POBB April 27, 2016

Pick of the Brown Bag

April 27, 2016

by

Ray Tate

This week defying good sense, I review a whole slew of comic books including Batgirl, Batman and the Man from UNCLE, Black Canary, Doctor Who, Hellboy and the BPRD 1953, Micronauts, Mythic, Spider-Woman, The Ultimates, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Wolverine.  


As always, you can also find minuscule morsels on Twitter under: #PickoftheBrownBag.  Yeah, yeah.  Sometimes the tweets are a little late.  I’m working on it.

Ignore the cover, however gorgeous.  There is no "Bat-Shark-Repellent" here.  Instead, Jeff Parker concocts a complex, layered chapter that's suitable to The Man from UNCLE.  On the other hand, Batman, Robin and Batgirl appear to have wandered into a different world that's far more serious than theirs.  Even the undersea base although wondrous maintains a basic verisimilitude. 

THRUSH has never wanted to destroy the planet.  Their aim is domination.  They don't wish to rule over a scorched earth.  Throughout the series, their lead officers offer a different, skewed worldview that sometimes sounds tempting, until you recognize the cost.  Indeed, THRUSH nests in large cities to create their own satraps where they attempt to build a society adjacent to our own.  THRUSH has even infrequently thrown in with UNCLE to destroy a greater threat.  

Solo and Kuryakin team-up with THRUSH agent Angelique

"The Deadly Games Affair"

Our Big Bad comes to the conclusion that the greater threat is us.  At least 1966 us, fighting a Cold War and poised to launch death.  Although the temperature warmed, the United States possesses enough nuclear weapons to obliterate the earth a hundred times over.  Factor in Russia's complement, and you've got enough atomic firepower to destroy the big, blue marble twice as much.  This is not a good thing.  So here comes our Big Bad with a vision of Utopia.  It's attractive now, let alone back in the day.

The mechanisms of the Big Bad's proposal exhibits brilliance.  His madness peeks out of a truly altruistic methodology.  The Big Bad's roles for UNCLE and THRUSH working in unison lacks flaw.  Their necessity to his scheme makes sense.  His scenario further depends on the fame of Batman, Batgirl and Robin.  Specifically, this version of the Dynamic Trio.  

Some writers no matter the era, no matter Batman's outward darkness portray the Detective as beloved by the citizens he protects.  Surprisingly, the television series never denied Batman's dark origin.  They even reiterated it in one episode, yet this Batman somehow forged tragedy into a pure figure of justice.  The lion's share of scribes turned Batman into a suspicion.   However, the 1960s populace look upon Batman, Robin and Batgirl as their saviors.  Intriguingly they bridge the generations, which makes the Big Bad's plan even more palatable.  Hippies trust Batman as an anti-establishment figure.  Robin and Batgirl are teen idols.  The Lyndon B. Johnson crowd look upon Batman and Family as duly deputized law officers.  

To further the Big Bad's aims, he drops the Men from UNCLE and their caped associates into another prevalent pop culture embrace.  Psychology.  The nineteen sixties was a high time for psychology, psychiatry and their dark side, brain washing. This sequence becomes particularly attractive to artists David Hahn, Karl Kesel and colorist Madpencil (?).  Through the artwork and Parker's certain analysis, the hammering at Batman's, Robin's, Batgirl's, Solo's and Kuryakin's personalities is a form of torture that if continued would work.  Therein lies the very real threat behind Batman and the Man from UNCLE, and why this chapter fascinates so.

I couldn't get overly excited about Batgirl, but I'm not sure the blame lies with writer Brenden Fletcher.  You see.  Like the other DC heroes, Batgirl is about to experience a rebirth.  So, plot points naturally must be dropped quickly.  The support cast must expand to include members of the Birds of Prey that will be in that team's new book, and overall there must either be a clean break or transition.  Fletcher shoots for a change that seems like a natural evolution.  To a certain extent, he succeeds.

