POBB February 1, 2017

Pick of the Brown Bag

February 1, 2017

by

Ray Tate

This week in the POBB, I review Batman, Big Trouble in Little China/Escape from New York, Doctor Who, Flash Gordon, Green Lanterns, Superman and The Unstoppable Wasp, but first a spoiler-free review of… 

Resident Evil: the Final Chapter

Milla Jovovich conducts her last violent ballet for one of the most successful horror franchises in the history of the genre.  Those wanting to see Jovovich in action as queen badass Alice will certainly not be disappointed.  As with every subsequent Resident Evil chapter, the filmmakers successfully shuffle allusions to the first film to create fresh terror and induce unexpected wincing.  In this way, a Resident Evil movie possesses a distinct look and mythology.  

Familiar faces like Ali Larter, as an assured Claire Redfield, rejoin a cast of new zombie fighters, who can and will die at any time.  Nobody is sacrosanct.  The plot to this story is more textured.  The cast and crew planted the seeds for the finale long ago.  As a result, Resident Evil The Final Chapter feels natural.  The dominoes of story evolution fall in the only way they can and that leads to satisfaction.

It all started with Bobby Liu, the parallel earth version of Wang Chi from Big Trouble in Little China using a magic scroll to call forth Snake Plissken.  He ends up with Jack Burton pulled into Snake’s, post apocalyptic future.  Jack however isn’t alone.

Although oblivious to the fact, Jack is being haunted by David Lo Pan, the Big Bad he killed in Big Trouble.  He also finds that he has a relationship with Snake Plissken that explains his presence.

Snake does eventually show up, and he throws in with the good guys after learning the opposite side kidnapped Blind Apple Mary, Snake’s favorite singer.  Through her music, the songstress provided succor during the war Snake fought.  

Snake and Jack succeed in their task, but David Lo Pan steals the scroll and unleashes the Snakes of War from multiple universes to kill Jack Burton and Plissken should he get in the way.  Jack and Snake even make it out alive after these myriad confrontations.  In the end only one alternate Snake lives.

Last issue, anti-hero Bob Hauk, migrant from Escape from New York, played along with the good guys until he was able to steal Blind Apple Mary’s guitar.  His real goal.  This puzzled me for a moment, but thankfully, I was supposed to be puzzled.

It turns out that though Blind Apple Mary has the talent, the guitar is magic and clears the path to celebrity.  That kind of power leads to some escalating surprises in the plot that gels with the free-wheeling comedy of Big Trouble in Little China.  The fact that Hauk turned on everybody fits in with Snake’s opinion of the antagonist in Escape from New York.  All in all, it’s a superior issue from a recommended series that should please fans of both films.

Things get worse for the Defenders of the Earth as Ming transplants Mongo piece by piece to our planet while resuming his unwelcome gamesmanship with Flash Gordon, Dale Arden and Professor Zarkov.  He’s not really concerned with the Phantoms, Mandrake or even Jungle Jim, a literal thorn in Ming’s side.  They just happen to be Flash’s allies.  Therefore, fair game.

Ming’s capricious playful nature is utterly entertaining, and his strategies, in collusion with mischievously lethal Princess Aura, exhibits arch guile.  Ming doesn’t just anticipate his opponents’ next moves, he uses their strengths against them while setting up complex tactics.

At the same time, writer Jeff Parker never forgets that Ming is serious threat.  This he emphasizes by juxtaposing the fantastical battle with the down to earth scene of a little girl being terrorized by the news broadcast on her old timey radio, a visual callback to the radio serials of yore.  One that artist Jesse Hamm nails.

In the latest issue of the mucho meta Time Surgeon, our title champion and his assistant Nurse Kara battle the Minister and the Deathroids while artist Val Kent and writer Sonny Robinson bicker.  

The creative team's divide grows ever wider despite working from the same office, and things draw to a slow simmer as they attend a comic-con.  A trip to the men’s room however proves anything but.

Yes.  It turns out that you're really reading an issue of Doctor Who.
  

