POBB January 6, 2025

Pick of the Brown Bag

January 6, 2025

by

Ray Tate

Welcome to a New Year of Pick of the Brown Bag.  A lot of you are probably going to feel despondent during the MAGA reign of terror.  I certainly feel betrayed by the law, the government and my fellow man.  I'll never put any faith in these things ever again.  

I have faith in the Lone Ranger and Tonto

I'll not trust the media.  The so-called Fourth Estate helped Trump get elected by pretending that he was an ordinary candidate and covering him as such.

I have faith in Zorro and Bernardo.

For example, newspeople all around the nation reported on the Capitol Police's readiness for violence on January sixth.  Not one reporter told the truth.  

I have faith in Batgirl.

The Capitol Police could have hung a "gone fishing" sign up and slipped off to vacation in Hawaii.  The nutters who stormed the Capitol in 2021 won.  They succeeded in installing their cult leader in the White House.  They were not going to cause trouble.

I have faith in The Doctor.

Not one American institution is on humanity's side.  We are on our own.  So, I plan on disengaging from the national news.  I'd rather not know the apocalypse is coming.  I just hope I'm at ground zero.  Quick and painless.

I have faith in Godzilla.  You see the pattern? All I've got left is make-believe justice.

This year, I plan to concentrate on the things that always eased the "soul": reading comic books, reviewing comic books, bagging and boarding comic books and alphabetizing comic book collections.  By the way, that's not a resolution.  I wisely made the resolution not to make any more, when I was about fifteen.  Stupid tradition.

To start off this new wave of reviews I critique the hardback collection Justice League vs Godzilla vs Kong. 

Let's talk about the construction first.  This is a beautiful book.  

The hardback looks to be professionally bound.  Although glued not stitched.  The jacket, which you see above, by artist Dan Mora, protects the gatefold printed art of Christian Duce and Luis Guerrero. 

Naturally, it looks better than the scan, which is of a pin-up replicating the art.

The quality paper-stock, I'm no expert on this facet, is rough but sturdier than newsprint.  Its texture picks up Guerrero's color's nicely.  

The endpapers feature Jock's vivid illustration.  The original covers of each chapter are reincorporated amongst the pages; special covers reprinted in the gallery after the conclusion of the story.    

The asking price is $29.99.  Having read the book, I'd say it's worth it for any fan of the Justice League, Godzilla and/or King Kong.  Not just the Legendary versions of the co-stars either.  Writer Brian Buccellato nods to different eras of those magnificent beasts.

Kara's frequent appearance in the book executes a double-gag.  One, Kong traditionally has a weakness for blondes.  Two, Brie Larson who portrays Captain Marvel also co-starred in Kong's modern debut.  Captain Marvel, then Ms. Marvel, was Marvel's take on Supergirl.

As always, I recommend you buy the collection at your local comic book shop.  However, those hoping for a frugal alternative may wish to head on over to Barnes and Noble, which currently offers the book at a fifty-percent discount during its annual sale.  

Buccellato's JLGK takes place on two alternate earths.  One, the Legendary earth where Titans are the apex predators.  Two, a recognizable DC earth home to a modernized Justice League. 

That said.  Buccellato presents a Justice League of memory rather than continuity.  This will become a very important factor when facilitating pure enjoyment.

The tale begins in the middle.  Godzilla appears in Metropolis just as Clark Kent is about to propose to Lois Lane.

If you're keeping historical score, this is I believe the seventh time Clark proposed to Lois Lane; with the exception of so-called imaginary stories, elseworlds and time travel tales.

Buccellato uses this nexus moment to lay the foundations of world building.  After the hook, he clicks the story twelve paces prior where he introduces his version of the Justice League.

Supergirl.  I've always loved Supergirl.  Her death sent shockwaves throughout the writer-sphere.  Various scribes introduced Supergirl copies.  The Powers That Be at DC allowed the bona fide Supergirl to return.  The latest reboot of the DC universe birthed a new Kara Zor-El, but the model seen in JLGK isn't her.  

The New 52 Kara never integrated into the Justice League nor demonstrated any camaraderie with the membership.  JLGK's Kara behaves more like the Bronze Age Supergirl.  However, Buccellato's tale would have had to been set way after her death.  So, you see.  The explanation hurts more than the creative team's painless presentation.  

