POBB September 19, 2018

Pick of the Brown Bag

September 19, 2018

by

Ray Tate

Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag.  My name is Ray Tate, and here at my blog, I review the current week’s best and worst comic books.  For this missive I’ll take a look at Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, Aquaman, Batman, Batman: the Damned, Captain America Annual, The Girl Who Danced With Death, The Immortal Hulk, Infinity 8, Mr. and Mrs. X, Nightwing, Stellar and West Coast Avengers.  I’ll also critique the new Jennifer Garner film Peppermint.  No time for the blog? Check out the tweets at #PickoftheBrownBag.

Captain America Annual is a flashback to Captain America’s Nazi-fighting days.  Well, he still fights Nazis in the present, but these are the originals.  Joined by Bucky, Cap discovers a group of refugees hiding from the Krauts.

As the story progresses, the group reveal why the Nazis want them dead, and it’s exactly what you expect but perhaps not the way you expect it.  

The fact is that though Nazis hated Jews, they also hated anybody that differed from their idea of perfection; a basis that draws its inspiration from the Victorian charlatan Madame Helena Blavatsky who first introduced the idea of the Aryan as a superior, magical being.  

If you’re looking for a story that’s all realistic and cynical, you’ve arrived at the wrong place.  Captain America and Bucky are at their Nazi fighting best, and they’ve brought familiar friends as well.  Artist Christopher Sprouse infuses optimism and vigor to Cap and Bucky.  This is especially evident when Cap slings his shield.

Take note.  If you're using more than two to three panels to illustrate Cap's shield hitting somebody, you're doing it wrong.  

Maybe the Captain America Annual isn’t a necessary purchase, if you're not a Chris Sprouse fan that is, but it should certainly be considered as an auxiliary.  Solid writing by Tini Howard exposes Nazi xenophobia and she writes the Captain and Bucky well.  

Immortal Hulk turns into something I just don’t care about.  It opens well enough with another look at the duality between Hulk and Banner.  

Writer Al Ewing reverted the Hulk back to his Jack Kirby and Stan Lee beginnings, with a bit of modern insight.

After this vignette, the story becomes scattered.  Ewing first looks in on a grieving Betty Ross-Banner, nee Red She-Hulk. 

Then he pulls this meta-trick to reveal something truly horrible.

What.  The.  Fuck.  The CIA once invested tax payer money into Remote Viewing, the poppycock belief in telepathically telescoping distant space-time.  This appears to be an extension of that only escalated with Brian Yuzna body horror.  The mastermind behind this operation is some badass military guy that I’ve never heard of or forgotten because he’s utterly generic.

He also snatched up Del Frey, the unfortunate that suffered from his father’s experimentation in gamma radiation.  While some in his organization want to help people.  He'll have none of that.  What a sphincter.  He should go on a date with Amanda Waller.  Maybe they'd kill each other.

The swerve in the narrative takes us out into space where Alpha Flight examines the now de-hirsute Walter Langkowski.  This is really the only deviation that makes sense.  The Hulk battled Sasquatch, and absorbed all his gamma radiation last issue.  Since Sasquatch served in Alpha Flight, you expect them to care.  That said, Ewing didn't need the Big Bad to press Carol into service.  

Adding Alpha Flight and the Avengers to the chapter just breaks the back.  I know this meeting had to happen, eventually, but why all at once?  Why not bring in Alpha Flight in this issue, the Big Bad in the next and the Avengers following?  Immortal Hulk is just too rushed for my liking.  I would have preferred Bruce and the Hulk continue their road trip before everybody in the Marvel Universe guest-starred. 

DC Black Label.  “For mature readers.”  Yeah.  No.  Listen, naming yourself after a whiskey doesn’t make you mature.

I’d like to be royally incensed by DC’s latest experiment.  I’m sure that’s what people expect from an old school alum.  However, Batman: The Damned is a pompous, pretty dolt of a book.  It’s difficult to be angry at something so vapid.