Memory Wiping Capsules rather than Cyanide Pills is a Good Incentive for Recruitment

Most of the Birds of Prey team lies in the pages of Batgirl.  The new Birds of Prey will be Batgirl, Black Canary, Frankie, known as the Operator, Spoiler and Blue Bird.  Fletcher already teamed Batgirl with most of the group in previous issues.  So this isn't exactly sudden.  The third Huntress will join them from the ashes of Grayson's crap spy organization Spyral, a group that have made as much impact on the DC universe as Gladius.

Gladius, introduced in Batgirl, suck.  Every superhero has seen Kobra's scaled ass as he ran away when his plans for global conquest fizzled, but I give Kobra credit for trying to win; having a clearcut agenda and keeping hope alive by failing again and again against champions far outside of his weight class.

Batman AND Aquaman? 

You're Out of Your Tiny Little Mind, Kobra, but I Admire the Venom.

Gladius on the other hand isn't clearly defined.  First, what's their goal? Frankie claims it's "World domination?"  How are they going to do that?  Their plans are seldom concrete.  Their nationalities are vague.  So it's an evil, international movement to do...something.

At least for this issue of Batgirl, Gladius has pure motive.  Free their exalted leader before she's sent to a federal prison.  Their want leads to a number of chases and fights that are well illustrated by a band of in synch artists including Eleondra Carlini, Minkyu Jung, Roger Robinson and color purple splasher Serge Lapointe.  Gladius however fails to give the story any impetus.  Gladius is a WGC group.  Who gives a crap.  They're like the Flat Earth Society of terrorism.  And pitting them against Batgirl and the Black Canary is like throwing Kobra up against Superman.  What? You didn't! Kobra you are such a looney tune.

There's just no doubt that Fletcher looks at these two as his ladies.  His love for them is so transparent, and I can't really blame him.  I never read the Birds of Prey ongoing when Batgirl had been crippled.  So I never got the connection between them until the new 52.  Fletcher made their friendship/partnership genuine.  As welcoming and true as the Batgirl/Supergirl relationship of the Silver and Bronze Ages.

Throughout the book, Barbara Gordon is confident as Batgirl, and that's the most worthwhile feature of the issue.  It's the antithesis of the way Batgirl was portrayed at the cusp of the Bronze Age.  

DC produced a special issue where Batgirl retires when faced with an uncharacteristic epiphany: in the light of so many heroes she's not all that.  

In The Crisis of Infinite Earths, she comes out of semi-retirement unsure of herself.  The more I reread that, the more I see now that Marv Wolfman hated the extended Batman Family.  

Fuck you, Wolfman.  

Compare this to the Batgirl of ten years ago.

Batman #311

So Fletcher gets mucho points for saying that no matter how much Babs' life becomes entangled, she's the freest and most natural when being Batgirl.  That said.  Fletcher does inexplicable things like break she and Luke Fox up.  I give him credit for ending them on a positive note that's keeping in Barbara's character, but still.  It's just so obvious that Fletcher doesn't want to saddle the new writer with a boyfriend appendage, nor does he want that writer to break them badly.  Batgirl giving up her clean energy company is more confounding and no doubt frustrating for Fletcher who had been building up this change since issue one, with Barbara's urban planning thesis.  Again, Fletcher finds a reasonable means to discard the plot element, and in this he cleverly employs a Gail Simone character that he respected.  No not Ricky.  Other characters appear at the conclusion, and I'll not spoil their identities, but Fletcher imbues them with much more personality than either Spoiler or Blue Bird.  They are full of vitality and importance, and Batgirl treats them kindly because she knows they could be the next generation of crime fighters.

This naturally leads to Black Canary.  No surprises here.  Black Canary kicks ass.  Literally and figuratively.

Last issue, Dinah and Batgirl uncovered the truth about Dinah's mother and father.  Dinah's Mom along with Mari McCabe's Manager ran a dojo that was invaded by a rival school--the Ninja Death Cult Dinah and Batgirl fought and fights.  During the duel, the Cult's leader--Izak Orato--murdered Dinah's father private investigator Larry Lance.  This issue, Dinah springs a trap.  Orato captured Dinah's band Black Canary in Berlin.