When you see Supergirl interacting with the Flash and Green Lantern as if they were old friends, Buccellato is saying: hey, you don't have to place this story anywhere specific on the timeline.  Relax.  Enjoy.  Thank you, I will.  

Buccellato splits the first chapter between moments regarding the proposal and uncovering how Godzilla, Kong and other kaiju happened to find themselves on the League's earth.  Hint, it's the Legion of Doom, who for those newbies out there, are exactly what the name implies.

It's very difficult not to recall Challenge of the Super-Friends when watching the Legion of Doom challenge the Justice League.  Sure.  Buccellato's Legion is more mature in nature.  They bicker amongst themselves, threaten each other. 

A strong leader, namely Lex Luthor, pulls them together but the ties that bind them are so very frayed.

Villains really cannot work together unless they have a common goal.  In this case, to destroy the Justice League.  

The plan is to hijack a Mother Box, a teleporter of the New Gods, and the Phantom Zone Projector, does what it says, from the Fortress of Solitude.  Combining the two will permit the perfect trap for the Justice League.  Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

However, things go bad quickly for Lex and Company.  One of the Legion makes the rookie mistake of tripping an alarm.  Of course, when your membership enlists bug-crazy scientists...  Before you can blink, Kara leads the League to kick the Legion's collective asses.  See what I did there?

As a result of the chaos, the Legion of Doom winds up on Legendary earth.  Lex however isn't the one who hatches the scheme to bring the Titans to the Justice League's earth.

The table's set.  The subsequent chapters present the battles of the century: Justice League vs a lot of kaiju including name stars Godzilla and Kong.  Those thinking they'll be cheated out of the matches they really wanted to see are mistaken.

It tickles me that Superman tries to reason with Godzilla.  It's just so very Superman.  Kara does the same when she meets Kong.  

I'm going to dance around what happens in those confrontations as much as possible.  Suffice to say, the endgame pissed off a lot of people, and to those people I say this.  Frank Miller in Batman The Dark Knight Returns already established the consequences.  So, suck it up.

The B Match pits the Batman Family against a giant bat creature, dubbed Camazotz.  I've got to say.  This sequence really blew me away.  Not the creature, though it's beautifully designed.  Rather, the characterization and the interaction of our Bat-Combatants create a lot of musings in somebody like me.  A person who eats, sleeps and breathes comic book continuity.

The Batwoman of the comic books isn't remotely close to any superhero, including her cousin Batman.  This version of Batwoman is more like the Ruby Rose Batwoman on the CW.  

Different origin.  Different age.  Actually makes sense and explains why the Kanes weren't remanded custody of Bruce Wayne when orphaned.

Oh, that's not Arrow vs mini-Kong in the background.  

Grodd tasked his guerrilla gorillas to go ape :)

The other members of the Batman Family behave normally.  Bonus for Batgirl having Blue Eyes and her laugh-out-loud moment when chastising former Robin now Red Hood Jason Todd. 

Batman is way more personable even than his New 52 counterpart, who is Mr. Feel Good in comparison to some of the miserable versions of Batman we had mid-nineties.  

There's just this sense that Batman has got everybody's back.  He's not crusading because he thinks nobody else can.  He's doing it because although not looking for friends, he found some.  Batman's behavior being notably different yet still adherent to the original steeple-eared Bat-Man is one of the many highlights in the JLGK themes.

Things go swimmingly.  The Titans are no real threat to the Justice League.  Superman and Godzilla reach a power stalemate.  He cannot peacefully herd Godzilla out of Metropolis.  Godzilla can however go no farther.  The whole of Skull Island appears out of nowhere.  Supergirl makes friends with Kong.  Wonder Woman employs one of her best Gifts from the Gods.  

Thanks to the deity Artemis, the Roman flip-side her namesake, Wonder Woman can commune with animals.  The Lasso of Truth is a failsafe.  The heroes gain the upper hand, but...

...everything goes to blazes with a bolt of lightning. 

I love the serial Captain Marvel played by Tom Tyler.  I was never a Big Red Cheese fan.  I always considered him a Superman knock-off.  However, I still prefer the original from the 1940s with the Wisdom of Solomon over Billy Batson in an adult body.  