The Damned starts with Batman bleeding out in an ambulance.  Looks like somebody shot or stabbed him.  This happened to Batman before in the pre-Crisis, minus the ambulance, minus the Black Label.  So, nothing shocking there.  Nothing requiring a mature readers Black Label.

All hell breaks loose when the EMT finds a pair of scissors that can cut through whatever Batman’s mask is made of.  Right.  Batman, just flits around in a vinyl mask like I did on Halloween.  It’s also not leather either because the mask is as flame retardant as Batman’s cape.  You needn’t travel far to confirm this fact.  Observe last week’s Detective Comics.  

I know, I know.  Give Azzarello the benefit of the doubt.  He’s trying to be realistic here, yet if the costume is Kevlar, you need special shears.  If the uniform is Nomex, you need a laser.  Oh, heck.  Let’s just say EMTs carry such equipment for a special emergency.  Maybe it’s standard issue in a vigilante town.  

Anyway, Black Label’s all about realism, with such realistic characters as Deadman and Zatanna as guest-stars, but REAL-IST-IC.

Since this is a Black Label title and for mature readers only, the creative geniuses behind this book can proudly, say, that yes, Gotham City has an adult theater.  Positioned right under Batman’s balls, which will be making a cameo any moment now, but not before our other guests sign in.  

Ah, yes.  John Constantine.  The most mature reader character of them all.  Smokes.  Drinks.  Surly.  Doesn’t like superheroes.  That might describe Wolverine, but Wolverine appears in immature books.  This is a mature book.  Surely, John’s appearance belongs in Black Label.  In fact Batman could have only met John Constantine in a Black Label book.

Batman encountered John Constantine numerous times since the minting of the New 52.  No mature Black Labels on those books.

I don’t know.  Perhaps we can find a source for the Black Label seal of maturity approval in one of the interminable flashbacks of young Bruce Wayne.

Hot damn! This wood nymph just screams Black Label.  Why she’s as unsettling as a Clive Barker Cenobite.  Okay, not really, but it’s at least ground-breaking that Batman’s meeting a wood nymph.

Batman’s met nymphs before in much more entertaining works.  He’s threatening her with a real plant poison.  How’s that for REAL-IS-TIC, Mr. Black Label.  Incidentally, that scene is from Chris Moeller’s fantastic, highly recommended JLA: League of One.  Get it in hardcover if you can.

Something in this damned book must account for being Black Label.  

Oh, hey.  Thomas Wayne is flirting an affair.  Tarnishing a pristine legend in Bruce’s mind.  That’s mature enough for a Black Label.  Except nothing’s being said to suggest that he’s actually boinking her.  Oh, damn.  Boinking isn’t really a mature word is it? Certainly not mature enough for Black Label.  There’s nothing in the dialogue to explicitly identify extramarital coitus.  If he did, it doesn’t matter because, Martha accepted him back.

Which is why they’re intertwined loving spirits, watching over their son Bruce, which is a sweet, hopelessly cockeyed optimistic idea turned into film back in the thirties.

Topper.  Fiercely Black Label.  What exactly does Black Label stand for again? These figures could be figments of Bruce’s demented state.  How’s that for extreme realism.   That however isn’t what’s happening.  Bruce is dealing with some kind of death-metal dryad, John Constantine popping up like an inebriated Jiminy Cricket, Deadman and Zatanna.  So, why wouldn’t it work both ways? I mean I expect at least some consistency.  Those are the spirits of Thomas and Martha Wayne supporting their son.

As the story moves on, sort of, Batman traces leads, kind of, including a guy that he should be able to outrun even if he suffered from the flu and athlete’s foot. 

Dude’s not even wearing the proper shoes, and Batman has all of those wonderful toys, but The Fastest Hobo Alive loses the Dark Knight.  Confounded by the elusive escapee, Batman returns to the Batcave, strips naked and gives DC the vapors.

