POBB November 23, 2017

Pick of the Brown Bag 

November 23, 2017

by

Ray Tate

This week in the Pick of the Brown Bag I look at All-New Wolverine, Apocalypse Girl, Batgirl, The Demon: Hell Is Earth, Doomsday Clock, James Bond: Solstice, Motor Girl, Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Sheena, Simpsons Comics and Wynonna Earp.  If you haven't time to experience the full POBB, I'm also on Twitter: #PickoftheBrownBag.

Before we begin, I'd like to ask you to write a letter supporting Net Neutrality.  Republican.  Democrat.  Religious.  Secular.  Protecting Net Neutrality affects everybody.  I realize that the psychopath in charge of the FCC Ajit Pai is likely to ignore your letters and go forward, but there are four commissioners who may listen.  They have a vote.  They can sway the future.  I've already written my letters.  Here's the process and the link.

Dear Consumer,

If you wish to share your views regarding the FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom proceeding, you may submit a public comment by going to www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express.

Enter the number 17-108 in the first field, which is called Proceeding. On the same screen, you can type your comment and submit it to the FCC. Your comment will be part of the FCC's official record in this proceeding.

Thank you

I also sent original letters to the commissioners' personal e-mail boxes.  Whether or not my letters will actually get there is anybody's guess.  Had to try.  Here's the site which lists their e-mail addresses.

https://www.fcc.gov/about/contact

Okay.  Enough of that.  Onward to the comic book reviews.

The actual Doomsday Clock began counting down our demise in 1947.  This new series from Geoff Johns, Gary Frank and Brad Anderson is aptly named because the Watchmen earth is about to snuff itself out through nuclear holocaust.

The Watchmen earth is fundamentally different than ours.  Its present day is the product of an alternate history that splits from reality when the United States wins the Vietnam War.  With America never being humbled in the jungle, nobody questions the increasingly authoritarian government.  

Although I never really liked The Watchmen, I always respected the series and saw its underlying message as an indictment of blind faith.  Doomsday Clock isn’t so lofty.  Johns’ story relates the last ditch effort of natural enemies Rorschach and Ozymandias to save their planet.  If these two figures do not seem familiar to you.  Not to worry, Johns and the artists explain them fairly elegantly.

Your knowledge of the Watchmen can be absolute zero, yet from this scene you can discern that Rorschach is something strange and really bad news for criminals. 

Rorschach is loosely based on the Question, one of the Charlton heroes acquired by DC as a gift for Dick Giordano.  Rorschach dies in The Watchmen.  So Johns reinvents him.
  

I suspect that the mask helps define Rorschach and the personality of the wearer completes the entity.  How the mask survived Dr. Manhattan’s decisive execution of the original Rorschach is left for the imagination.  Maybe it’s a new mask cut from the same cloth?  Regardless, Johns makes Rorschach his own.

The hardline Mr. A is another of Rorschach’s inspirations.  Mr. A, also a Ditko creation, cannot accept subjectiveness, even from a watch.  Time is subjective, but Mr. A cannot digest such a fact. It’s unlikely the original Rorschach would have tolerated even a touch of chaos like a broken watch.  

A Shot in the Dark is a classic comedy, the second but pivotal appearance of Blake Edwards’ and Peter Sellers’ Inspector Jacques Clouseau.  Geoff Johns must have seen the film, and the scene of poor synchronization in Shot probably inspired Rorschach’s watch failure in Doomsday Clock.  The running gag somewhat alleviates the dark mood.  Johns though manipulates the pacing in the dialogue about the timepiece to turn what could have been pure, albeit unoriginal, laughs into something a little on the fresh quirky side.  

The slow watch may also be a meta-joke on the production schedule of Doomsday Clock, since Johns after all foreshadowed the Watchmen discovering the DC Universe with Rebirth.  Johns appeared to suggest Mr. Oz, seen in Rebirth, was Ozymandias in a different form.  He turned out to be somebody else.  Arch Flash Family villain Abracadabra abducted Wally West from history.  The Watchmen were not responsible.  However, Wally West’s breach in time then coincidentally launched a Watchmen button into the Batcave, thus alerting Batman to an enigma.  With the Flash, Batman investigated the button and found evidence of the multiverse theory, first proposed by physicist Erwin Schrodinger, of kitty-kat fame.  