Billy blows this one big time.  The results of Billy's actions explain the length of the series.  Because of Billy, all the rest of the heroes must pool their efforts to combat the Titans and the Legion of Doom.

I'm betting Kara could have decked Godzilla in the jaw all by her lonesome and have the same if not greater effect.  Superman only tapped Godzilla to get his attention.  Kara is still likely holding back.  Keep in mind.  She was half a world away, but she caught up with the Speed of Mercury Boy.  She's not even winded.  I love Supergirl.

The adult in the room, namely Batman, has a contingency plan.  It's nice to see Batman employing one of his schemes to actually save a hero rather than defeat him.  I get how cool it is that if Batman had the time, he can beat the Justice League combined, but Batman's suitcases of hurt are kind of cliche at this point.  Buccellato wins me again with a more likable Batman.

Now that the League's attention becomes fully occupied, the Legion of Doom and the League of Assassins try taking advantage of the situation.  Buccellato demonstrates just why the Justice League have such a cool theme song, and they get some unexpected aid.

Twists and turns abound in Buccellato's tale of Titans meeting Heroes.  He takes full advantage of his otherworldly setting to present unexpected delights.  Filming this story would require a budget in the billions.  Buccellato, Christian Duce, Luis Guerrero and Tom Derenick, for the later half, prove that the best special effect is still artistic talent that can lend realism even to the unreal.

Cool Non-Spoiler Moments as They Appear

Wonder Woman makes a joke.  

Pretty good Hal Jordan comeback.

Hawkgirl bops Godzilla with her mace.

Batwing, Batwing.   Everybody's got a Batwing.  Because they're cooler than the old Batplane.

Black Canary's entrance

Batgirl's aforementioned chastisement of Jason Todd.

Black Canary rides on the back of a tricked out Batwing.

Radioactive breath vs. Heat Vision

Super-Breath

Underwater Godzilla Action

The New World's Finest

"...The Little Girl with Superpowers..."

POBB September 30, 2024

Pick of the Brown Bag

September 30, 2024

by

Ray Tate

Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag.  My name is Raymond Tate.  I review comic books.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  This week I look at a book that comes as a complete surprise. 

Who knew? Right? The Zero Hour is a mostly forgotten DC crossover.  The series attempted to repair some of the blunders that evolved from convoluted writing from the previous comic book era.  The one-shot doesn’t actually go into any of these details and neither shall I.  Most such fixes are so old that they lack even a scent of pertinence.

Books in the vein of this one-shot usually operate under the conceit that they are retrofitted chapters or actual sequels.  The 30th Anniversary Special doesn’t follow the same game.  Plain and simple, this is a guest-packed Green Lantern adventure. 

I’ve always found Kyle Rayner to be one of the better earth Lanterns.  He was never smug about wielding the ring.  He always considered it a gas and/or a privilege.

Kyle is a nineties creation by Ron Marz and Darryl Banks.  These creators combine forces once again to bring Kyle to life.  The result is throughly enjoyable.

On the whole, I found most of the Zero Hour one-shot a rewarding experience.  Especially when not thinking too hard about multiverses, plural, and the implications of the same.  You’ll also be better off if you actually know the characters, but it’s not an absolute necessity.  

Most of the time the writers spotlight the most familiar players from pop culture such as our star Green Lantern, a slightly altered Batgirl, Supergirl, Donna Troy and Fatal Five classic.

The artwork from the Zero Hour 30th is uniformly pleasing.  Even fashion whipping boy Azrael wears his least alarming costume.

The story begins in New 52 continuity proper.   

Relocated from earth, Kyle Rayner is surprised when his historical old pal and Justice League colleague Wally West shows up.

 Even more surprising, Wally doesn’t know him.

Kyle investigates the conflict, and he finds himself smack-dab in a bubble universe created by Parallax, who escaped the original multiverse-trimming Zero Hour.

You may consider this a spoiler, but it really isn’t.  On the other hand you may be asking yourself what’s a Parallax.

Parallax is the ultimate evil version of Silver Age Green Lantern Hal Jordan.  He shouldn’t really pertain to the start-from-scratch New 52 universe.  Yeah.  Comic book terminology can be complicated.  

The Big Bad reveal isn’t one because Parallax is a copy of a copy of a copy.  

