POBB September 26, 2018

Pick of the Brown Bag

September 26, 2018

by

Ray Tate

Your next Supreme Court Justice.

A blind, stinking drunk with rape in his heart of hearts.  Republicans in power hate women.  Remember that the next time you vote.  You may be registered as a Republican, but are you actually like these people? You can change your party.

I criticize the post-Crisis era of DC Comics something fierce, but some good came out of it, and that was a Jim Aparo level Batman artist named Norm Breyfogle.  

Breyfogle died on Monday, September 24, 2018.  He was a remarkable talent that infused the Batman titles with energy and maybe even gave current artists something to shoot for.

The Pick of the Brown Bag this week reviews Batgirl, Detective Comics, Heroes in Crisis, Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man, Red Sonja, Scooby-Doo Team-up, Star Trek/Transformers, Wonder Woman and X-Men Red.  Remember, if you haven’t time for the POBB blog, fresh split-Second reviews can be found on Twitter including a review of the confusing Justice League Odyssey, which I felt defied an in-depth critique: #PickoftheBrownBag.

Chip Zdarsky takes on illustration and writing duties this week for a stirring multidimensional look at Spider-Man.  He follows the lens of a documentary filmmaker.  When the documentarian begins his project, he draws on various Manhattanite interviews to explore the character of a wall-crawler.

Some of the interviewees are as hilarious as the juxtaposed scenarios.  Others dramatic.

The narrative despite being comprised of a sample population expressing their opinion on Spider-Man nevertheless creates a thread.  For example, the amusing hot dog incident overlaps.  

One interviewee’s story about Spider-Man takes the center stage for a poignant moment that’s touching and affecting.  The artwork reflects these feelings as well as the perfect pacing of the visual narrative.  The act makes Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man a crime to miss.

The Big Bad of X-Men Red framed Jean Grey for the Scanners-like murder of a U.N. diplomat.  That assassination fomented prejudice against mutants.  The Big Bad fanned those flames further by introducing nano-sized Sentinels to whisper sweet hatred in the ears of their hosts, including mutants such as Storm.

In this issue the Big Bad releases a swarm of updated Sentinels across the world.  This tactic comes after Jean, last issue, proved her innocence to the general public.  Can the X-Men save the world from circling the drain of hatred? 

Writer Tom Taylor gives Jean several cards to play.  One is Trinary, a mutant that can communicate with technology, no matter how advanced.  Two, Gabby and Laura, the Wolverines.

This is a story functioning on move and countermove.  It’s a mostly serious tale of good vs evil, enhanced by the dramatic art of Carmen Carnero.  The X-Men all behave like seasoned actors in a play that gets back to the heart of what the X-Men are about.

This isn’t however a stiff affair.  Taylor generates humor with the characters he once steered.  In fact were you to read the entirety you would see that the comedy lies all in the hands of the Wolverines.  Unkillable due to their mutant healing factors, they make for the perfect jesters.  

Taylor this issue also draws a different kind of wit from the finale driven by Storm.  The scene exemplifies her power and demonstrates why the Big Bad was actually remarkably foolish for choosing her as a weapon against her friends.  Storm's revenge is a thing to behold given the proper scope and impact.

The much hyped Heroes in Crisis is a superbly written opening event chapter by Batman’s Tom King.  The story begins in a local diner where Harley Quinn finds Booster Gold indulging in some melancholy and coffee.

Harley isn’t quite as nutty or funny in this scene.  The restraint imbues the moment with suspense, and when she flips the switch, the mood swing is jarring.  That feeling is enhanced by the realism in Clay Mann’s and Tomeu Morey’s art.

As the story continues, you discover that from Harley’s point of view, her behavior isn’t mad at all.  She has a motive for doing what she’s doing, and it may be in fact a noble cause.

Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman next step onto the stage to investigate a disturbance in The Sanctuary.  King explained the Sanctuary in numerous transcriptions, but if you weren’t paying attention…  

Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman created the Sanctuary as a place where superheroes and reforming super-villains can receive aid and comfort for whatever trauma they may experience living the life.

Somebody attacked the Sanctuary from within, destroying the robotic aids and killing the patients.  I will say that for once DC played fair in the advertising.   King promised one hero among a selection would die, and he delivered with death bonuses.

Mer-Boy or whatever the hell he’s called and Steel are fifth tier characters at best.  Nobody’s going to drop to their knees and cry out:  

“Buckeye Heywood, Nooooooo!”  

Professor Ivo originally killed Steel at the advent of the post-Crisis era.  It was honestly a pretty nasty way to go and not remotely heroic.