Isak Orato as drawn by superb substitute artist Sandy Jarrell brings in Japanese mythological drawings that inform manga and anime.  He's a simplistic and outré demon all at once.  What he didn't count on is Dinah's patron being in the audience and having the power to interfere with his plans.  Once freed, the battle commences, and Dinah fights Orato in a let-me-show-you-how-it's-done homage to Enter the Dragon.  I've only scraped the surface.  This thrilling, vicious duel to death never disappoints and concludes on a shocking note.

Spider-Woman hasn't anything going for it.  Part of a lackluster team-up between all the Spider-Women, it's no fun and derivative.  So third wheel Spider-Woman Silk has an opposite number on Spider-Gwen's earth, and she's the head of that world's THRUSH, which hasn't actually made any waves.  Pun not intended.  Her head operative is Jessica Drew.  The alternate Jessica Drew. This should be interesting, but instead the story nakedly combines Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Kill Bill.  It doesn't really do anything new with these concepts, just slightly alters them in a blatant attempt to seem original but failing.  Spider-Woman's main goal is to get home to her baby.  Such is the mediocrity of the story, I didn't care if she ever saw her baby again.

Wolverine teams up with Squirrel Girl and learns to be her own woman after being haunted by memories of the way Logan treated her.

Logan wasn't trying to be mean.  He was of course intent on keeping Laura safe.  He believed that the farther she was from him, the safer she would be.  Laura's trying to do the same with her new charge Gabby, her young clone.  That's when Squirrel Girl arrives at her door to give her a new perspective and a present.

Tom Taylor's story is somewhat beautiful.  It's sweet without being saccharine, and it dignifies all the cast, including the furry ones.  The kicker at the end is absolutely hilarious, and artist Marcio Takara throughout orchestrates lighter moments with a deft hand.

Squirrel Girl's own title is weird throwback to the find your own adventure type paperbacks that flourished in the eighties.  These wonderful items are actually like computer flow charts, based on if-then prospects.  If you select this, turn to page ten, and so forth.  The paths you travel usually only have a few exits into the story.  Others are dead ends, and Squirrel Girl is no different.

Ryan North's cunning is evident in each section of the multiple possibilities.  They bad ones however all lead to world domination by an obscure villain that actually has a chance to beat our favorite tailed-wonder.  North even sends up his own works within.


I can't really post a graphic specific to Squirrel Girl because it might give the game away.  However, Squirrel Girl features one of her former foes in a cameo performance.

Now, let me explain how weird this appearance is.  Firstly, Squirrel Girl is like the Peter Tomasi DC titles.  Despite being a comedy, Squirrel Girl actually pays attention to continuity.  North remembered that Punisher lives in the Marvel Universe.  Squirrel Girl lives in the Marvel Universe.  Why can't they meet?  Then, there's North's and Erica Henderson's masterful portrayal of old times Doctor Doom.  So, yeah.  Everything counts in Squirrel Girl.   For that reason, Galactus mentions events in The Ultimates and he sounds exactly the same.  However because of the execution and the aims, Galactus actually mimics the narrator of Futurama's "Anthology of Interest." stories.  It's so lovingly bizarre.

This issue of The Ultimates, Al Ewing dares to write an adventure where Galactus is a hero and cosmic gumshoe.  His goal is to discover who chained Eternity.  After rescuing the Ultimates from certain death, Galactus walks the mean streets of the universe and encounters opposition at every turn.  There's the crazy twin brothers that just don't like the guy.

This leads to a bit of violent metaphor, which actually plays out like violence.  So not to worry.  It's exciting.  Not a debate on Proust.  Galactus receives some encouragement in his next encounter.  This time with a human, who evolved to incredible power, and the conversation is just as interesting as the fisticuffs with the two hoods who thought they owned the neighborhood.

The Marvel Micronauts benefitted from Bill Mantlo's excellent writing, and amazing artwork by then newcomer Michael Golden.  IDW's Micronauts is independent of Marvel's Micronauts.  Instead, it's a new conception but just as loosely based on the beloved Mego properties.  

