POBB March 4, 2020

Pick of the Brown Bag

March 4, 2020

by

Ray Tate

The Pick of the Brown Bag marches on with reviews of Black Cat, Conan and the Battle for the Serpent Crown, Dark Agnes, Doctor Doom, Doctor Who, Outer Darkness and Chew, Strange Academy and Red Sonja.  As always should you not have time in your busy schedules for all of the script, check me out on Twitter: #PickoftheBrownBag.

Strange Academy isn't the kind of book I normally buy.  It's a magic based story number one.  It's Marvel's answer to Harry Potter number two, but this charmer is a keeper.

Some of the scenes are so adorable that they can kill you.

Oh.  A floaty puppy on page one.  That's so...so...excuse me a moment.

The previews for Strange Academy have been everywhere, but they don't do the book any justice.  Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado offer a lush, organic tapestry of aesthetically winning illustration.  

  

The cohesive visual narrative establishes plot, setting and cast.  Writer Skottie Young follows our young puppy pilot through the ages.  Her good-natured practice of magic unwittingly leads to a dark threat.  Tolkein in nature.  Fortunately, the adult wizards and witches of the Marvel Universe are paying attention.

That's Zelma Stanton from Doctor Strange, but you don't need to know her history.  Young, Ramos and Delgado inform through the dialogue and the design.  

Zelma makes a straightforward pitch to Emily's parents.  I admired the honesty.

It's a refreshing change from the cryptic nonsense that I'm used to seeing from magic-based stories.  Emily's parents agree.  Zelma transports Emily to Strange Academy.

The grounds get a deserved double-page spread with a range that a scan will just undermine.  So, I'm not even going to try.

At the school, Young delves into Marvel's magical realms to find students with familiar backgrounds.  The cast is new.  Their origins not.  

The class consists of the human Emily, Asgardian Venture Brothers, an expressive fairy, son of Dormammu and more.  All except the Frost Giant sparkle with personality.  The faculty are recognizable alumni as the previews suggested.

Of course you also get Dr. Voodoo, a bemused Scarlet Witch and Dr. Strange his own bad self.  Benedict Cumberbatch is the best thing that ever happened to Dr. Strange.  He's made Strange approachable, and that's the Strange you get here.  You can't imagine the Dr. Strange from years past heading a kids school.  Strange Academy ironically feels natural.

On the starship Charon, a diplomatic situation goes horribly wrong.  

This forces Captain Riggs into doing something drastic.

Riggs and the crew of the crew of the Charon mistake Tony Chu to be a culinary master.  When in fact, he is a Cibopath.  

As you can see, if you don't know beans about Chew, you're in good hands as the creators of the story John Layman and Rob Guillory quickly and painlessly give you the basics as well as the color.

If you're a Chew fan but don't know beans about The Outer Darkness, you get a crash course from creators John Layman and Afu Chan.

This explains why you wouldn't want to stay in the Outer Darkness universe for very long.  Heck, even a second.  

It's the antithesis of Star Trek. The occult and science merge in the Outer Darkness, and there aren't any Orion Slave Girls.  Just death, death and more death.

When the great minds of the Marvel Universe band together to create the Antilion, somebody sabotages the project and frames Doctor Doom for the crime.  Now, Doom is on the run, but he's got company.

Kang is somehow related to Doom.  We don't know how, but the thread's been carried through decades of the Marvel Universe.  Writer Christopher Cantwell relishes the opportunity to make gags about the convolutions during Doom's and Kang's cross-country escapade.

Doctor Doom thus emerges as a bizarre send up of old time Bing Crosby and Bob Hope films.  They were always on the road to somewhere.

The same goes for Kang and Doom.  Of course, this isn't exactly all laughs.

Some, but not all.  Kang and Doom dope out how to put the kibosh on a black hole created by the Antilion sabotage.  The solution actually has some scientific teeth to it.

You may ask why Doom and Kang would bother.  Cause you can't conquer a planet if it isn't there.  

The amusing story features some satisfying murder, an abbreviated fight with a Marvel mercenary and oddly enough a Ghost Rider villain and a bizarre guest appearance by Thomas Magnum as played by...Timothy Olyphant.

It should come as no surprise that Doctor Who gives you everything you want in a team-up of incarnations: the current Whittaker Doctor and the Tennant Doctor.  Written with a spritely touch by Jody Houser and injected with oomph through the art of Roberta Ingranata, Doctor Who is that crisp, refreshing breeze on a sunny day.