But then you knew that, right?  Robinson based The Time Surgeon on the urban legend of the Doctor.  First researched by the hapless Clive in the premiere of the new series with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper in "Rose."

The Doctor gets wind of the Time Surgeon and decides his portrayal is too limited.  Only the Doctor would refer to the punk-haired, tattooed, Goth-enameled Time Surgeon as a dandy.  Flattered despite his dialogue, the Doctor takes artist and writer on a whirlwind tour of the universe.

There's a ton of things to appreciate in this issue of Doctor Who.  In addition to contributing the hilarious pastiches of the Doctor and Clara, actual artist Rachael Stott redesigns the Daleks with Nazi helmets.  The Master imitation the Minister resembles Henry Gordon Jago, one of the Doctor's allies from the classic series episode "Talons of Weng-Chiang," also known as "The One with the Giant Rat."

Writer Robbie Morrison and Stott include an allusion to Wonder Woman, that fits the Doctor's cosmos and his style.  What’s most remarkable about this whole enterprise is that the issue seems like a done-in-one place holder.  It seems like the story's going to be just a pleasant bit of comedic fluff, but then something outré happens, a dramatic cliffhanger.  Doctor Who is an actual two-part story folks and not to be easily dismissed.

I get the feeling that Peter Tomasi meant Superman to be epic, the equivalent of Batman’s pursuit for a method to resurrect his son Damien.  You just sense that there are parts missing to this story.  I suspect that the upcoming Big Stupid Events of Superman Blue and Superman Red probably scotched Tomasi’s original plans.  He had to nip and tuck.  It’s a testament to Tomasi’s skill that Superman is nevertheless pretty darn good.

For those that came in late, a Big Bad named the Prophet has been collecting multiverse Supermen, and in this issue, we discover why.

Ah-Hah.  So the Prophet is a hero in his own mind.  Traditionally, Prophet would have merited at least a few pages artistically detailing a narrative of his rationale.   I would have liked to have seen the Prophet and his motives expanded optically in the story rather than summarized in dialogue.

That goes likewise for Justice League Incarnate.  They should have been fleshed out more.  In the previous issue, Superman and company visit the worlds of other Supermen.  Each visit should have been an issue with an away team that interacted on different levels.  Maybe Tomasi originally intended that.  Still, there's a lot in this book's favor.

Prophet is a fan of Doctor Who.  I say this because his exploitation of the depowered Supermen is particularly Dalek-like and also reflective of his arrogance.  The gun-toting assassin Superman from a previous issue demonstrates remarkable loyalty and feeling for his fallen comrades.  Captain Carrot bizarrely gets a spotlight, and there's something uplifting in watching all these Supermen fight back.

On the flip-side, I can't believe any Superman would lose hope no matter how long the imprisonment.  Superman and Supergirl are all about hope.  The sacrifice of one hero is impressively illustrated, and it's befitting the nature of the hero that he is the one that dies.  In contrast, the homage to Crisis on Infinite Earths is just an eye-rolling moment.  It probably should have been eliminated from the final draft.

Well, this is the weirdest episode of My Three Sons  that I’ve ever seen.  Seriously, though Tom King’s Batman is as awesome as previous issues.  The jumping-on reminder of the status quo is a delicious hors d’oeuvre to the main course: the rematch between Bane and Batman.

The story begins with a Bane acolyte attempting to assassinate Batman and retrieve the Psycho Pirate from Batman's custody.  If you missed out on the amazing "I am Suicide," don't worry.  King summarizes the point of it all in dialogue.

In this case dialogue is preferred over flashback.  The chap with the eloquence is the Bronze Tiger.  In the first DC multiverse, the Bronze Tiger murdered Kathy Kane, the original Batwoman.  Batman and he naturally became bitter enemies.  Batman intended to battle Bronze Tiger to the death.  Fortunately, he was saved from becoming an executioner by Talia and Ra's Al Ghul who had a score to settle with the Tiger's Sensei and his men.  The post-Crisis expunged Kathy Kane from the DCU.  So none of this story from that perspective happened, and the Bronze Tiger instead became a member of the Suicide Squad.  Tom King recreated the Bronze Tiger for the new 52.  Not only is he a friend of the Batman, The Tiger also knows his secret identity.

