma Aguilera. I had to really fiddle with the settings of my scanner to pick up the nuances. Still didn’t match it perfectly, but the above graphic gives you an idea.
Pippa worked behind the scenes since Athena Voltaire’s return to the comic book racks. She now sees no choice but to overtly help Athena, shot last issue.
Luck had nothing to do with Athena’s grazing. Athena ran into a literal dead end in the search for a stolen codex Athena’s client won at auction. During her pursuit, Athena unfortunately encountered Agent X.
Agent X may seem like the typical Nazi spymaster with the bandages adding spice, but he’s in fact a double agent working for England. That’s no spoiler. Writer Steve Bryant divulged the information in the first issue of Athena Voltaire.
Pippa knows X’s true purpose, but being a spy for Her Majesty’s Secret Service, she keeps Athena in the dark. Revealing only what needs to be revealed. Bryant also must be credited for the character framing dialogue. Pippa sounds British. Athena sounds American, particularly 1940s tough dame American.
When the story reaches Shanghai and Athena’s contact Mr. Kleefield the tale takes a dive into Secret Agent X-9 territory with a steamy setting and serial chases. Watch out for the unexpected but not bizarre surprise in the room.
The word origin just means beginning, but thanks to Stan Lee, it will forever be associated with superheroes. James Bond is not a superhero, though he is larger than life, or so most people think.
The fact is that James Bond considers himself an ordinary man, with impeccable taste, and skills that make him an asset to MI6. He also considers himself expendable if his death is in service to the world.
He does not however have a death wish. He threw away his suicide capsules a long time ago. I’d wager the moment after the company issued them.
The situations he finds himself facing are indeed larger than life. In fact, Bond can scarcely believe some of the craziness he sees. By opposing the madmen of the world and their maniac henchmen, Bond gains resonance that makes him legendary.
Bond also gains notoriety through a thirst for women that’s often quenched as well as his ability to survive. 00 Agents, those licensed to kill, lose their lives only to be replaced but not Bond. These attributes make him unique even amongst colleagues.
Ian Fleming introduced James Bond in the 1953 novel Casino Royale. His age is somewhere between late twenties and early thirties. The man’s wisdom comes from his experience.
Writer Jeff Parker sets the first issue detailing the life of young master James Bond in the midst of Germany’s war against England in 1941.
The United States has yet to join the fight. The challenge for Parker. How do you rejuvenate James Bond, yet still make him attractive to the reader. Nobody wants this.
In You Only Live Twice, Fleming writes that Bond’s parents die in a climbing accident. So, Bond becomes a man early out of circumstance but still harbors the innocent desire to know more about the people he loved the most.
It’s lovely that Parker and his artistic partner Bob Q give so much life to Delacroix. In addition to this stirring marker, Parker and Q demonstrate all of the common attributes that we fans associate with James Bond germinating in the boy.
Bond is already proficient in judo and teaches classes to his fellows. He displays loyalty to his friends and courage. He expresses patriotism but not jingoism.
He saves innocent lives from the wreckage. I don’t think it’s important that his first save is a young woman. Although it’s somewhat his signature, isn’t it?
Bond is special. There’s a great line in Goldeneye where Bond’s friend Valentin Zukovsky asks, “What has he done to deserve you?” You don’t send Bond out to kill a common burglar. You save him for the bullies of the world. You save him for the worst of the worst. No worse than Nazis.
Young Bond also shows off his determination and his inadvertent daring-do. Bond does not believe he performs feats. Rather, he sees these stunts as doable tasks that must be executed to complete the mission.
Parker’s and Bob Q’s first foray into James Bond before Her Majesty’s Secret Service is a thrilling, thoughtful exercise into a world that’s not enough.
Tom King teams up with erstwhile Batman artist Matt Wagner for the latest issue of Batman. This is one of King’s interludes. The sort of strip that shows Willie Garvin and Modesty Blaise relaxing and having a life before it gets blown to pieces. Batman and Nightwing face some of their dumbest foes.
Believe it or not Crazy Quilt is a Bronze Age loon. I’m sure you remember the Condiment King as a throwaway gag in Batman: The Animated Series. Darkening his suit doesn’t make him any less of an idiot.
It’s as much a Nightwing story as it is a Batman story. King and Wagner juxtapose Nightwing’s happier present day with the trauma he faced in the past.
King displays that Bruce was not the aloof individual that some writers assume. Instead, Bruce is caring. He hopes to turn Dick’s life around, give him love and companionship.
Now, it’s Dick’s turn to assuage Batman’s darkness. King and Wagner do this with a presentation of how Dick Grayson gets under Batman’s skin and forces him to be human. Batman cannot help but be amused by the antics of his adopted son.
Once again, King writes Batman and Nightwing the way I always wanted them to be written. I don’t need Nightwing to unload on Batman. I don’t need Batman to be a dick. I want to read about a Dynamic Duo that despite having matured still make a great team. This is a sweet tale with a beginning, middle and end but the story of Nightwing and Batman goes on, of course.
Although a motorcycle race serves as the center stage in Nightwing, the hazards nevertheless draw similarities to the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer and the television series episode “The Fire Race.”