Or so they say.  You know, a real smart business move would be to let that buffalo shot remain in the book long enough for the penis enviers to get all hot-and-bothered and reel in the media for free publicity.  Then harrumph, harrumph, promising to digitally censor Batman’s fledermaus in the future.  The fact is that I haven’t found a single scene in Batman: The Damned other than that to warrant the mature readers warning and special class Black Label.  That XXX sign could have been turned very easily to “Live Girls” or “Eat at Joe’s.”  The presence of an adult theater doesn’t improve the story.  So it could have been nipped right out.  Same with the profanity.

I’m wondering if The Damned didn’t start off as a normal-sized prestige format book.  Brian Azzarello’s name carries some weight but more as a cult writer.  He doesn’t pack the recognition of Bendis or Simone.  Lee Bermejo doesn’t do enough comic books.  He’s definitely an artist’s artist.  So maybe after realizing how dull The Damned reads, the Powers That Be figured to snooker the unsuspecting reader with a Black Label and the “shock” of a shadowy cock knight just to promote the extraordinary ethereal noir of Bermejo.

Anyway, another guest star appears.  This time, it’s everybody’s favorite alien pair of pants.  Venom.

Nothing says maturity like a suit of Kevlar admonishing you for showing your penis to the audience.  After this goofy scene, Batman resumes his brilliant plan to disguise himself as a homeless guy and seek out information on—what was it we’re looking for again?  Oh, right.  The allegedly dead Joker.  This is when for no reason at all Zatanna shows up as a street magician.

Fishnets included.  You know what, I’m going to give this depiction a pass for obvious reasons.  Bermejo illustrating Zatanna is a dream, and Azzarello can just catch a ride on Zee’s coat-tails.  Maybe, our famous stage magician is between shows and just having some fun.  Ever since Batman: The Animated series, Zatanna’s been a constant in Batman’s adventures.  

I do on the other hand strongly object to the treatment of Batman’s other frequent supernatural guest-star.

Deadman really deserves better than this.  I hate the whole red costume becoming visible muscles thing.  I hate the whole time limit on body possession, and the idea that he hurts people when he possesses them.  All of these adjustments turn Deadman parasitic.  I get it.  You don’t like Deadman.  So, why put him in the book?

Rama Kushna recruited Deadman as a protector of the innocent.  Deadman sought out the man who killed him but saved and avenged many souls in the process.  Maybe he and Rama didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but give Deadman his due.  For this lousy, not mature characterization of Deadman, screw you Azzarrello and you too Bermejo.  

As I mentioned the Joker is involved in this tepid Black Label book.  That must mean, the Joker’s crimes escalate beyond the Standards and Protocols of DC comics.  Let’s tabulate.  They’ve so far allowed the Joker to murder people, distorting their dead faces as an after effect, to cripple Barbara Gordon and photograph her naked and bleeding and to beat a Robin to death with a crowbar.  I mean I shudder to think what door the Black Label will open for the Joker.

HOLEY MOLEY! He painted a statue.  I know.  Blasphemy.  Right? Blasphemy.  This must explain the Black Label.  Except.  Child-raping priests.  Trump-forgiving Evangelicals Both are far more blasphemous in the real world, and Batman’s an atheist anyhow.  So, why on earth would he be affected?  Batman: The Damned Silly.

Now, that we’ve gotten Batman: The Damned out of our system.  We can refresh ourselves with Tom King’s Batman.

Ahhhhhhhhh.  This pretty much continues the Nightwing/Batman reunion with Dick punning like he’s never punned before.  He’s determined to cheer up his erstwhile mentor as they fight an outbreak of mummies.

I love mummies.  Even if they’re not behaving like the traditional undead guardians of the tomb.  The art by Tony S. Daniel is rich and textured.  Dick Grayson’s presence also allows Daniel to flex the comedic muscles he demonstrated on the Batman/Booster Gold team-up.