A concrete cosmos proliferated with multiple earths defined the Silver and Bronze Ages of DC.  The post-Crisis destroyed all that.  With the new 52, a new multiverse formed, but Batman and Superman only became aware of a single parallel earth that served as the home of their counterparts' daughter, Helena Wayne, and cousin Power Girl.  Superman’s restoration, already thoroughly dissected elsewhere on this blog, erased knowledge of the multiverse.  Now, in Doomsday Clock, the heroes of the DC Universe will learn what Batman and the Flash discovered.

I must admit to being skeptical about Doomsday Clock, but Johns’ story is intriguing.  His and Gary Frank’s recreations inventive.  Although this first issue features scant DC interaction, that involvement carries gravitas.  Superman has a nightmare.  Superman’s entire history has been remade within the new 52.  So, perhaps he feels the Watchmen incursion more because he was entangled at a quantum level, or perhaps, his instinctive goodness, his pure heroism makes him sensitive to the more nihilistic Watchmen breaching his universe.  These are all fascinating, expansive ideas suggesting that Doomsday Clock will strike with greater impact.

Jack Kirby’s Demon was a champion. He and Jason Blood worked in concert to battle the supernatural evils of the world.  The end.  This changed during the post-Crisis.  The writers of that era favored an antagonistic relationship between Jason Blood and Etrigan.  Etrigan however remained somewhat good or at least chaotic neutral.  He enjoyed mischief more than mayhem against the innocent and fouled the plans of a multitude of Big Bads.  This is especially true of Etrigan, when written by Alan Grant.  

In the new 52, Etrigan and Jason Blood formed an uneasy alliance over a mutual hatred of Merlin, who originally bonded them, and love for Madame Xanadu.  Very little changes in this new series by Andrew Constant, but that little change, which occurs at the end of the first issue is significant indeed.  The story opens with a nightmare vision and Jason Blood attempting to drown out his worries with alcohol.  He’s interrupted by his alter-ego.

The entirety of the story is well executed, if not particularly novel until the cliffhanger.  So, the dialogue is adequate.  The relationship between Jason and Etrigan expected up to that point, and the vision rather nasty, but it’s only a vision.  

Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessey and Chris Sotomayor contribute the artwork.  It's vivid with strong inks and a good visual narrative.  The team then turn their attention to Madame Xanadu.

Hard to believe, but originally, Madame Xanadu was more of a spectator or subtle catalyst in the short lived title Doorway into Nightmare.  She was a Tarot Card reader who occasionally followed her subjects and delivered them gracefully from danger.  Xanadu became more active when she threw in with the Spectre.  Although even before that partnership, George Perez illustrated her completing the circle of magic users that fought against the Anti-Monitor in Crisis on Infinite Earths.  It’s doubtful that Marv Wolfman actually told Perez to include her.  He just did because Perez is a detail man with vast knowledge of the DCU.

In any case, the new 52 turned the immortal Madame Xanadu into Jason Blood’s and the Demon’s lover.  In modern times, she also joined Justice League Dark.  I believe, this new Demon series marks the first time we’ve seen her since Rebirth.  It’s clear that Constant intends to team her up with the Demon to stave off the end of the world.

It’s not exactly groundbreaking to tap into “end times” zeitgeist and stick it in a Demon comic book, but Constant’s debut is quickly paced and well orchestrated to incorporate several tropes of conspiracy nuts.  It’s ultimately a cheerful sort of demonic story because you know that the Demon and Xanadu will stop all the bad from happening, and that cliffhanger pushes the solid storytelling into the next level goodness.

More novel, Apocalypse Girl surprises through the virtue of science fiction.  We first meet the title character Metis in a bunker stocked with food and such.  So, your brain clicks you right to the science fiction section.  This must be the result of nuclear holocaust, but it’s not quite so simple.