That’s not a disparagement. That’s a compliment. You can also trace Benjamin Percy’s story to Enter the Dragon, in which a lunatic criminal holds a contest for Martial Arts on a private island.
Percy’s story loosely connects to the Dark Web storyline facilitating a team up between Batgirl and Nightwing. Batgirl crafted a present for Nightwing, a big beast of a mobile Batcave and a new set of wheels.
Batgirl is a genius, and she recently became well-off thanks to her alternate energy consortium. Bruce also may have pitched in. Nightwing isn’t racing for giggles.
The Dark Web forces Nightwing to race, and I’m of two minds. Yes, it’s a classic, but I would have preferred Nightwing actually racing for purely leisure reasons.
Racing is the perfect hobby for him, and because of his skill, his participation in this whacky race makes perfect sense. It’s so in his milieu that he shouldn’t need to be pressed into it.
Batgirl the superior motorcyclist would not care about such a contest. She would have had to been pressured. Nightwing though is less serious, evident in King’s and Wagner’s Batman.
Because the race occurs in the DCU, the art takes on a gritty science fiction punky look. Amancay Nahuelpan’s and Nick Filardi’s work resembles a Full Moon production gone amok and my but it’s entertaining and goofy in all the right ways.
The Silencer gets a feature spot on the cover to Nightwing, and if you’re interested she is indeed a contestant. She only rates a few scenes though. Perhaps she’ll be in more of the next issue.
Jim Krueger and Alex Ross in the original Project Superpowers posited that after World War II, the Fighting Yank betrayed his allies, public domain superheroes, by trapping them in Pandora’s Urn.
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Most people refer to it as a box, but the Greeks and half the artists in the world depicted her opening a jar. So, yeah. Urn.
To be fair, the Yank was duped into this task and eventually released the heroes into a present day dominated by the Dynamic Family a group of android champions reimagined as villains.
The current series by Rob Williams begins long after the Superpowers eliminated the androids and a cabal known as the Supremacy. The world settled into much of what we see today, and Miss Masque now known as Masquerade begins to wonder if the world should have been saved in the first place.
This overall pessimism weakens the American Spirit who seeks a worthy host to keep it from unraveling.
Simultaneously, every plane in the sky dropped, and the most powerful of the Superpowers, the Green Lama weaved a golden magical web to save every plane everywhere. It was a monumental feat.
This issue Rob Williams once again mixes fiction with reality to produce a unique nemesis for the Superpowers to battle. Part of this enemy arises in the form of their former comrade the Death-Defying Devil, the original Daredevil renamed for obvious reasons.
In Krueger’s and Ross’ treatment, the original Bart Hill died a hero. Somehow his costume remained. The talent never offered an explanation as to how the costume animated. Williams does, and it’s a pretty good explanation. Williams also reworks the nature of the Urn, but that’s too much of a spoiler to even tease.
Defeating the Death-Defying Devil lets the Superpowers strut their stuff, and Sergio Davila makes it impressive as all get out. The Scarab is actually not a replacement of the Blue Beetle.
He was a 1940s public domain hero, severely reimagined.
The magical scarab fastened to Blue Beetle’s belt is actually a cop from this guy. The original Blue Beetle never possessed superpowers, and neither did Ted Kord.
Though dramatic, Williams also plugs in a lot of humor to the Superpowers. The Black Terror scored his own series after the first Project Superpowers series. In this new volume, his name takes on new meaning. Mighty Samson is the Biblical Samson, therefore blind. So, Williams provides some politically incorrect mischief with him. The entirety is about twenty-one pages, but it’s a meaty twenty-one pages.
The cover to Immortal Hulk suggests a battle royal pitting the Green Goliath against Sasquatch. Walter Lankowski was killed last issue, and in this go-around, Al Ewing bases his volume of the Hulk on the ballyhoo. The Hulk cannot die. Banner can die, but that’s like killing the Doctor.
When you think about it the metamorphosis is like regeneration but with extremely limited choices. Banner and the Hulk work differently as they find mystery and horror on the road. Banner usually doesn’t approve of the Hulk’s method. On this excursion however, they’re both in agreement.
John Byrne created Sasquatch, and he’s always been a character with more visual appeal than resonant. The Hulk’s absolutely correct in his critique. Byrne in fact made Walter Lankowski somewhat likable only after he died.
Snowbird killed Sasquatch. She ripped his heart out because Walter in his gamma creation opened a door for a demon to walk through. Snowbird’s duty was clear. That demon isn’t the one pulling the strings.
Here’s where I distinguish the subjective vs the objective. Ewing’s reveal of the the puppet master didn’t impress me because I’m a fan of the Hulk as a 1970s television star and the cinematic Hulk from The Avengers. I read The Incredible Hulk off and on during the Bronze Age. So, when the curtain’s pulled, I just didn’t care. That’s not because the trick is bad. I know I should be wowed, but the character has no meaning to me because I am not a diehard Hulk fan. I like the Hulk. Wouldn’t be reading it otherwise, but I’m not a completist. Others who read the Hulk’s adventures from Jarella onward just may have a more pronounced reaction.
Relay’s speed is surprising. One of the main characters betrays the other two. Another dies. It’s easy to see which will be hunted, but nevertheless, it’s a compelling read and an appealing presentation with nods to M.C. Escher and H.R. Giger.
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