Matthew MacCaull as Commander Steel

Steel performs his greatest feats in Legends of Tomorrow.  Otherwise this character was a knock-off cyborg Captain America and an unnecessary attempt at legacy in the late seventies.  Bet you thought he was a 1940s creation.  Hell no.  The fact that he actually made rebirth in the New 52 is astonishing.

 Nick Zano as the modern Steel

That being said, King also kills off a pair of second tier characters that you know are not going to stay dead.  Booster Gold is a Big Blue and Gold Button for time being reset.  I have no concrete evidence, but that’s how I'll wager the series will play out by the conclusion.  That feeling mitigates the dramatic impact of the whole.  

On the other hand, I can’t say that I wanted to see anybody die, even Steel, in the first place.  I'm not a scorched earth kind fo guy.  I really just thought the advertisement was a come-on.  So, it’s comforting to know that Heroes in Crisis will probably be reversed.

It seems like Steve Orlando just can do no wrong with Wonder Woman.  He first introduced himself on the book with an impressive stand alone that took place in a span of  years.  

Then he put together a major, underrated story arc that began with Diana and Artemis teaming up to find Diana’s aunt Atalanta the founder of Artemis’ homeland.  

As it turned out, Atalanta fought an everlasting war to prevent the Aztec god of death from entering our dimension.  With Diana and Artemis at her side, she ended the everlasting war.  What’s in a name?

Diana and Artemis escorted Atalanta to Bana-Mighdall where the nomadic Amazons put down roots near DC Arabian-go-to-land-of-intrigue Qurac.  

Queen Faruka recently invited Suicide Squad alum Rustam to consider Bana-Migdhall sanctuary.  Together they pooled their blood lust to trigger a war between Amazons and Quracis.  Can Diana stop this catastrophe waiting to happen? Of course she can.  She’s Wonder Woman, and that’s probably the best thing Orlando says with this comic book.  He celebrates the power of Wonder Woman.

This is the concluding chapter written with a soft touch not in bombastic tones.  Artemis allied with her people.  So, Diana first must talk sense to her erstwhile rival. 

In the New 52, Artemis never competed against Wonder Woman for her title.  Their first meeting is detailed in Red Hood and the Outlaws, and it left a lasting impression on Artemis.  Artemis dislikes Diana.  This issue establishes a shaky friendship.

Orlando and his illustrating partners Raul Allen, Patricia Martin and Borja Pindado give Wonder Woman fans a treasure trove of outstanding moments to enjoy.  Bullets and Bracelets is the showstopper, and Diana makes wicked use of the Lasso of Truth in her battle against Rustam.  

Orlando also doesn’t make this about Wonder Woman physically overcoming the odds.  Instead, she really does use the original principal of Loving Submission first proposed by her creator William Moulton Marston.

Batgirl impressed the hell out of me.  Writer Mairghread Scott reintroduced Grotesque, a Gail Simone villain, to plague Batgirl.  This included motorcycle chases and a much more gruesome signature to his crimes.  

Grotesque appeared to escalate his fetishism.  He now not only stole from the well-to-do.  He murdered them and twisted their bodies in a bizarre display of artwork.  In her latest battle against Grotesque, Batgirl fell.  She got back up again and thought all was copacetic.  The next morning as Babs Gordon she suffered catastrophic trauma.  Grotesque’s electrical blast damaged the chip in her spine allowing her to walk.

Scott doesn’t dismiss the importance of Batgirl’s mobility as I thought she would.  Yes, Babs does say she got along without the use of her legs before, but she’d rather have the function.  She would rather be Batgirl. You’d be an idiot to suggest otherwise, and I fought for twenty-five years against such idiots.

So, this isn’t the wish fulfillment resulting from a pining for Oracle that some have expressed.  

Scott doesn’t just attack Babs' mobility.  She attacks her eidetic memory.  In other words, no Batgirl and no Oracle. 

Batgirl believes that Batman respects her enough to know that she would leave him a clue.  She transcribes all that she knows in a language only he would probably speak.  This is a nice throwback to Doc Savage and his team speaking Mayan as a secret code.

Scott outright states that the doctors, which are so much better in the New 52, will repair Babs' chip.  It’s treated as routine.  This is not then going to be a medical show where complications create the suspense.  No, the suspense comes when Batgirl returns to the hunt and discovers where all the clues lead.  An honest to goodness fair play mystery. 

James Robinson’s Detective Comics continues to live up to its name with Batman attempting to heal his psyche with the purity of sleuthing.

Last issue, Batman politely asked to be included in on what appeared to be a simple murder.  Batman’s deductions led him to the discovery of a double life.

