Friday, December 31, 2021

POBB December 31, 2021

Pick of the Brown Bag
December 21, 2021
by
Ray Tate

Welcome to the 2021 finale of The Pick of the Brown Bag.  In 2022 I hope to keep a better schedule for writing these hopefully enjoyable comic book reviews.  As a whole, I can't really say much about this batch of books without spoiling the surprises.  On the other hand, that gives me the option to tackle more subjects for our 2021 send-off.


This is not the usual Sonya Devereux story.  Rather it's probably the most meta thing you'll read in two years.  It is after all the last day of 2021.

For those not in the the know or those that don't feel like clicking on the tag, Sonya Devereux is a fictional actress who stars in grade Z to B films.  What you see in the book is a movie she features in.  The guest stars in Sonya Devereux distinguish the latest issue from previous cuts.


All of the above ladies are actual scream queens from the horror biz.  The director, a real director.  Sonya Devereux a fictional actress knows the real, breathing actresses and director.  That's not the only meta thing happening.  Sonya Devereux reads like the literary version of a  Russian nesting doll.

Even the plot is a lot more complicated than the average bear.  All of the figures take part in a movie jamboree of terror set in a cosplay summer camp.  Murders begin to occur, but don't expect a tried and true formula.

I can't really say any more, other than the art throughout matches the quality of the samples I included in the review.  The writing agrees with the art, and the comedy is sly rather than overt.  Most of the time.


Why on earth would I buy an issue of The Joker.  Obvious isn't it.  She's on the cover.  Batgirl.  The Joker is barely in the comic book.  So fans the maniac may be a little incensed.  


The story takes place in the past.  Jim Gordon is relatively new to the office of Commissioner.  He's trying to finish cleaning up Gotham, and he has a daughter to worry about.


Barbara Gordon is Batgirl.  She's teaming with Batman frequently to take out miscreants like Cat Man.


Batgirl's brief battle on the rooftops is the best thing about the Annual.   The Commish appears to suspect Barbara is Batgirl, but other times he doesn't.  Babs is quick on the uptake to explain the bruises she sustains.  

On the whole, the story's kind of blasé.  First it takes place in the past.  So, writers Matt Rosenberg and James Tynion cannot really accrue any illusion of threat to the characters.  Second domestic drama between Babs and Jim just makes me feel old and tired.  I miss their best father/daughter relationship   Third Jim's one-Ness clean up of the Gotham PD lacks the verve of an average episode of The Untouchables.  

Batgirl makes a peppier appearance in Nightwing, and artist Bruno Redondo alone can take this bow.  No bones to scribe Tom Taylor, but compared to the previous issues, Taylor provides a simple plot to let Redondo do his stuff.  Double splash pages and after image animation comprise that stuff.  Impossible to capture fully with a simple scanner but you'll get the picture from this example.


Pretty sharp.  Dick Grayson is wealthy thanks to...whatever happened in the Batman books.  He takes after his adopted Dad Bruce Wayne and tries to make Bludhaven a better place in both his guises.  Trouble is a group of hit men want Dick dead.  Batgirl joins Dick's alter-ego to stop that from happening and save an important hostage.  Done in one and only five to ten minutes to read.


Tom Taylor also constructs an entertaining Superman Son of Kal-El Annual.  The story examines the duel between Lex Luthor and Superman, Father of Johnathan Kent.  A lot of the dialogue and      tete-a-tete scenes remind me of Christopher Reeve vs Gene Hackman. So good on Taylor.

After about ten pages, the tale jumps to the present where Superman is in space for...reasons.  Supergirl is also in space for...reasons.  Jonathan Kent is now Superman and protector of the planet.

For those unfamiliar with modern DC, Jonathan Kent is the son of Superman and Lois Lane.  He was the little tyke teaming up with the Damien Wayne Robin in the Tomasi/Gleason/Gray era of the World's Finest titles: sometimes Superman, sometimes Batman and Robin.  Always interesting.

John now defies physics as a teenager.  Lois was young when John was a boy.  She's still that young, if not younger, along with Bruce Wayne, who guest stars.


Awwww.  Dude.