The story's broad scope pits a cosmic Ministry of Defense against a Ministry of Science.  Neither however are ethically superior.  The MOS is callously logical.  They waste operatives and only gather facts.  Even the Vulcans and the Time Lords act with more compassion.  Familiar to any fan of the toys and/or the comic book, Baron Karza heads the Ministry of Defense.  

Surprisingly, though, he's not the cause of the main problem.  A possibly sentient wave of entropy sweeps across the cosmos and wipes out planets.  If you'd like to make comparisons to Star Trek Generations, feel free, but the wave is also similar to the anti-matter attacks in Crisis of Infinite Earths and I'm sure countless pulp science fiction.

In the middle of this, our scoundrel heroes fight to stay alive and make an honest buck.  

There's the Maverick styled leader Oziron Rael who represents the Seventies Pyramid Power Pharoid toy. 

Acroyear, the muscle, still not going with Mego’s “the enemy.”  It amuses me how the Powers That Be and Were agree that Acroyear was too noble looking to be cast as the villain.

Oz's fingers Phenolo Phi the Space Glider.  Along for the ride, Larissa, a security agent, from Oz's current employer Hezlee.  

Hezlee hires Oz to break into a medical facility and liberate some badly needed medicine.  Naturally there's more to it than that.

Writer Cullen Bunn's departures allow Micronauts to spark where other short-lived resurrections failed.  Minor things like making Space Glider a young, practical woman with mind for business and shifting the spotlight Pharoid immediately create a distinctive feeling.  The story’s packed with action and bears the wildness of space opera that differs from the strictly good vs evil Marvel classic.  Add terrific art and you’ve got yourself a winner.

In the last issue of Doctor Who, Lady Carstairs captured Sarah Jane Smith.  She seeks a time traveler to unravel the mysteries of a "magical" lamp that brought to her great consequences.  Her first researchers, the father and daughter team of Odysseus and Athena Jones, join the Doctor on a rescue mission.

At the same time, Sarah cunningly attempts to secure her position of favored hostage while preserving the Doctor's life.

Writers Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby produce a terrific Victorian set Doctor Who that takes into account the characterization of the unpredictable fourth Doctor as well as the future defender of the earth Sarah Jane Smith.  You may want to compare and contrast with Peter Capaldi's Doctor and Clara Oswald.

Between rescue attempts, the reader learns of Lady Carstairs'  association with the lantern, and how she has cyclops servants on hand.  This section of the story unfolds at a leisurely pace, but the tragedy inherent in the nonetheless deadly Carstairs requires a certain quietness.  The reader also learns how she made enemies of Odysseus and Athena.  It's almost as if the Doctor and Sarah interrupted a private war between the two forces, yet Carstairs outmatches the game pair tenfold.  The adventurous duo would no doubt be dust if not for the Doctor's and Sarah's intervention, and Carstairs would have committed various little evils through the period before finally being brought down.  You somehow hope the Doctor can find redemption for Carstairs because she wanted none of this.

Hellboy and the BPRD 1953 hits its stride with this issue.  Previously a mad scientist turned a family pet into a giant menace.  After shedding its skin, it encountered Hellboy, who promptly struck its nose with a rolled up iron hand.  

At the same tie a substitute teacher appeared and seemed to have eyes for Hellboy.  In this issue, we discover her interest was more professional than first thought, and she's far more than meets the eye.  

As the mutt returns to town to feed on children Hellboy welcomes him with an issue long smackdown.  Although Mignola doesn't have a hand in the artwork, Hellboy and the BPRD 1953 recaptures the freewheeling feeling from the original series.  Hellboy is in high spirits, performing daring do and instilling a sense of wonder.  The opposition is actually interesting for once and takes advantage of the period.

Mythic ends in cataclysmic battle of a kaiju nature, but rather than scaly monsters versus say giant lobsters.  Instead, the gods battle it out for the soul of the world.  It sounds somewhat heady, but it's more visceral than pensive.