Like Demon, Hell is Earth, Apocalypse Girl deals with a Biblical Armageddon.  However, the battle isn’t quite so cut and dry.  Nuclear rules still apply.  Metis for example meets other survivors.

I found the presence of others jarring.  You see, my vague recollection of Christianity, before I discovered atheism, suggested that the apocalypse meant a total annihilation of humanity.  I imagined that to be one fell swoop.  It's one of the reasons I never took these "end times" cults seriously.  They've got it wrong.  From a religious point of view, we're all toast.  From a scientific point of view, it's The Day After.  The lucky ones die instantly at ground zero.  The unlucky ones slowly die from starvation, autoimmune failure and cancer.  No angels.  No Demons.  No God.  No Christ.  No Satan. 

Writer El Torres melds Biblical mythology with the unwitingly optimistic post-apocalyptic survival films such as Damnation Alley.  I could almost buy Metis as the final girl of the Four Horsemen Legend.  But a handful of survivors is too much for this to be a straight-up scorched earth, and that plenty adds to the novelty of the story.

Metis’ next encounter throws out even more of the fundamental literature.  Angels it seems can be hurt and even killed.

That’s weird indeed.  My reading of angels is that they’re celestial constants and beyond harm.  More survivors explain the ins and outs of angels, but even they are surprised when a live one comes down to bid farewell.

Here we learn that just because the protagonist is a teenager doesn’t mean the book is solely for teenagers.  The level of violence, demon gore, as well as nudity, is definitely outside the all-ages range.  The apparent age of the angel may bother some, but angles aren’t really humans anyhow.  This shouldn’t deter you from enjoying an inventive take on the purported end of the earth and its plucky survivors.

“Summer of Lies” finishes in a whimper of mediocrity.  This was such a dull story.  We first visit the past where Robin and Batgirl face the Mad Hatter in a bid to save Barbara’s friend Ainsley.

Ainsley is making drugs for the Mad Hatter, and the Hatter’s selling them.  I suppose that’s an acceptable use for the Hatter, what with the “eat me” business in Alice’s Adventures in Wonder Land and Jefferson Starship, but it’s really a non-starter scheme.  

The Hatter’s all about controlling the minds of people with chapeaus.  He likes to feel the control.  Drugs control people, but the Hatter gets nothing out of it except money.  He can I suppose use that money to buy equipment for his hats, but it just seems perfunctory.  As does his attack of Batgirl with a quill.

Why? Why does he have a quill in the first place? Was he signing autographs?  Why doesn’t he have a hat card? What makes the Hatter dangerous is that if you get near him, he can palm one of his hat cards on you.  Thus, you fall under his thrall.  I guess you can’t have two mind-controlling fruitcakes in one book.

So, the Red Queen—not to be confused with the giallo figure—in the present day suckers Nightwing, he of the weaker mind.  Under the influence of boring artwork which rarely breaks from a single front aimed camera angle, Batgirl frees her friend, beats the Red Queen and doesn’t sleep with Nightwing.  Sorry, Shippers.  You only get a few inches closer to the mattress for your trouble.

I don’t want to see this terrible idea of a couple ever getting together except in an elseworld.  However, I feel that there’s a certain disingenuous tease factor going on to attract those that really want that tryst to happen.  You guys need to give up.  If you’re buying any Batgirl and Nightwing team-up for the desperate hope of bat-night coitus, you’re always going to be disappointed.

Having escaped the Orphans of X, Daken joins Wolverine back at the homestead, where Daken immediately seems to become savage.

In truth, the Orphans of X pull a fast one, but that doesn’t mean you can talk sense into Laura Kinney when she’s full on berserker enraged.

This beautiful moment of expression is courtesy of artist Juann Cabal.  

Last issue, Laura appeared to discover a lost family member, but this current chapter of Wolverine details the extent of the Orphans of X’s reach and the level of technology they employ.  In addition, the cult’s got some tactical chops.

They attacked Daken to attract Laura.  They in turn set up a spy that would also emotionally stab Laura in the heart.  The spy gives them access to what they really want.  Essentially a nuclear weapon to kill Wolverines, which is actually a vital step in defeating the X-Men.  It’s a remarkable chess game, run by writer Tom Taylor.