Nightwing returned to Gotham City during the the Trial of Mr. Freeze and put on the cape and cowl while Bruce served on the jury.  Commissioner Gordon saw through the mask immediately.  

The story demonstrated Commissioner Gordon of the New 52 is sharper than the Post-Crisis model who accepted Azrael as Batman without question.  A consternation that that paved the way to my future of reviewing comic books.

This version of Jim Gordon’s not fooled by a substitute Batman.  He’s aware that Nightwing was once Batman’s first Robin.  The story’s fun and games between Batman and Nightwing.  When Jim steps into the Bat Signal’s light, Batman becomes comfort food.  That’s exactly the feeling King wants you to experience when the nasty surprise strikes.

Back at the race, which must occur before Nightwing returns to Gotham City to help out Batman.  Makes sense since Babs gifted Dick with new wheels and a mobile Batcave. 

The new character Silencer makes her presence known to Nightwing and for those unaware, including me.  She’s not just a crack shot.  She’s a walking cone of silence. 

Silencer and Nightwing team up to win the race, against such contestants as Professor Pyg a sort of Human Centipede inspired mad scientist.

Or butcher.  Your choice.  I don’t know much about him, but he adds spice to this whacky race, and since he shouts out his horrid intentions, you don’t feel sorry for him at all.

Writer Benjamin Percy at the end of the tale reveals the nature of this race, how it can twist physics and stay hidden in plain sight.  I didn’t really expect an explanation, but the one given is kind of neat and makes sense.  

At the same time, Percy elegantly ties in the Dark Web angle with the surprise substance of the race.  This is also unexpected because the two different genres—the fantasy of the race and the cyberpunk—should clash not cohere.  It’s as well very rare that Nightwing gets such high approval.  Such is an example of his growth as a character and hero.

Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows concludes on a high note with Mr. Sinister getting his ass handed to him by the Spider-Man Family, extended.  After a brief and helpful summary of events, writer Jody Hauser combines all the elements she introduced in her run.

I love that guilty expression.  Scott Koblish known for his inks is a good artist, overall.  The Spider-Man Family employ Annie-May Parker’s future-dipping Spider-Sense, but in all honesty, did they need to?  Where else would an X-Men villain go to unleash his plan?

The Spidey Family speeds off to the mansion, and in traditional hard-luck fashion.

Houser has a lot of fun with the idea of Peter and Mary Jane secretly being a normal couple of parents, with bills to pay.  She also enjoys inducing self-deprecating humor at the Spidey-Family’s expense.

Houser as a result keeps the book light although the stakes are high.  She’s much more interested in paying off the dignity of a long supporting character than presenting Sinister as a credible threat.  

Spidey referring to Sinister as a vampire doesn’t help covey his ominous intent, and this is a reminder of the dangers when fighting Spider-Man.  Spidey was Deadpool before Deadpool.  Though perhaps not set at eleven.  Sometimes, his most effective tactic is humiliation.

In the end it’s actually Spidey’s side-effects that win the day.  His and M.J.’s raising Annie May so well.  Her empathy.  The belief that people can turn their lives around if given a second chance.  This series was a very underrated and a special one.  If you haven’t picked it up by chapter, scoop up the trade.

Kelly Thompson writes two books this week.  Her Mr. and Mrs. X is certainly fun, and the nature of the jewel become egg that Kitty charged Rogue and Gambit to protect makes sense.

Deadpool’s antics liven up the proceedings.  Thompson channels Ryan Reynolds for Deadpool very easily, but in the end, I feel there are just too many characters packed with X-Men history that screw up the pacing.  In a way Mr. and Mrs. X suffers the same problem as The Immortal Hulk.

I don’t even know who the first Nightside was.  Is this common knowledge?  When did Gladiator become the ruler of the Shi’ar Empire? 

