Pick of the Brown Bag
July 6, 2020
by
Ray Tate
Farewell to the maestro.
Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag, this time around, it's Avengers Empire. I would refer to Empire as Empire with a Y, but the spellcheck just hates that. Any time I go back to edit, it thoughtfully corrects my error. I also don't think Empire with a Y deserves being learned. It's not even real English. It's like Pig-Brit. So herein, it's Avengers Empire.
Empire is the Big Stupid Event of the Marvel comic book season. The Kree and the Skrull put aside their differences to exterminate the Cotati. That's a lot like Superman and Lex Luthor getting together to expunge hippies.
If you don't know who the Cotati are, don't worry about it, because baby, they are obscure. They're a sentient plant species that thrived in the Kree solar system and play a part in the 1970s Avengers saga of the Celestial Madonna.
Stop me if you've heard this one before. Steve Englehart and Don Heck create a Vietnamese female master of the martial arts. So far so good. Inclusive and bad ass.
Dubbed Mantis, she learns her skills from renegade Kree priests. The Priests of Pama unlike the bellicose Kree seek peace and harmony. They don't get it, but they seek it.
In this pursuit they tend to the Cotati. So, basically, they're alien Buddhist gardeners who strike a home on earth only to be harassed by the warlike Kree.
That's not too nutty. I mean we are talking about comic books. Englehart and Heck could have just made Mantis a really dangerous Buddhist monk, but I guess that would be too much like Kung-Fu.
That's not too nutty. I mean we are talking about comic books. Englehart and Heck could have just made Mantis a really dangerous Buddhist monk, but I guess that would be too much like Kung-Fu.
The priests train Mantis because they believe her to be the Celestial Madonna. Okay. Now, we're getting into trippy territory.
Why not train the girl, just because? Why do you need a scuzzy ulterior New Age motive? Kung-Fu sometimes featured a female Buddhist monk, and the Shaolin trained the girl just because.
You can argue that Englehart and Heck presented a hero in rebellion against her destiny. I've heard that position before, as well as Mantis eventually freely choosing that destiny. Honestly though, I find the whole Mantis/Celestial Madonna thing kind of sleazy.
Englehart and Heck produced the perfect mate for Mantis. A dead guy reanimated by the Cotati, who returns at an opportune moment in Avengers Empire.
I never thought that much of the Swordsman. Cheapjack Black Knight, nine times out of ten a super-villain betraying the Avengers. Now, with fungus.
So, let me just tick off the boxes. Despite everything accomplished, woman's only importance is to be a vessel. Check. Necrophilia. Check. Plant-Animal Loving. Why not. Check.
Englehart wanted to see his plan fruit so badly that when he left Marvel, he completed his masterstroke in Justice League. Here, he and the phenomenally underrated Dick Dillin presented the consummation.
That's just weird. Not the sex scene itself. Just the idea of going to another company and saying, "At last! Now I can orchestrate the sex scene between Mantis and her Ficus!"
Willow as Englehart christened her in the DC Universe furthermore enamored every male Justice Leaguer on that mission. Essentially, she became the femme version of Eros.
After producing the Celestial Messiah this time at Marvel Comics, Mantis went on to become an even more highly confusing character. She turned green. I guess because she made it with a plant. She sported some antenna. Because artists mistook hair sprayed and shaped into antenna as literal antenna.
Mantis though is a human being. That was the whole point. Forging her into the ideal mortal vase for the perfect rose bush grown on fertilizer.
It's no wonder James Gunn and the writers of Guardians of the Galaxy thought Mantis was an alien.
Empire continues the shaky claim of saga for the Cotati. The tale begins when Iron Man mimics his cinematic counterpart and dreams of the Cotati slaughter on the Blue Area of the Moon.
Captain Marvel also gets an SOS from the Celestial Brain, whatever that is, and before you know it, we're off to the moon.
I'm not wild about Avengers Empire. Addressing the plight of the Cotati and a dubious alliance between Kree and Skrull just seems perfunctory. As I pointed out I wasn't a fan of the Celestial Madonna business either. So I admit to being bias about the continuation of a storyline that should have died some time ago.