From Arkham Asylum, Batman calls in his sons and his new associate Duke Thomas for a meeting.  As you can see, Batman's sons decide to relocate the meeting to a different venue, other than the Cave.  The result is uproarious.  Incidentally, you can argue that Dick Grayson and Jason Todd aren't Batman's sons if you want.  I'm not listening.  Batman assembled his team for a simple reason.

The next encounter involves Catwoman.

  

Catwoman also joined Batman and the Bronze Tiger to breach Santa Prisca and abduct the Psycho Pirate.  Batman's and Catwoman's relationship recently suffered a blow.  Catwoman is wanted by the authorities for crimes she didn't commit.  Because of the extenuating circumstances, she nevertheless feels partially responsible for those crimes and is willing to accept the extreme consequences should she ever face them.  All to keep a precious secret.

Batman discovered the truth last issue.  Therefore, Batman will not act on the law's behalf.  A lot of people may be surprised to see Batman flagrantly defying the law.  Quite a few readers think of Batman as a law enforcement officer, but his behavior as King transcribes gibes with the intent of the new 52 from the very beginning.

Justice League #1

Although Batman and the law reached a detente.  He is nevertheless a free agent.  He is not bound by the protocol of law enforcement.  Batman and the police use each other.  He is friends with Gordon, but don't mistake that for obedience on either front.  The story winds down with Batman about to take Gotham Girl to her first session with the Psycho Pirate only to discover a grim calling card hanging in the cave.  Once again, Tom King's Batman has everything, and returning artist David Finch brings King's directives to life in spades.  This is especially true when Catwoman saunters onto the stage.  The sexual tension crackles.

Batman guest-stars in Green Lanterns.  Though writer Sam Humphries suggests that perhaps it's the other way around.  Batman's personality and experience overwhelms the focus of the book.  That however is fitting.  Batman's potent magnetism should draw the attention.  The story begins in the middle of a fight.

Batman isn't however battling a criminal of any kind.  The man with the bat is an ordinary citizen.  Therein lies Batman's problem and why he invited the Green Lanterns to Gotham City.  An unprecedented contrast to the way the Powers That Be portrayed Batman in the previous universe.  Batman's motto there on a good day was "Will you get out of my city?"  Normally, it would be "Get the hell out of my city!"  This attack on Batman isn't an isolated incident.

With a suspect in mind, Batman thus did the most logical thing.  He called in the heroes most familiar with the criminals.  The Lanterns, but Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz doubt Batman's theory.

This difference in deductive reasoning doesn't result in a fistfight.  Batman and Baz almost come to blows over something else.

Geoff Johns created Simon Baz to positively represent Middle-Eastern Americans.  I think it's fantastic that Batman doesn't have a problem with Baz's ethnicity or religion.  His penchant for carrying a sidearm irritates he and Gordon.  Humphries could have made Baz perfect, but he instead characterizes s a deeply flawed individual, and it becomes almost hilarious that the least offensive thing about Baz is his ethnicity and his religion.  There's just so much more to Baz that can get on your nerves.  He's an arrogant cuss.  He just equated his gun with Robin.  He doesn't listen to reason.  He makes Batman remember his parents' death.  Etcetera, etcetera.  This is such a terrific little surprise.  The Green Lanterns are Batman's colleagues in the Justice League, but you never expected a proper team-up, despite Batman appearing in a previous cameo.

In the second winning issue of The Unstoppable Wasp, Nadia Pym meets her new gentleman’s gentleman; then goes on to carry out her plan to recruit the smartest girls in the world as a positive message about gender equality.  She's out to prove that the list of the smartest people in the Marvel Universe is artificially skewed toward the male of the species.

Writer Jeremy Whitley portrays Nadia as the female equivalent of a mad professor.  The thinking without pants comment is something a real genius might say.  Her cluttered surroundings are a classic trope if not truism of scientists, as is her semi-successful brainstorms.