I followed the Guardians of the Galaxy and The Mighty Thor.  Both titles involved the Shi’ar.  Neither mentioned Gladiator’s elevation.  Did we even need to know this?  Then there's a character called Oracle in the pink outfit.  Cerise, whomever she is, walks aboard Rogue's and Gambit's ship.  There's a lot that in the book.  People just waltz aboard.

Thompson editorializes on the one character that has the least X-Men history and is therefore the most recognizable.  Deathbird premiered in Ms. Marvel, the original not Kamala.  She became a Ms. Marvel arch-villain.  Hawkeye then hilariously embarrassed her in The Avengers.  So, she really hates Hawkeye.  I honestly had no idea that she was Shi'ar until recently, but she always struck me as a hit-woman not a political maneuverer.

Anyway, all these characters keep tripping over themselves and get in the way of the story.  Some may say that the story is built from these characters, but I just really wish the Imperial Guard had stayed out of the fight after they were quashed the last time.  I mean the flow-chart in the back of X-Men Gold is the reason I never picked up another issue.

West Coast Avengers on the other hand is far easier to follow, and although, Tigra is love, her presence is immaterial to the quality of writing.  

Somebody embiggened Tigra, which yes, is something of a fantasy I never knew I harbored.  The newly formed West Coast Avengers aim to stop her without hurting her, much.

Thompson elegantly introduced all of the cast in the premiere.  She also didn't take it for granted that the reader would know the heroes that debuted elsewhere.  So she included funny little narrative notes that described them and also framed their characterization.  She furthermore exploits a reality-show theme to splice in extra moments of comedy and definition.

The wild card and the likely candidate behind Tigra's dilemma is BRODOK, whose monicker sounds a lot like MODOK.  Coincidence?

Probably not.  Kate Bishop one of the Hawkeyes intends to play up the ruse of their not knowing who BRODOK really is.  That way, the team can find out how to reverse the procedure that turned Tigra titanic.  She splits the team up, much to everybody's intense hatred of the idea to gain good intel.  The choice however threatens the cohesion of her friendships.

Not really.  BRODOK makes his move, but that reveal will have to wait until the next issue.  West Coast Avengers is even more humorous and lighter than Mr. and Mrs. X.  The artwork on par, but it's the spreading out of the characters rather than clustering them altogether that edges out the former.

The cover to Aquaman is all ballyhoo.  Mera doesn't sentence the Squad to death.  The Squad team-up with Aquaman.  Satanis on the other hand fosters his own agenda, and that agenda means doom for Atlantis and the world.

I don’t know beans about the Suicide Squad.  Oh, I’m familiar with the ins and outs of the basics of the Bomb-in-the-Brain-Brigade as well as Harley and Croc, but their involvement in the crossover with Aquaman is for some reason too much.  I think my problem lies with Satanis.  

I knew Satanis as a Superman villain introduced at the curtain call for the pre-Crisis.  He seemed to be a sort of classy, evil Dr. Strange type, maybe leaning more toward the demonic.  

Although he gives Dolphin the opportunity to shine, he just doesn’t behave like the Satanis I knew.  This guy is less academic and more street, and I still can’t figure out how Waller managed to coral him.

Croc and Killer Shark engage in a battle royal, but honestly I really don't have any money on either as a favorite.  Croc is a murderous Batman rogue, and Killer Shark recently reformed from being a murderous anybody rogue.  Deadshot is just kind of there.  Harley steals the show, but she's not as funny as when Palmiotti and Conner wrangle her.  I do like that she's the only one on the Squad that treats Aquaman seriously and knows how powerful he is.

The big deal of the Suicide Squad appears to be the Master Jailer.  The only reason why I know this fellow is because he's a one-shot Superman villain introduced at a time when comics were fifty cents.  Jailer became a first season Supergirl problem.

