POBB October 30, 2019

The Pick of the Brown Bag

October 30, 2019

by

Ray Tate

This week it’s Annual Season, specifically Batman, the Savage Avengers and Wonder Woman.  I also review the last issue of Contagion.  Will the conclusion satisfy as much as the rest of the series?   Hint.   

I’ll look at the finale to Jeff Parker’s John Carter Warlord of Mars Attacks and have a few words about Greg Pak’s last James Bond.  I’ll examine the latest from Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and the new book Vampire State Building.  As always, you can enjoy short-short reviews of the current batch on Twitter: #PickoftheBrownBag.

The Batman Annual by Tom King is an anthology of short stories paced to an entire month and a half of bat activity.  The year is hazy, but we begin on March 7th where Batman conducts a rooftop steeple chase.

The gallop lasts four pages before the next day when Batman fights a dragon.  

Though you may think I'm spoiling the fun.  Simply identifying the problem or problems doesn’t undermine King's stories.  King enriches every word of Alfred Pennyworth’s narration and packs an enormity of detail in a brevity of pages.

March 9th, Batman takes a page from one of my favorite television series, Banshee.  Identity stealing Sheriff Hood also challenged a UFC Champion.

King however makes this a western with a young gun dueling the veteran.  The vet not wanting to fight but forced into it by ethic.  Batman’s decision mirrors Hood’s, but King executes the scenario quite differently.  

Jorges Fornes who graced pulpy goodness to Catwoman's dream encounter with the Question demonstrates his skill when rendering a spectrum of genres.  From fight choreography to absurdist science fiction.  He returns to his forte the next day.

March 10th is a fair play whodunnit with two approaches to solve the mystery.  I chose door number two, and arrived at the same conclusion as Batman.  His of course is far more detailed.

March 11th shows Batman’s heart.  His empathy with humanity in consummate noir.  March 12th is daring terrorist trap.  March 16th, sharks.  And the stories continue from there through April 24th.  Each one a gem.

Steve Orlando’s short run on Wonder Woman knocked me out.  So I bought his latest, the Wonder Woman Annual and ended up unfortunately disappointed.  That said.  Orlando’s characterization of Wonder Woman is the strongest component of the story.  It’s the surround sound that comes off as scratchy and hissy.

In The Arrow, ARGUS is plain and simple cutting edge technological CIA.  From whence the organization originated is another story.  To this day, I have no idea what ARGUS stands for and what their mission is.  Apparently, they’ve been around the New 52 at least ten years, and worked with Wonder Woman that long. Here, we see them doing the FBI’s job.  Fighting Nazis.

In Arrow ARGUS agents are clad more often than not in spy trench coats and suits, which is what you expect. 

In battle they wear dark as pitch Kevlar body armor.  The comics present ARGUS in quasi-Checkmate armor, silver instead of gold, mixed with a little SHIELD.  Their dress uniforms look like hand me downs from Captain Action.

I'm with the band.  Marching band that is.

Wonder Woman of course will have none of this.  When she’s a spy she’s in her spy clothing. 

This modified sixties design actually appeared first in the comic book spin-off of Smallville where Wonder Woman joined the DEO run by Steve Trevor, her “secret boy.” Smallville never heard of ARGUS.  Good for them.

The gist of the main where Wonder Woman battles Grodd.  Where she attempts to stave off a war between Gorilla City and humanity is perfectly serviceable.  Wonder Woman’s position of non-violence and diplomacy is also perfectly in character.  Her use of the lasso brilliant.   I just wish the daft association ARGUS had zero involvement, as it contributes nothing.  Ditto for ARGUS’ gorilla spy.  That’s just…

In any case, the overall framework should have been better developed.  By all means, include Steve Trevor.  The Wonder Woman film initiated a renaissance, and I haven’t enjoyed the character in the DC Universe this much since Lyle Waggoner’s earnest portrayal.  

However, couldn’t we eliminate ARGUS? Couldn't actual government agencies get wind of a gorilla uprising?  Couldn’t bad eggs in the Pentagon order Colonel Steve Trevor to do a flyby similar to the spy piloting done over Cuba during the Kennedy Era?  High tech equipment could have been used to penetrate the cloak around Gorilla City. We didn't need a gorilla spy.  Couldn’t the government then sabotage Steve’s plane hoping Wonder Woman would become involved and quash the uprising?  Wonder Woman then could discover the whole truth of the fiasco, thus preserving the point buried underneath all of this ARGUS nonsense.