In previous issues of Sheena, the Queen of the Jungle made a deal with contractors for Cardwell Industries.  She would find their surveyor, and they would not go medieval on the asses of her adopted village.  The person she found instead was Chano, an activist that used drones that Sheena killed to gather evidence of Cardwell’s environmental crimes.  Chano now joins Sheena on her quest.  This issue, the quest leads to The a Temple of the First People.

The Temple guards itself with traps and strange denizens.  The tale starts out with death blossoms.

It moves on with super strong phosphorescent insects.

And acid filled spears.

The art by Moritat and Dimi Macheras blends together seamlessly.  Sheena looks feral, sinewy and powerful in her poise.  The Jungle Queen always provided an opportunity for an artist to shine.  Moritat and Macheras seize the chance and don’t let go.

Marguerite Bennett and Christina Trujillo draw on a unique cadence in Sheena’s dialogue to help characterize her as a wild woman.  At the same time, they show her knowledge of the ways of the jungle to belie a perceived naïveté and ignorance in the savage.  Sheena’s ken in one scene usurps Chano’s understanding through book-learning.

Chano deserves notice as well.  It’s easy to make a male figure weak in the presence of a strong female hero, but Chano is capable.  He’s simply out of his depth.  He’s smart, but Sheena’s experience cannot be countered.  Chano also doesn’t feel threatened by Sheena.  He gladly follows her lead.

In the most recent issue of Season Zero, Beau Smith and Tim Rozon continue the evolution of Wynonna Earp.  Originally, Wynonna started off as a 90s bad girl, but she was atypical due to Smith’s skillful writing and her history; Wynonna is a descendent of Wyatt Earp.  By the time of The Yeti Wars, Wynonna had fully morphed into a more literate bad ass.  In other words, you wouldn’t be hard pressed to find this character in a prose novel.  It’s easy to see how television producers might become attracted to Wynonna.

Melanie Scrofano portrays Wynonna Earp on the series.  So, the comic book Wynonna shed her blonde hair for brunette, grew younger and became a fly weight rather than a bantam weight.  I hope that designation isn’t insulting.  It’s not meant to be.  You’ll see that artist Angel Hernandez pretty much nails Scrofano’s image.

Hernandez however isn’t the only boon to be had from Season Zero of Wynonna Earp. 

Wynonna Earp’s Season Zero started out as kind of a fib.  I expected, and I’m sure other fans felt the same, a kind of prequel to episode one of Wynonna Earp.  That’s not how this played out.  Instead, Smith and Rozon introduced a figure from Wynonna’s past crashing into the present.  

The writers took off on Wynonna’s association with motorcycles, a theme throughout the various comic books, and forged a history with a biker gang known as the Banditos.  The gang also sent up G.I. Joe, with Wynonna taking the place of Scarlett and new character Ray assuming the role of silent, black clad Snake-Eyes.

The Banditos and Wynonna’s new outfit the Black Badges combined forces to prevent rogues from the gang stealing a “key,” which Wynonna and her gang discovered during the bad old days.  Wynonna’s Black Badge boss Smitty, a Beau Smith doppelgänger showed up, to redirect efforts.  This included suborning rogue Heiwa.

Season Zero begins as a mainstream thriller and turns into a biker exploitation movie.  When some of those bikers turn into werewolves, it goes even farther off the rails of good sense and taste.  Incidentally, Werewolves on Wheels is a giddily goofy film.  Pop some popcorn.  Sit back and relax.  The hunt for the "key," twists the story again.  The tone is Quentin Tarantino rewrites and films Grant Morrison.

The Consortium, a group of immortals, the kind you might find in any nineties Vertigo book, seek out the key, but this particular immortal named Dead Mary, possibly a tip of the Stetson to horror filmmakers Jen and Sylvia Soska, is playing her own game.

If you were to ask me years ago if I thought Wynonna Earp would eventually be using a magic gun to duel against cosmic entities, I would be waiting for the cuckoo to pop out of your head.  In no way, could this outcome be predicted.  You might be keen to blame the whole affair on Tim Rozon’s influence, but Smith alone created some pretty strange philosophical characters in the previous issues of his IDW run.  Highly recommended.