I like the whole theme of congruence, making a female scientist as frazzled and flakey as a male scientist.  If ever we get a female Doctor, I’d expect her to be just a intense, brilliant and/or eccentric as the male Doctors.  Nadia’s first subject is Tania Miranda.  Tania's intellect becomes evident when Nadia spots her street hockey playing sister smacking around the referee.  

In each panel exuberance and intelligence visually expressed by artist Elsa Charretier are the watchwords.  Whitley and Charretier portray these women as insatiably curious and Nadia full of manic energy, again traits of male brilliance.

Throughout this story, Nadia’s voice becomes incredibly distinctive.  She’s a Russian emigre, and I imagine her accent to be Georgian.  Her vocals are very light and bouncy, underscored with humor.  Think of a softer-sounding Xenia Onatopp doing stand-up, and you've got the idea.

POBB January 25, 2017

Pick of the Brown Bag

January 25, 2017

by

Ray Tate

Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag, in this weekly blog I review the best and worst of comic books.  This time around it’s a team-up bonanza including Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman and Wonder Woman, Future Quest, Scooby-Doo Team-Up and Wonder Woman and the Bionic Woman.

Jan 22,1940-January 25, 2017

Always, remember.  He was the Doctor.

Events progress rapidly in Future Quest.  Writer Jeff Parker hops us from a gun battle against FEAR...

...to the resurrection of Frankenstein Jr.

Parker introduced Frankie as a large but not kaiju sized robot.  He served as Buzz's combination babysitter and security guard.  Like Race Bannon only metal.  In this issue of Future Quest, Parker conjectures an interesting origin story for the bot and boy partnership.  It's a very cool twist that answers the important question of why.

Meanwhile the Impossibles speed to Space Ghost's rescue, away from the giant monster that's the cause of all this turmoil.  Similar to what happened in 2014's Godzilla, the feel good movie of the summer, the heroes discover their troubles have doubled.

This leads to some appealing moments fans of Hanna-Barbera cartoons couldn't have even dreamed of that include mash-ups involving deputization, reunified science forces, a clever escape from another dimension, a combined force assault and a surprising yet foreshadowed turn at the cliffhanger.

In Scooby-Doo Team-Up the Gang attend a rock concert starring the singing Impossibles.  

Can the crimefighting Impossibles be far behind? Not when there’s an amok Frankenstein Jr. about ripping apart the stadium and terrorizing innocent teenyboppers.  

I realize that for some, even comic book aficionados, I’m speaking gibberish.  So click on the link to wikipedia for a primer.  I’ll wait for you.  Back? Good. 

Scholly Fish and Dave Alvarez create a mostly amusing mash up in which the Impossibles find an opponent that they cannot beat.

Scooby and the gang however are mostly witnesses.  The solution requires no clever deductions or sleuthing.  They do however provide a unique purpose to the plot.  

The Meddling Kids ironically become the adults to convince kid genius Buzz Conroy that he must sacrifice Frankenstein Jr. for the greater good.  Ultimately, this unusual element combined with mostly strong model-adherent artwork and the groovy demonstration of the Impossibles’ powers makes Scooby-Doo Team-Up a worthwhile purchase.

Batman tracked down escaped Arkham Asylum criminals to a parallel earth protected by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  The Dark Knight called in Robin who brought Batgirl and off the Batman Family went to retrieve Gotham’s most dangerous.

The Turtles at first mistook the Batman Family for monsters, which is fair.  That's exactly why Batman dresses as a giant bat.  Since then, they buried the hatchet and combined force to fight Snakeweed, a giant plant creature from the Turtles’ Rogues Gallery controlled by Poison Ivy. 

The fight serves as the centerpiece, and it’s a good one with superb Batman the Animated Series stylization courtesy of John Sommariva and Sean Parsons.

The dialogue between Turtles and Batman Family generates lots of humor, as does the further exploration of Turtle mythology specifically by Batgirl.

When Batman takes over and splits the groups into away teams, the comedy continues in unexpected avenues.  In addition, there’s a definite uptick to the threat-level facing the Turtles.  The writers cast our our favorite half-shell heroes as innocents.  The Turtles never encountered foes like Batman's enemies.  The comic book exemplifies how deadly these maniacs can be.  