Helen Paul’s maturation intertwines with ARGUS, but I just cannot understand why that growth must be within this story.  Her importance is non-existent.  She could have been any generic female agent.  In fact Orlando could have shortened her story to dialogue.  

“Helen! How lovely to see you again.”

“Do you know, Agent Paul, Angel?”

“Diana—That is Wonder Woman saved me from a burning building during a terrorist attack.  I was fourteen at the time.”

Helen’s story just seems to be an excuse to trot out that bad penny Leviathan.  

By the cosmos, Leviathan is annoying.  That's what you want in a major player.  Not threatening.  Annoying.  Has anybody considered that he may be Ally Babble? Or Kobra? Just saying.

So, if you’re keeping score.  Half of this story—the gorillas— makes sense; although it could have used more care.  The other part isn’t as good as Green Lantern/Svengoolie advertisement.  

Helen’s maturity, the alleged blood feud, that idiot Leviathan do not easily connect.  Leviathan’s words are utter bullshit, and Helen just chucks her real life with no problem to embrace the good old days of a Golden Age character she now represents.  That Wonder Woman antagonist actually had greater substance because of her situation and Wonder Woman’s creators aim to demonstrate redemption.

The Savage Avengers Annual pits three top dog Avengers against human traffickers.  As a result Gerry Duggan creates a satisfying done-in-one story that essentially pits Godzilla against Bambi.  The story begins realistically to highlight the plight of these unfortunates; suppressed by the promise of a better life only to end up worse.

Duggan continues the verisimilitude via a sympathetic sheriff whose priorities and resources center on his community. 

By doing his job to the best of his ability, the sheriff unwittingly entangles the Black Widow.  Duggan thus respects the tragedy before plausibly pulling in the fiction to address the subject in a heroic upheaval. You'll also want to note the name Nat assumes in this guise.  It foreshadows the humor contrasting the nasty reality.

In another part of the world, the victimized offer prayers.  One such missive reaches the new King of Hell.  Damien Hellstrom.

The atheist in me just love the idea that this woman prays to satan, and gets results.  Hellstrom’s more repellent aspects have been scrubbed by whatever event you’d care to name.  He and Hellcat may have been married, but it didn’t work out.  No madness involved.  It was an amicable parting.  They even bake each other muffins on occasion.  Honestly, I’ve always been against scorched earth policies.  So, I don’t give a rat’s behind.  

In Savage Avengers Hellstrom is legit.  As is Conan the Barbarian.

Duggan's Conan is pretty close to the Robert E. Howard creation.  Conan was always a man of decency.  Despite given the monicker of barbarian, he never raped or pillaged.  His funny commentary about killing slavers as a hobby, accurate.

This is not the first time Conan appeared in our time.  He materialized in a highly predictive What If story.  Now, once again, Khulan Gath is responsible for the time displacement.  Conan and Red Sonja what are the odds?  

In any case you may ask what makes Conan so special.  Afterall, he’s just a normal guy with a sword.  Mmmn.  And Batman’s just a normal guy with a cape.  Fact is.  No matter how much you’ve trained and how much of a soldier you think you are.  These fantasy figures are going to clean your clock.  Conan’s cleaning involves extreme prejudice, and he’s not even using a sword to get the job done.

Before long the trio collide in a rip-roaring slaughter of human traffickers that’s brought to life by the always welcome Ron Garney.  I’m not reading the regular series Savage Avengers.  I just don’t care for the roster, but this group of substitute Savages tickled me.

Contagion.  I just can’t get over how good this series was.  I really cannot believe it.  In this final chapter, the heroes learn that the fungus can control an entire army.

So, Moon Knight enacts his plan.

Things get trippy after that.

The point of the exercise is to find out if their friends and allies are still inside the fungus or trapped within the comatose bodies being eaten by the fungus.  

Ed Brisson accurately depicts the characterization of multiple Marvel heroes and villains.  The Thing is heavily involved.  Moon Knight’s plan actually makes sense and intrinsic to his history.  Jessica Jones is more than tolerable.  A new to me female martial artist and kid Iron Fist takes a well deserved spotlight.  Cut-rate magicians become the saviors of humanity.  The perfect Yancy Street punchline.  Pure bliss.  