The whole thing seems ready made for the Jailer to do his part.  The conclusion is another example of disconnect.  Amanda Waller is the worst of the worst.  She shouldn’t just walk away from this, despite being pressed into acting against Atlantis.  She however earns the respect of Mera, who acts more regally with each issue of Aquaman.

In the first volume of Infinity 8, Lewis Trondheim and Dominique Bertail hashed out the gist.  The Infinity 8 is a star cruiser piloted by an alien Captain who can reboot time eight times.  Sorry.  I can't think of another way to say that.  The Captain isn't humanoid.  He's more whale-like.  Though aquatic, the Captain operates through the ship via various agents.  

One such agent is Stella Moonkicker introduced in the second volume.  The Captain assigned Stella to guard duty.  The trouble is, she guarded the new Nazi Party, who had some peculiar ideas about their history.  In short, the new Nazi Party was about love and inclusion.

Okay.  The Nazis were really screwed up but they weren't hurting anybody until the Infinity 8 goes through a debris field apparently recapitulated from the last time line and winds up saving Hitler's head.  This is always a bad idea.  Hitler quickly takes over the robots on the ship, and in this issue, we see some rather familiar allusions.

As anybody with a passing knowledge of Doctor Who can tell you, Terry Nation created the Daleks to be space-Nazis.  This was not a modern invention.  We first meet the Daleks confined to their city on Skaro, but they abhor the humanoid Thals and rant like Nazi maniacs.  This is not the tenth or eighth story focusing on the Daleks.  This is the first.  They arrive on screen as fully-formed blobs of hate.  Upon reading Infinity 8, it’s hard not to feel a chill.

Hitler furthermore seemed to genuinely seduce Moonkicker with his ideas.  Trondheim never delved deep into Moonkicker's thoughts.  So, she very well could have been simply playing along because she knew the Captain can reboot the timeline.  However, the opposite could be true.  Trondheim could have intended to show how easy it is to fall victim fo a charismatic fascist or stand by and do nothing while your country boils in horror.

No matter.  Agent Moonkicker comes to her senses and wars against Hitler.  Given her dialogue and her behavior, she’s a thoroughly unreliable source of truth, which makes this book all that more entertaining.  She clearly covers up any hint of collusion.  Hitler however has been scarily evolving in leaps and bounds.  He knows the alien Captain's power, and he launches an assault on the bridge.  

Infinity 8 is still a pulpy wonderland, but because the Nazis and Hitler himself take part, it also reveals a serious edge.

Stellar's secret of success in addition to Brett Blevins' astonishingly good artwork I believe is reinvention.  Writer Joseph Keatinge maintains links between issues that create a sense that all of these varied things that happen to the title character really could have occurred.  Each takes the reader to a new pulp-scape.

We meet Stellar as a bounty hunter in the premiere.  No ordinary bounty hunter.  She exhibited extraordinary power.  The second issue explained these abilities.  During the bounty hunter episode, Keatinge used a vaguely described war in the backdrop.  Stellar was an unwilling soldier and responsible for a number of atrocities.  In the second issue, we discovered she wasn't alone.  Her unit attempted to retrieve her for the Big Bad Zenith.  They failed.  The third issue seemed to detour with Stellar going native, almost barbarian, but that gave way to the continuation of building on Stellar's background.  It also properly introduced Zenith.

In that story, Zenith discovered a means to war against a parallel universe, but Stellar now fully aware of her power and understanding the need for freedom stood in his way.

This issue of Stellar begins in the middle.  Stellar receives her wish.  She lives on a planet free of war.  She enjoys a second chance to live.  The story seems very quiet.  It's a stark contrast from Stellar the Barbarian.  She's instead kept and pleasant, visiting friends in a science fiction Utopia.

Yet, the reader senses an underlying sadness in Stellar that's conveying a doom inching ever closer.  I think Stellar also feels like she doesn't deserve to be on this peaceful parallel. She deserves to be punished for her crimes.  She deserves limbo not paradise.