The latest issue of Batman 66 begins with Catwoman stealing a valuable book from a private collection.  Pay attention to the scene because there's perfect communication between writers Jeff parker and Marc Andreyko with artist David Hahn.

Foiled by Batman, Catwoman makes a deal that directly involves her sly actions.  With clue in hand, Batman returns to the Batcave.  Here, the time of this book's setting becomes important.

The lion's share of the story takes place when young Bruce Wayne attended the charity auction held by his parents.  There Bruce meets Talia and her father Ra's Al Ghul.

Hahn's depiction of children is excellent, and the personality he gives to Bruce and Talia heralds the man and woman they'll become.  There's furthermore much to be said for allowing characters to age in this series.  The element creates an intrinsic logic.  Bruce and Talia encountering each other as children establishes their historical attraction.  

Bruce being a child in the World War II era grants Batman greater depth because it implies a lived twenty-two years.  Whenever you reboot a character, no matter how strong a reboot, the character's past still becomes ambiguous.  History then can be considered a constant with respect to the plot.  In addition the mortality of the main characters fosters a purely fictional conceit.  Immortality.

Bruce first encounters Wonder Woman as a child.  A superb depiction of Lynda Carter by Hahn.  Wonder Woman is on hand to stop the Nazis from getting their hands on the books.   The Axis believes these treasures will allow them to secure ancient knowledge that will win them the war.  

Although this rationale may seem far-fetched, Hitler actually did collect artifacts and tomes from all around the world.  He even orchestrated numerous archaeological digs that any Raiders of the Ark fan will recognize.  Hitler's goals were in no way laudable.  The mass murderer sponsored expeditions to find proof that the legacy of the Aryans first proposed long ago by Victorian charlatan Madame Blavatsky flowed in German blood.

Our familiar Washington colleagues are on hand to prevent the Nazis from obtaining the books and so by pure chance, why even coinky-dink is Wonder Woman.

Not only does Batman 66 give us the Wonder Woman from 77 but also the Wonder Woman from the 1940s.  This is indeed a pleasant and apropos treat. 

In the second issue of Wonder Woman's and the Bionic Woman's team-up, writer Any Mangels ends Joe Atkinson, the mostly useless head of IADC.  Thus, he gives an unofficial explanation for Atkinson's absence from season three of Wonder Woman.  At the service, Wonder Woman and the Bionic Woman meet again, and Jaime tries to get her to level with her.

The ladies' partnership immediately becomes effective when Steve seems to be unconsciously cluing into Diana's closeness to Wonder Woman.

Steve isn't so much a dullard as he is a recipient of Amazon persuasion.  In the first episode of Wonder Woman's second season, a descendent of the original Steve Trevor washes ashore on Paradise Island.  

The Amazons heal his body and mind.  They also use hypnosis either magical or scientifically advanced to convince Steve that Diana and Wonder Woman could not possibly be the same woman.  It's incidentally not brainwashing.  Brainwashing is a system of torture involving drugs, starvation and physical abuse to make the victim compliant.  The Amazons would find such crime abhorrent.

After this fun little exchange livens up an exposition filled meeting, Jaime and Diana attend their rendezvous where Jaime learns another very cool secret about Wonder Woman.

And Wow to Judit Tondera's artwork as well as the pastel look of Richard Pilcz's colors.  Totally fitting with the tone of the comic book.  More comedic observation and an appreciation of cool toys leads to a fan-favorite move from Wonder Woman.

Every fan of the television series loves Wonder Woman's aquatic look.  This is the only time when it's acceptable to give Wonder Woman a costume with pants.

In addition to these fine factors, Wonder Woman and the Bionic Woman harbors fugitives, expected and unexpected, from the Wonder Woman and Bionic Woman television series.  This includes a character introduced on Wonder Woman and transmogrified into a bona fide Wonder Woman comic book nemesis.  Who will Dr. Solano's henchwench Gloria become?

Portrayed by Jessica Walter

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The New Dr. Cyber