I’m sorry Contagion is over and glad as well.  Five issues is the perfect length.  The tale never felt askew in terms of pacing, and it was self-contained.  The story didn’t spread to books I had no inkling to buy.  As a result, Brisson filled this series with Marvel characters that may not have been able to sustain my interest in solo efforts but combined became magical.

The FF guest star in this week’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.  This is another conclusion to an ongoing story of which I read little.  I tried the premiere of the title and it just didn’t click with me.  So, I mostly ignored the successive chapters.  

Last issue, a Big Bad attempted to kill Spidey, and a lot of people in New York think he succeeded.  This is in a large part due to a hasty journalistic conclusion.  Spidey was a little surprised at his passing, and after allaying Mary Jane’s fears, he popped in on his best buddies the FF.

With the FF, Spidey intends to take the fight to the Big Bad.  A purple dude ruler of the underworld of Manhattan.  No, no.  I mean a literal underworld.

This sounds familiar.  It sounds like a Jack Kirby idea.  I’m not absolutely sure about the origin.  So don’t quote me.  In any case, whether readdressing Jack Kirby or emulating him, writer Tom Taylor is in the zone.  From the honest conversations between Spidey and the FF to Sue being the spokeswoman of the team, Friendly Neighborhood is just entertaining as all get out.

Taylor utilizes the teams strengths and weaknesses to full advantage in the tale.  As a result, you enjoy the sibling comedy.  The Thing’s toughness.  Not invulnerability, mind you.  Just a kind of obstinate refusal to budge when faced with a salvo of gunfire.  Also, Taylor remembers that Spidey is a genius.

Four artists—Ken Lashley, Todd Nauck, Ig Guara and Dike Ruan—present very different styles, yet they all fit together for a seamless visual narrative.  Friendly and superior all at once.

You know, often covers don’t tell the whole story, or they’re just outright lies.  The legendary fantasy illustrator Greg Hildebrandt renders a cover to John Carter Warlord of Mars Attacks that represents what you get in the book.  John Carter for example really does have mutton chops.  Dejah Thoris is practically naked.  

Dejah and John are the perfect couple, probably fucking like mad bunnies at night and killing Topps Martians with gusto in the daylight.  

John’s strength and Superman like abilities are well-documented by creator Edgar Rice Burroughs.  So, Hildebrandt’s depiction of Carter leaping and the casual shoulder throw of his wife is at once comedic and true.  This also may allude to famous Frank Frazetta movie poster The Night They Raided Minksy’s.  In any case, Deja’s reaction upends the potential caveman sexism associated with the positioning.  That joyous bellicosity can also be found in the issue.

Jeff Parker’s and Dean Kotz’s brilliant mashup is a treasure trove of Martian lore.  From both ends of the spectrum.  John Carter fans simply cannot miss this.  Science fiction fans will love the central idea behind the story, and fans of good girl art cannot go wrong with Kotz’s natural depictions of Barsoomian exoticism.  

The cover to James Bond’s final issue before the reboot is also actually a good call on what’s been going on in this reimagining of Goldfinger.  

It’s funny but Bond early in this adventure promised to kill the new Oddjob.  He rather stupidly based the desire on the testimony of another agent’s encounter with the original.  Turns out the new Oddjob is a South Korean agent who fell in love with a compromised fellow operative.  He’s been working against the new organization ORU to get her out.  Bond at first gets in his way, but by the end, they part as friends.

Greg Pak wisely started with the unfamiliar before introducing Goldfinger into the mix.  This issue Bond and Goldfinger actually combine forces to prevent more death and fight a common enemy.  What takes the story out of the realm of fan-fiction is the conclusion, which brings back the big, bad James Bond that fans are familiar with.

Vampire State Building is a mostly by the numbers vampire story well executed and given much un-life by X-Files artist Charlie Adlard.  Yes, on the cover, he’s touted as Walking Dead illustrator, but sorry.  I know him from Topps’ superb X-Files series.  

When I say by-the-numbers, I don’t mean necessarily bad.  I mean that for a while, we’ve got a group of people that don’t recognize the very bad situation they’re in.  Vampires.  The authorities outside certainly don’t believe that, but the police snipers start to buy a vowel and respond with the loving violence of special munitions.  

That’s the show-stopper.  An expert archaeologist shows up to cleverly link the vampires with some of the construction of the Empire State Building, but you just wish Kolchak was here to be thrown out on his keister before becoming the only sane man in the story with the means to win.