At the same, Stellar attempts to drink in this wonderful opportunity.  The endgame though presents itself with an equal amount of quiet and inner peace.  Despite a modicum of sanity, old duels cannot be quelled.

The second issue of The Girl who Danced with Death is as good as the first, and yeah, I raved about it.  Reunited with Mikael Blomkvist, Lis Salander investigates the disappearance of her old friend from the Hacker Republic, Plague.

Little does she realize, she and the Republic are being targeted for those same skills by a group of online misogynists designated as the Spartans.

The Spartans already kidnaped Lis' friends Bob the Dog and Trinity.  Because of their psychologically damaged agenda, they take their frustration out the most on Trinity.  

Artist Belen Ortega displays Trinity's unrelenting terror thus creating a tense situation that transforms the absurdity of the Spartans' outlandish appearance into the alien.  Superb Millennium writer Sylvain Runberg reinforces the ideas behind the first three books.  You don't aim Lis Salander at mere cat-callers.  You fire her at the Nazis of the world, specifically the men who hate women.

As Mikael and Lis dig deeper, they discover the connections in Runberg's solid mystery.  That's another boon of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that Runberg follows.  The first book  is a bona fide, fair-play mystery that you can solve.  Perhaps not the Harriet Vanger, part, but still.  You can root out the murderer and his motive.

For those fretting that The Girl who Danced with Death will simply become a dissection of the clues, you needn't worry.

Lis cracks skulls, creates disaster for the opposition and chaos for any fool that gets in her way.   Runberg and Ortega delight in depicting the smugness of the men she hunts, again following Stieg Larsson's model.  Hilariously, the villains of the piece keep optimistically believing Lis will sheepishly follow their plans only to be horrified when they finds themselves at her ambivalent mercy. 

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

When Peppermint first unreeled its trailer on the net.  A lot of people found the idea of Jennifer Garner portraying an action hero funny.  That is astounding.  My thought was too many buffoons now knew her as Mrs. Ben Affleck.  Nobody knew her as the presenter of the the Taurus World Stunt Awards because of her intense commitment to glorious stage violence.  Everybody forgot that Jennifer Garner was one of the resurgent action queens in the nineties.  Sydney Bristow, the star of ALIAS.

Surely I thought, they must have known that she was the original Elektra.  She met Ben Affleck on the set of Daredevil.  She became Elektra to learn how to use the Sai, which she later employed on ALIAS.  

When I heard Jennifer Garner was returning to action movies, I did a Snoopy Dance.  I imagine her years on ALIAS were exhausting.  Being Elektra just added to the strain, and I suppose as an actress she wanted to stretch her talent with roles in such movies as The Dallas Buyer's Club, an important film.  She's great in it by the way.  Now, she's back in her original element with her stunt double and bestie Shauna Duggins.  Worth the wait.

Peppermint is an unapologetic revenge film.  A gang of criminals rip a hole in the life of Riley North.  Unlike most films in the genre, Riley tries to go by the book.  

Everything she does however seems to work against her.  With the promise of a nasty ending, Riley disappears from the radar only to re-emerge on the anniversary of her trauma as a holy-crap badass equipped with guns and martial arts skills.

Another thing that's fascinating about Peppermint is its shorthand.  The writer and director only vaguely go into how Riley acquired all her prowess.  They let the viewer add the scant numbers they generate on screen.  In addition, they trust in the viewer's intellect to see where the mythology behind Riley North came from.  The filmmakers freshly factor in social media to add a new layer to the vigilante drama, and the even handedness when referencing the police and the FBI is a welcome shift.

Peppermint is mostly a short-snap, well-acted, slickly directed ride on one woman's vengeance train, but it's not without humor, easily conveyed by Garner.  The difference is that the humor increases the momentum of the drama.  The surprises in the story are admittedly few, but those few are genuine, and these add impact to an already impressive addition to the vengeance genre.