Not to worry, there's plenty for the brain to do.  Like wonder over the big revelation and enjoy the duplicity of the Mythic organization that also underlines the drama with a good dose of humor.  If you haven't enjoyed the book in chapter form, check out the collection coming soon.

POBB February 24, 2016

Pick of the Brown Bag

February 24, 2016

by

Ray Tate

Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag.  I’m your host/writer/creator Ray Tate.  This week I’ll be looking at All-New X-Men, Bart Simpson Comics, Black Magick, The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage, Futurama Comics, Hellboy BPRD 19534, Justice League, Mythic, The New Avengers, Patsy Walker is Hellcat, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and a kind of brand new series Wynonna Earp.  As always you can find my tweets via #PickoftheBrownBag.

This is one of Futurama's most unexpected send ups.  Ian Boothby brings in an interstellar Daddy Warbucks to naturally find his Little Orphan Annie.  

I'm not going to explain Little Orphan Annie because the Wikipedia entry is far more informative.  You'll thank me for it because the fate of the comic strip is as surprising as this issue of Futurama. 

The alien one percentile falls for Bender's scheme, which involved shaving Fry bald.  Bender instead of finding his sugar daddy discovers himself in another classic.  This time from cinema.  As usual, I won’t be spoiling anything.  Suffice to say, good one.

To find the B Story, Boothby follows through with Bender's ruse.  The new bald Fry reveals that he's a little prejudice toward the hairless.

Naturally, Hermes sends Fry to a baldness sensitivity class.  This leads to Fry being surrounded by famous bald individuals, some of whom shared a newspaper page with Little Orphan Annie.  It all goes back to Boothby's peculiar Jones for Annie.

Just when you think Boothby's done with you, both sides of this particular coin fused, he next ties up the one loose end in the story.  

You can be forgiven for thinking that this was an isolated gag.  So did I.  Once more Boothby relies on a Hollywood classic to arrive at a solution.

Bart Simpson Comics ends its enviable run of one hundred issues on a high note that parodies Doctor Who.  Through bizarre means...

...Bart finds himself positioned as the Doctor in Professor Frink's time traveling Port-a-Potty.  His goal: to stop a future version of Monty Burns from destroying Springfield.

This finale is a lot of fun with oodles of inside jokes from the comic series and the television series.  

Bart's time traveling sends him careening through numerous comedy episodes, mostly Geek based.  For example, writers Nathan Kane and Boothby, again, acknowledge the first time traveler.

They also tackle such film as Clash of the Titans as well as comic books like The Crisis of Infinite Earths.  

In the end, it takes a collusion of forces to stop Mr. Burns, including Mr. Burns.

You would think that characterization would suffer given a plot like this, but Kane and Boothby create sweet reminisces as well as strong in character dialogue.  

Artist Nina Matsumotto, Andrew Pepoy and Art Villanueva combine talent for one last explosion of color and cartooning.  This took a lot of work.  The background visual gags are plentiful, the characters on model and animated.  Different versions also manifest, yet still they bear an evolutionary Simpsons stamp.

The conclusion to the time twisted Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is a doozy.  For those that just entered the wonderful world of Doreen Greene alias Squirrel Girl, something transported our heroine to the 1960s.   Ironically, because of the Marvel Universe's sliding time scale, the heroes that were created in the sixties contextually burst onto the scene much later.  Thus, the era is devoid of Marvel's champions.

Squirrel Girl is something of a genius.  So, she arranges a message in the bottle for her friend Nancy who is one of the only people on earth that remembers her.  The other person that knows her is Dr. Doom, who wants to get even for his ignominious defeat.  Doom is actually from Nancy's past.  He arrives in the present soon after he first encountered Squirrel Girl.  His being in the time stream explains why he still remembers and despises Squirrel Girl.

Nancy logically convinces Doom to go back in time and help Squirrel Girl, but once in the past, Doom realizes he can conquer the earth before any heroes arise to stop him.  Squirrel Girl is the only fly in the ointment, but he intended to kill her anyway before Nancy talked him out of it.