Look let's just say.  Stuff happened, and it was either magic or bad science fiction that probably conflicts with the Grandfather Paradox.  It irritates me, but let's just say that.

It's time for young Superman to meet Lex Luthor, just released from prison.  Of course, it's not going to be casual.  Lex announces his release with typical ego.


That however attracts some competitors that want Lex dead.  This looks like a job for...Superman.  


Right.  After the fight Jonathan plays a game of chess against Lex Luthor.  

During the game, John makes an appeal to Lex's genius, that's actually quite refreshing.  Steve Pugh handles the lion's share of the illustration so you know the annual will be pretty.  Artist Clayton Henry isn't a slouch either.


The entire Justice League turns out for the return of Wonder Woman.  After the Infinite Frontier one-shot, Diana bounced through the afterlife and the multiverse.  For her first arc, she teams up with the Viking warrior Sigfried in Valhalla.  All of those chapters impress.  Then, Diana walks through Olympus, fairy land--where you can see Jill Thompson rendering Wonder Woman again-- and a sort of limbo.  Doesn't matter.  She's back now.


Wait.  I thought you were in space.

These latest issues of Wonder Woman detail Diana adjusting to breathing again and seeing all her friends.  Michael Conrad and Becky Cloonan write this opener with an appropriate light touch.  The Martian Manhunter for example is about to polish off an Oreo cookie analogue when Diana teleports to the Hall of Justice.  An affection he developed in the bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha era of the Justice League.


Perhaps Black Canary's reaction is the biggest surprise.  I don't recall Diana and Dinah being that chummy.  Of course, she's a sister and all that.  Besides, I don't read Bendis.  So, I don't know if he drew them any closer.  

There's a lot of laughs and smiles in the issue.  So, I'll certainly not complain.  The whole world welcomes Diana back, except of course her Rogue's Gallery, one of whom caused some trouble in Asgard and features in the next issue.


The stories unfold at a pleasant, leisurely pace.  Diana for instance may be eating lunch with Etta Candy, teaming up with Deadman to lay Sigfried's sword to rest or saving lives, which she does frequently throughout the run.  

It's all less focused than the Asgard tales but more interesting than the in-between tour of the other mythical realms and parallel earths, that aren't the historical ones.


The very latest issue of Wonder Woman banks on Wonder Woman duplicates turning up all over the place.  These duplicates are remarkably unconvincing.  They also break too easy.


Still they leave behind a puzzle that's solved at the end of the chapter.  Who is behind the duplicates? Conrad and Cloonan answer.  Why is another question.  That's of course Steve Trevor shooting the insulting image of his lady love. 

Monday, December 13, 2021

POBB December 12, 2021

Pick of the Brown Bag
December 12, 2021
by
Ray Tate

Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag.  In this column I, Ray Tate, look at the best and the worst of the week's comic book yield.  At least, I used to.  


Frankly, catching up has been something of a pipe dream.  Therefore, with the onset of year twenty-two, I will be once again reviewing the good and the bad of each week's load of comic books.  

This will mean skipping a helluva lot of reviews, but maybe I can add some specials on thin Wednesdays.  Besides, it's not like these titles are ancient.  The critiques should be fresh enough for those deciding upon the collected trades.

Anyway, back to our show.  For this missive, I examine the recent appearances of Batgirl.  If you're a regular reader of this column, you know two things about Batgirl.  She's Barbara Gordon, and she's got blue eyes.


Batgirl reappears at the conclusion to Nightwing eighty-four.  This issue should still be available on the racks at your local comic book store.

I know what you're thinking.  Sure.  Batgirl returns, but in that awful Black Cat mask rip-off.  Trust me.  I've hated every downgrade to Batgirl's costumes.  It just denigrates the character.  Turning her into a little girl who likes dress up.  Check this out.


Fan-tas-tic!  I really could not have asked for anything better than this depiction.  The illustration by Nightwing's Robbi Rodriguez and colorist Adriano Lucas alludes to the classic Batgirl look.  Purple bodysuit, full bat-eared helmet and gold lined bat-scalloped cape.  


In other words a sensible variation of Yvonne Craig's original with a blend of the darker gray and blue shades from Bronze Age comics.  Note, the artists also sidestep the whole conflict with editorial edict eye-color by giving her slits.  Brilliant.