The story takes place when the Weeping Angels ambushed the Tennant Doctor and Martha Jones.  The "kindest of psychopaths" sent the duo back in time to 1969, to die of old age, whilst they inched closer to capture the TARDIS.  Of course, the Angels failed, and maybe that's why there's another Weeping Angel in 1969 out to seek revenge.

You'll note that Yaz takes the lead while the Doctor's away.  The current Doctor and Martha Jones investigate disappearances in the locality.  They first return to the shop in which Martha secured a job.  Soon, they get to the bottom of things.

And no, I won't be talking about the second Doctor Who baddie.  The Angels have the cover.  So, identifying them is no spoiler.  

In addition to the double trouble, gags galore abound, the Tennant Doctor gets used to the new look TARDIS and the Whittaker Doctor plays defense against her thicker younger self to spare Martha any further discomfort.

Martha fell in love with the Doctor.  A gender switch isn't enough to quell feelings the Doctor is now aware of.

Martha as I said in the previous review is really going to be the one that hurts the most during the caper.  She's not going to remember anything when the timelines realign.  That may be for the best.  It's never the less sweet that the Doctor cares about Martha's feelings as much as she cares about what's attacking in 1969.

Black Cat needs to steal a painting for her former mentor the Black Fox.  This drops her into Madripoor and the home of Mr. Patch whom she discovers is her old friend Wolverine.  Alas, a snotty boy billionaire jerk named Kilgore Kade stole Wolverine's possessions.  Black Cat promises to steal them all back and to make a fine point, she snatches his shades.

Touché.  This however puts Wolverine and the Cat on the run in Madripoor.  There's naturally a bounty on their heads.

There's more comedy where that came from.  Backed by the spectacularly bouncy art of Kris Anka, Jed MacKay delights in the mismatched pair's interaction.  He takes unusual pleasure in the comedic regenerative powers of Wolverine and surprise guest star Deadpool.

Yeah.  I spoiled that one because anything that directs you to Black Cat is a good thing.  This laugh aloud funny issue also demonstrates Cat's skills as an arch thief and planner. MacKay parallels the present day with the past.

Introducing elements intimated in previous issues and granting some depth to Black Cat's current nemesis.  As well as the Black Fox who was just a one-off Spider-Man annoyance.

The Black Cat is but one of the guest stars in Conan and the Battle for the Serpent Crown.  Khulan Gath transported Conan to the present, or so he thinks, and the Cimmerian has been getting into all sorts of trouble.  Some of it heroic, like stopping human trafficking in Savage Avengers Annual.  Some of it not so much.

Black Cat stole the jewels Conan and companion thief Nyla intended to steal.  He's determined to get them back.

So begins the chase.  Whether you're a fan of any of the Barbarian series or not, you must acknowledge an ornate attention toward dynamic anatomy.  Luke Ross and Nolan Woodard provide strong artwork fitting for the history of Conan's comic book exploits.  

The story by Saladin Ahmed is comedic, largely due to the Black Cat as well as Barbarian out of Hyborea humor.  However, once you get used to the novelty of Conan in the twenty-first century, you can appreciate that this is actually an operatic drama with a tenor fiend behind the whole ordeal.

Hired as bodyguards, Dark Agnes and Etienne accompany Sister Marie and Helen on a coach ride that's interrupted by brigands.  They're hot for the money Agnes' carcass will fetch.  This allows for some superb swashbuckling art from Luca Pizzari.

Upon arriving at court, Agnes renews and old friendship and learns of an old enemy.  

Becky Cloonan's story is rich in character and plot.  She takes two solid set pieces and uses them to reintroduce characters and weave a good murder mystery.  

She also makes small talk interesting during the lull periods where you just enjoy the scenery and the costuming.

Red Sonja must petition for food to feed her war-torn people of Hyrkania.  She does so at the throne of the man who murdered her mentor Domo.  Her companion who is far better with diplomacy strikes a bargain that saves their lives.

Mark Russell's anachronistic dialogue provides a lot of lightness and humor.  He also presents some slapstick comedy from an untrained army.  Meanwhile, a reflective Sonja reflects upon the nature of the world, and finds it unforgiving.  The weight of victory lies heavy on her shoulders.

At the same time, Russell looks upon Isolde, regent of Hyrkania, ruling in a time of scarcity.   This parallel thread is a horror story dropping the mic with a nasty twist. 

Bob Q eschews cheesecake when depicting Sonja.  His emphasis on muscle over curves may upset some faithful fans, but his take on Sonja is just as valid as the wild Frank Thorne She-Devil with a Sword or Carlos Gomez's tribute to pin-ups and pulchritude.