Kyle suggests that in the New 52 Hal Jordan briefly became a version of Parallax, but not this one.  Much of  Parallax’s written history, like Hal Jordan’s, simply could not survive the transition of multiverses.  

That’s because all the heroes returned younger.  One of the necessities of DC’s multiverse.  Batman and the Batman Family can only age a certain amount.  Superman is an alien.  Wonder Woman an immortal.  You can fudge a certain amount of aging through science fiction or magic, but Batman is supposed to be a mortal man.  Tied to him are Batgirl, who must at least be five years younger than Batman and all the Robins.

As I said, better not to think too hard about it.  I used this phrase as my mantra while reading the Zero Hour one-shot.  Stressing the comic book part.  

Anyway.  Parallax is the Big Bad.  He created a bubble universe, presumably somewhere and when in the interim between multiverse generation.  This area is also a locus in time and space that’s navigable.  Yep.  Just don’t go there.  

The Fatal Five also managed to escape the multiverse-trimming Zero Hour.  

Parallax quickly found a use for them.  Unfortunately for Kyle.

The Fatal Five, created in the Silver Age of comic book history, became so powerful an idea that the band of villains withstood transition mostly intact to the Bronze and Platinum eras of comic books.  The Emerald Empress furthermore faced off against the modern age Supergirl.   So, the Fatal Five concept is still very much alive in the New 52.

Kyle soon realizes that he’s not in Kansas anymore.  This realization catalyzes the introduction of the alternate versions of the nevertheless familiar co-stars.  Batgirl comes onto the scene first.

As familiar readers of the POBB may expect, her presence predicated my buying the Zero Hour 30th Anniversary Special in the first place.  Blue eyes a bonus.

Batgirl was still crippled during the Zero Hour.  In Hal Jordan’s Bubble Universe, she apparently never had been.  Batman on the other hand never recovered from the damage done by Bane.  So Batgirl took over the family business.  

After meeting Batgirl, Kyle reacquaints with Supergirl.

The original Supergirl sacrificed herself to save Superman and the multiverse during The Crisis on Infinite Earths.   

As she died, she ripped the Anti-Monitor a new one.  

Supergirl was more powerful than her more delicate cousin Superman. 

Supergirl fans such as myself laugh at naysayers.

The Zero Hour version of Supergirl appears to be based on the classic model.  Parallax shouldn’t be aware of her.  During the Zero Hour, Supergirl was the last survivor of another bubble universe created by the Legion of Super-Heroes’ villain the Time Trapper via comic book architect John Byrne. 

By now, you must be scratching your heads.  Given these question marks regarding origins, given this shaky multiverse piling, you may be wondering why on earth I’m recommending the Zero Hour 30th Anniversary Special.  Why am, I once considered one of the harshest critics on the Internet, why am I willing to forgive?

It’s the art.  It’s the characterization.  It’s the fun of the whole exercise independent of the multiverse musings.  It’s the surprises that actually make sense.  These facets give the book wind for the sails.

Green Lantern and the Flash met during the Grant Morrison era of the Justice League.  I don’t know if that era exists in the New 52.  The friendship between Wally and Kyle survives, and Kyle would race into the unknown for his friend.

It’s a kick to see Batgirl and Supergirl deck Kyle.  As I said I like all three of them, but the duet of the World’s Finest overcoming the Green Lantern ring’s defenses and surprising Kyle is pretty damn hilarious.

The one-shot doesn’t explain what happened to Wonder Woman.  Numerous possibilities given her nineties run of comics.  Suffice to say, it makes perfect sense that Donna Troy would be next in line to bear the Magic Lasso.  It’s power to force anyone bound to speak the truth is the most logical means to end the fight.  

What impresses me most is that the writers make Donna’s and Kyle’s history together more than just a tactic and/or plot device.  Instead their interaction a combination of dialogue and beautifully expressed, subtle emotion genuinely touched me.

Then there’s the authenticity in these analogues.  Their conviction makes them more than mere ciphers.

Sincerity in heroism is one of the main reasons why I read comic books.  

When you winnow away the ultimately superficial multiverse facade, the book becomes an entertaining treatise on what it means to be a super hero.  That’s why this book should be in everybody’s collection.