Batgirl becomes involved in the Fear State of affairs, see what I did there, because Nightwing teams up with Batman to battle some Gundum Suit contractors.  


She feels she can do more out in the field.  

Fear State slapped Batgirl right back into her chair at the Clocktower.  Happily, they didn't cripple her this time.


I am not a fan of the Oracle persona, wheels or no wheels.  I feel and always felt this is a waste of Batgirl.  If you only use Barbara Gordon as a handler, despite having full mobility, I do not need to read your book.  It's not the only reason I ignored Fear State. 

Simon Saint, introduced in Infinite Frontier, exudes the threat level of a kidney bean.  His takeover of the city is preposterous.  "Hey, I want to put Dalek saucers in the air, over Gotham City.  Does anybody object? No? Oh, one objection from the man with the curly hair and all the teeth.  The bill is passed!" 


Batman saw.  He grunted.  He kicked ass.  Unfortunately, it didn't happen that quickly.

A lot of writers fail to comprehend just how much of an impediment Batman is to crime.  It's my common complaint.  Batman is the World's Greatest Detective, whom Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow gladly acknowledged as their rightful successor.  Batman cannot drag his feet.  Or slosh them, since we're traveling in the sewers again.


Awww...Dude.

Tom Taylor really gets Batman.  I knew this when he wrote a woefully brief run of Batman/Superman.  His Nightwing isn't too shabby either.  Very New 52, and you're likely to feel the frisson of a Dynamic Duo vibe from this issue of Dick Grayson's eponymous title.  Batman and Nightwing gel and fight like they've been doing this their entire lives side by side.  Which they have.

Of course, I bought this book for Batgirl.  She appears at the end, and the level of excitement in the return is not to be missed for any Batgirl fan.  Batgirl gets the spotlight in Nightwing eighty-five.  She even narrates.


Yes, Batgirl can beat up Gundum Suit contractors just as well as the boys.  And look spectacular doing it.  In fact these extras pose little threat to any of the Batman Family.  Well, of course not.

Taylor does this a lot in his books.  He creates entertaining stories that don't rely on traditional conflict.  Rather, he accepts that he's dealing with people who have superpowers and/or skills that make them nigh impossible to beat.  He furthermore accepts that the audience knows this facet.  So, he doesn't insult your intelligence.  He generates enjoyment another way.  Through our contentment of watching Batgirl and Nightwing beating the crap out of arrogant flunkies in exoskeletons.

Nightwing doesn't start out that way.  First, Taylor must pick up some threads left by other books.  This may be a little confusing.  I had to make certain I didn't miss an issue of Nightwing, but no.  

Eighty-five is the correct sequence.  It begins thusly.  Somebody compromised the Oracle persona.  Again.



This somebody looks a helluva lot more imaginative than the robot that corrupted Oracle's systems last year, or the miscreants that did it the previous year, and so on and so forth.  

As you can tell, I'm not impressed.  This isn't breaking new ground.   However, Taylor gets far more points.  He portrays Barbara Gordon's Oracle persona properly.


Barbara is the power behind Oracle.  The computers are tools.  Not intelligent.  Last year, I complained about a life form arising from her systems.  That's because she uses normal computers with cutting edge technology to hack her way into other systems.  

Unlike Harold Finch from Person of Interest, she's not creating intelligence in any way shape or form.  She's establishing back doors, setting up alarms to detect shady transactions.  Doing the normal things a white hat hacker does but on a grander scale.

Barbara furthermore uses her systems as a conveyance for the information in her photographic memory.  A database of crime like no other.  The systems exist to reach out all through the world, no matter where El Diablo or Supergirl may be, no matter the security of whatever system she hacks into.

What greenie, who is an avatar for a human hacker, did was orchestrate a giant brute force attack and identity theft scheme.  That makes sense.  A Pinocchio robot does not.

Batgirl's confrontation with the green lady lasts only four pages.  So, it's not really the focus.  Rather this issue of Nightwing explores the history between Batgirl and Dick Grayson.