Still in the dark, Batman examines his only lead, a surprise introduction to the new Firefly and reacquaintance with the old one.  

Robinson surprises with an honest self-reflection in the new villain and an explanation as to why the hell any low-level criminal would dare to stay in Gotham City.

That makes sense! Batman’s questioning of the Fireflies takes him to the confirmation of his notable hypothesis as well as a hilarious overpowering encounter with Tweedledum and Tweedledee.  For some reason, the twins have gained prominence as the stooges for Batman to clunk.  I think originally they were in maybe one Golden Age issue of Detective Comics.

Gorillas.  They festooned the covers of DC’s Silver and Bronze Ages.  With the Flash that was understandable.  Grodd is one of his arch-foes, but you would rarely see a gorilla on the cover of Marvel Comics.  

Cover gorillas were a defining theme DC instituted.  Some blame Julius Schwartz.  Others give different editors the credit.  Gorillas on covers really did seem to boost sales.  So whether or not it was a matter of personal taste, it was a good business decision resulting in a barrel full of monkeys in DC’s canon.  

Scooby-Doo Team-Up pays tribute to the myriad simians of DC comics and allows me to use a phrase I coined long ago for a Flash review.  Scooby-Doo and the Gang pit their sleuthing skills against Gorilla Guerrillas.  Yes!

The gorillas want to take over City Hall of Pleasantville, but Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby call in some expert help who in turn calls in for some expert help.

The story is a caper full of monkey business, not really a mystery.  Writer Sholly Fisch smartly utilizes each of the apes in excellent ways to provide a banana boat filled with entertainment.  He furthermore points out that many of DC's apes though fully primate were actually scientific hybrids.  Men popping their brains in the skulls of cousins.  This motif proves to be Velma's inspiration in a clever comeuppance.  The climax is just as you expected as is the punchline.  You cannot help but admire the execution, the comedy and the art by Dario Brizuella.

The Enterprise detects unusual activity at a Federation dilithium mining facility.  Kirk and a landing party beam down to find a curious attack by twentieth century fighter jets on Federation citizens.

The situation becomes more bizarre when the planes transform into giant robots.  Kirk’s charisma however even appears to work on a.i.  

TOS episode “Tomorrow is Yesterday” foreshadowed Kirk’s amazing luck with the female of any species.  Including metallic.  In that production, the Enterprise computer gained a female personality courtesy of the Amazons of the planet Cygnet XIV.

At any rate, being Thunderblast’s pet is not an ideal situation.  Fortunately, a heroic living truck appears out of nowhere to protect the humans.

Unfortunately, Kirk misconstrues the gesture by Optimus Prime as a further attack and responds accordingly.  With Prime out of the picture, the Decepticons can now annihilate the landing party.  Except.

From start to finish, Star Trek/Transformers is a blast.  A cool nuance is that heavily debated Star Trek: The Animated Series serves as the basis for this meeting.  Thus, we get Lieutenant M’Ress finally seeing action in illustration that presents the illusion of animation better than Filmation ever could.  It’s fitting that cartoon meets cartoon.  So, it’s wise to put aside the canon question.  Just sit back and enjoy this splendid crossover.

Red Sonja simply wanted to return a warrior's sword for some coin.  What she got for her troubles is an alcoholic Cimmerian, no, not that one, a cunning usurer and a pair of companions often more trouble than their worth.  When last we saw Sonja, she tumbled off the arena of battle.  She ended up wet with wild.

The Sonja vs Shark set piece is so satisfying.  Writers Amy Chu, Erik Burnham and anatomist Carlos Gomez certainly didn't let the reader down.  This isn't simply a duel against a top predator.  It's sexiful and outstanding simultaneously.

The shark mini-legend surpasses the second part of the story which brings back an old foe--happily not Khulan Gath.  This nemesis draws the curtain on Lera's quest for gold.  Sonja reveals something about Gath that's not widely known, and the battle against the unctuous Ruse Sandak intertwines with the main course.

It's almost unfair that big brute like Skath would challenge Sandak to fair combat.  Dude outweighs Sandak by at least fifty pounds.  Chu and Burnham know this one sidededness proves a problem to the narrative.  So they introduce a good twist.

Generally speaking, this is the first traditional Red Sonja story that Chu and Burnham conceived.  Chu introduced Sonja in the present.  Those adventures were fresh takes on Sonja.  The battle against Khulan Gath was essentially, the movie.  The trip from hell the dark fantasy.  This though is the clash of swords, and more in Sonja's milieu.  So, it was interesting to see if Chu with her partners could pull off a total narrative in the genre without succumbing to too many tropes.  She does with great aplomb and strong conclusion based upon Sonja's character.