The stand alone Solstice tasks James Bond for a delicate off the books mission that works because M and Moneypenny are the same M and Moneypenny from the first series of movies, despite their youth and skin tone.  

Although other actors succeeded Bernard Lee, Judi Dench was the official second M, introduced in Goldeneye.

Bond must hunt down an enemy freebooter who intends to use the connections of a British national to gain access to MI-6.

Short, sweet in a way, and to the point.  Solstice never outstays its welcome and touches on many of the Bond traditions.  

This one-shot James Bond also alludes to Ian Fleming’s short story “For Your Eyes Only,” where Bond finds and executes the Nazi murderers of the Havelocks, who were M’s friends.  In the film, the writers eliminated the personal connection and turned the murder investigation into an official assignment.

In a previous Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Scooby and the Gang shrunk down to microscopic size to help the Atom bust a tiny spirit.  This issue finds Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby growing, but not fully, since they meet UP and AT ‘EM Atom Ant.

Atom Ant is a Hanna-Barbera character created in 1965.  He was one half of the Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show. This pint-sized powerhouse was full of vim and vigor as well as optimism, and this is what writer Sholly Fisch gives the fans.  I watched every episode of Atom Ant, and I can say that without a doubt, Fisch gets him perfectly.

Artist Scott Geralds gives Dario Brizuella a breather with remarkable designs that bear the simplicity of style featured in the animated era.  The only difference, he grants these beasts straight from the Atom Ant series a fuller range of motion.

Giant monsters is the dish served up here, and Fisch draws in an old Atom Ant foe for his nemesis.  Fisch even remembers Atom Ant’s hilarious weakness.

Although Mystery Inc. doesn’t actually solve a case of real estate fraud this issue, they provide the impetus to position Shaggy and Scooby into using their skill sets that heroically save the day.  Tasty. 

Ian Boothby’s latest issue of Simpsons Comics is a blast.  Boothby could have just slacked off with this story about a Radioactive Man reboot.  Instead, Boothby uses the Radioactive Man reboot set up for fresh gags, many of which draw on the loose continuity of the cartoon, tangentially related funny skits and a deep reflection on comic book movie history.

The story begins with Bart attempting once again to become Fallout Boy, Radioactive Man’s sidekick.  This plot point refers to the cartoon episode, but by page two, you know Boothby's story won't be the same old same old.  Radioactive Man is being remade into Radioactive Woman.  Fallout Boy to Fallout Girl.

The twist sets up a superb gag on Milhouse’s family tree, and hits on some movie traditions like using twins.  Krusty at his laziest, yet most cunning, hires Selma and Patty as well as Terri and Sheri.  Bart becomes Krusty’s production assistant.  Let the games begin.

As the story continues, Boothby parodies fan outrage in a spectacular way.  It’s just perfect.  It at once gives nerds such as myself dignity and pokes fun at our nitpicking.

Naturally, Rainer Wolfcastle shows up, but his gag isn’t related at all what you expect and neither can be said for the visiting Mr. Burns.

The comedy then shifts to adhering to social norms while getting the movie off the ground, but the longest gag is utter genius involving Terri and Sheri and a series of mugs.  The timing by artists Phil Ortiz and Jason Ho is majestic, as is the depiction of the whole innocence of the routine.

Finally, Krusty's ultimate agenda at the end draws on the best witting and unwitting shenanigans of movie moguls.  Bart’s vengeance is fitting and satisfying, and it still allows him to be Krusty’s number one fan.

Motor Girl ended how I expected it might.  Creator Terry Moore planted several clues in early issues.  I however won’t mention the spoiler, since Motor Girl’s conclusion satisfies.

So, let’s talk about what happened with the alien invasion.  Sam’s goodness wins out.  Walden finds he’s not the King of the Hill, and there’s some great moments with Larry and Vincent, as well as a touching moment between Sam and her imaginary gorilla Mike.  

If you didn’t check Motor Girl out in serial form, get the collected edition.  It’s a lovely story and not as daunting as Moore’s lengthier work.