Taylor includes a meet cute Batgirl/Robin flashback.  She's also impeccably dressed there.  Thank you again Rodriguez and Lucas.   She knows the Dynamic Duo's secret identity.  Thereby securing her place in the original Silver Age Batman Family.

Taylor segues this pleasant memory to nightmare induced by the fear gas of Jonathan Crane alias the Scarecrow.  This isn't a spoiler.  You'll know what's going on immediately because the gas is green, and you've read Batman books enough to know the ins and outs of the Scarecrow's villainy.  It's still a treat to see Batgirl in a rage beating the crap out of a friskier "Gundum."


Batgirl continues her guest status in Nightwing eighty-six, where the green lady vainly attempts to exterminate The Spoiler and Cassie Cain. 

There's a lot of emotion on display, but Taylor never loses the theme of all three issues.  Beating.  The.  Crap.  Out.  Of.  Gundums.  

The Batman Family, including third Robin Tim Drake,  gathers, beats the crap out of Simon Saint and his Gundum army.  They also knock out the Dalek Saucers.  With Babs and Nightwing in the centerpiece of the destruction, this run of Nightwing is quite satisfying in terms of writing and art.


Batgirl also cameos in Baman one-seventeen.  This one if for Batgirl completists due to Jorge Jimenez and Tomeu Morey's depiction of her.  It's almost as strong as Rodriquez and Lucas, but admittedly, she's only in it for a few pages.  I'll be issuing a full review "Same Bat-Channel.  Same Bat-Time."














Friday, November 19, 2021

POBB November 19, 2021

Pick of the Brown Bag
November 19, 2021
by
Ray Tate



SPOILER FREE ZONE

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a direct sequel to the first Ghostbusters film.  The oft neglected Ghostbusters II, which I have a certain fondness for, tackled a new spectral problem. 


Afterlife goes back to the structure of the original's plot to find its menace.  It furthermore serves as a genuine loving tribute to the late Harold Ramis.  


Afterlife cleverly answers the questions why now, why here and who are you going to call?  After a startling, scary prologue, the film properly begins as a light, contemporary drama about single mom Callie being forced to move out of her home to an old farm she inherits.  The farm isn't exactly a boon and exemplifies the word ramshackle quite nicely.  


Callie is kind of a mess, and not the typical mom.  Callie's daughter Phoebe is a genius.  


Her son Trevor not so much.  At least not the scientific kind.  Trevor exhibits manual dexterity and automotive skills that far surpass his age.  

All of them bear an authenticity that belies the genre they're operating in.  You could meet these people in a very good indie film that has nothing to do with spooky encounters.

The town to which they move used to be an old mining town, and it is here where the supernatural activity starts to muster.  The pacing of Afterlife grants a lot of room for the characters to breathe and grow.  The filmmakers make the wise choice of hinting at eerie things and a seething cauldron about to boil.  This isn't a spectacle film.  It builds its threat before releasing the true stakes in the final act.

Phoebe, along with her new friend Podcast, and ally, teacher Mr. Grooberson begin to discover strange-goings on.  Mr. Grooberson in fact has been tracking a curiosity that interests Phoebe and allows them to bond over science.  

The conclusion unnatural coincides with the discovery of Ghostbusters equipment.  It's not a coincidence or contrivance.  There's a good reason for this equipment being in the town.  The discovery directed.  Phoebe, Podcast, her brother Trevor and another soon find themselves forced to become a next generation of Ghostbusters.


Though the original cast lends their talent to the movie, the story centers on the younger casts' becoming.  The formation of this new team is awash with genuine sweet moments, subtle comedy and relationships that lack a hint of saccharine.  The love story can be found in the brother, sister and mother which holds the tale together.  The like stories between other cast members form quite naturally and believably.  What's more.  Nobody in the supporting cast exhibits venom.  They're all either nice, normal and/or credulous.  A refreshing change.

In technical terms, the filmmakers wisely went back to the basics of Ghostbusters.  While some if not all the ghostly figures are computer graphics, they nevertheless echo the skillful charm of the original creatures.  The cast is uniformly extraordinary and McKenna Grace who portrays Phoebe is the riveting star.

SPOILER FREE ZONE ENDS


No, you know what, no spoilers.  Go see the movie.