That said, Al Ewing does give me a better She-Hulk than I've seen recently. The last version of She-Hulk I loved served as part of A-Force. This dumber, pumped up one is better than the Gray She-Hulk in that dopey mini-series and Jason Aaron's debut She-Hulk.
I also like Ewing's treatment of Thor. He's very cosmic, expressing the age and wisdom of an ancient alien. He may not be as knowledgable as Tony, but like his counterpart in cinema, he's no dummy.
Ewing had the opportunity to write for Captain Marvel before, but that was during a period that she started a second Civil War, or something. She and Black Panther set at each other's throats. It's nice to see Ewing's Captain Marvel without any drama. Save that inexplicably brought up by Iron Man.
What the hell, Tony. I also question given that line the colorist giving Carol's nose a boozy red sheen. Nobody else gets a boozy red nose. Just Carol. Iron Man also delivers the Avengers Assemble speech, and that just feels wrong when Cap is on hand. Maybe Ewing just wanted to experiment with something novel. Not every experiment succeeds.
Why not train the girl, just because? Why do you need a scuzzy ulterior New Age motive? Kung-Fu sometimes featured a female Buddhist monk, and the Shaolin trained the girl just because.
You can argue that Englehart and Heck presented a hero in rebellion against her destiny. I've heard that position before, as well as Mantis eventually freely choosing that destiny. Honestly though, I find the whole Mantis/Celestial Madonna thing kind of sleazy.
Englehart and Heck produced the perfect mate for Mantis. A dead guy reanimated by the Cotati, who returns at an opportune moment in Avengers Empire.
I never thought that much of the Swordsman. Cheapjack Black Knight, nine times out of ten a super-villain betraying the Avengers. Now, with fungus.
So, let me just tick off the boxes. Despite everything accomplished, woman's only importance is to be a vessel. Check. Necrophilia. Check. Plant-Animal Loving. Why not. Check.
Englehart wanted to see his plan fruit so badly that when he left Marvel, he completed his masterstroke in Justice League. Here, he and the phenomenally underrated Dick Dillin presented the consummation.
Willow as Englehart christened her in the DC Universe furthermore enamored every male Justice Leaguer on that mission. Essentially, she became the femme version of Eros.
I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way.
After producing the Celestial Messiah this time at Marvel Comics, Mantis went on to become an even more highly confusing character. She turned green. I guess because she made it with a plant. She sported some antenna. Because artists mistook hair sprayed and shaped into antenna as literal antenna.
Mantis though is a human being. That was the whole point. Forging her into the ideal mortal vase for the perfect rose bush grown on fertilizer.
It's no wonder James Gunn and the writers of Guardians of the Galaxy thought Mantis was an alien.
Empire continues the shaky claim of saga for the Cotati. The tale begins when Iron Man mimics his cinematic counterpart and dreams of the Cotati slaughter on the Blue Area of the Moon.
Captain Marvel also gets an SOS from the Celestial Brain, whatever that is, and before you know it, we're off to the moon.
I'm not wild about Avengers Empire. Addressing the plight of the Cotati and a dubious alliance between Kree and Skrull just seems perfunctory. As I pointed out I wasn't a fan of the Celestial Madonna business either. So I admit to being bias about the continuation of a storyline that should have died some time ago.
That said, Al Ewing does give me a better She-Hulk than I've seen recently. The last version of She-Hulk I loved served as part of A-Force. This dumber, pumped up one is better than the Gray She-Hulk in that dopey mini-series and Jason Aaron's debut She-Hulk.
I also like Ewing's treatment of Thor. He's very cosmic, expressing the age and wisdom of an ancient alien. He may not be as knowledgable as Tony, but like his counterpart in cinema, he's no dummy.
Ewing had the opportunity to write for Captain Marvel before, but that was during a period that she started a second Civil War, or something. She and Black Panther set at each other's throats. It's nice to see Ewing's Captain Marvel without any drama. Save that inexplicably brought up by Iron Man.
What the hell, Tony. I also question given that line the colorist giving Carol's nose a boozy red sheen. Nobody else gets a boozy red nose. Just Carol. Iron Man also delivers the Avengers Assemble speech, and that just feels wrong when Cap is on hand. Maybe Ewing just wanted to experiment with something novel. Not every experiment succeeds.
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