Writer Ryan North brilliantly characterizes Doom.  Although Squirrel Girl is a funny book, North treats Doom with the utmost respect.  How smart is Doom?  He just began his plan, and he's winning.  

The presence of a second Squirrel Girl from a future he will create does not immediately deter his goals.  Doom furthermore judges both Squirrel Girls to be genuine threats to his plans.  He manhandles them as he would any young, male superhero.  Age and gender mean nothing to Doom.  Women who step up to interfere with his plans get smacked down.  The rules of chivalry which Doom follows do not apply.

The way in which the Squirrel Girls continually feed into Doom's plan furthermore describes Doom's quick mind.  He's a sponge.  He absorbs and adapts in an eye-blink.  

The means in which the heroes finally defeat Doom depend upon strategy that goes way, way outside the box, TARDIS that is, and actually modifies a classic Squirrel Girl ploy.  This three part arc is not to be missed.

Hellcat recently defeated a wannabe villain who was really just misunderstood.  He needed to apply his power in a constructive way.  The turn of events catalyzes Hellcat's goal to create a business that specializes in finding everyday roles for super powered individuals that lack the thirst to fight crime.

Patsy ended up rooming with the dread Ian.  All however is not copacetic, the landlord isn't really keen on having tenants; odd behavior given the vocation, and he consistently throws out lessees.  All of the evictions are legal however because the landlord has a secret weapon that Patsy experiences first hand.  The escalation and scam fuels Patsy's visit to an old friend.

If I were a cynical person, perish the thought, I'd argue that somebody has a movie looming on the horizon, but Patsy was a member of the Defenders.  She is friends with Stephen Strange.  So his cameo isn't gratuitous.  As it was in All New Wolverine.

The combo of Stephen and Patsy is sure to warm the nostalgics of the comic book buyers.  The nature of the foe neatly fits the new mantra of Patsy Walker Hellcat.  The friendly artwork creates an aesthetic that has one foot in toons and the other in straight forward superhero style.

Previously in The Death-Defying Dr. Mirage we learned of a husband and wife ghost hunting team.  Shan Fong and Hwen starred in a television series that detailed their excursions into the macabre.  They are not superheroes.  Instead, they are adventurers more in the line of an occult investigative Modesty Blaise, an impression stamped more so with the art of Roberto De La Torre.

Actually, only Shan fits this description because Hwen is dead.  He exists as a ghost that only Shan can see, which brings us to the current series.  Shan is keen on granting Hwen substance. In conjunction with her quest, Shan sought out a scroll that purportedly could mass the massless.

It turned out that a sorcerer Denis De Walt based on historical figure Alister Crowley secreted himself in the scroll, and now he seeks to destroy the spirits of the world to grow more powerful.

The quest to stop the specter leads the duo to Clara Keene, De Walt’s last victim.  She relates the charismatic power of De Walt.  At the same time, she gains a voice that turns her from plot device to character.  

Writer Jen Van Meter takes the unusual and pleasurable tactic of relying on Dr. Mirage's professionalism to offset any potential threat the sorcerer poses.  Thus, the mood winds up being quirky, with Shan being totally unimpressed by the spook's ability, and Hwen being more than a match for the apparition.

The monster hunting Wynonna Earp returns to comics thanks to a new television series soon to be released on Scyfy.  You might remember her looking like this.

Now she better resembles actress Melanie Scrofano.  On a purely personal level, I think the change is a good one.  Mind you writer/creator Beau Smith already had begun to steer Earp from Bad Girl territory.

Smith's setup might be considered postmodern.

What he's really doing is taking an implicit fact in horror fiction and making it explicit.  Monsters needing money is as old as the fable of the dragon hoarding gold or if you prefer Dracula buying a house in England and needing a real estate agent.

The more radical idea is transforming the U.S. Marshall Service into a creature killing agency.  Earp as she demonstrates through the book is quite adept at task, and the creative violence entertains throughout.

Smith once again lucks out in the art department.  Even in her Bad Girls days, Earp benefitted from unsung talent from Joyce Chinn to Enrique Villagran.  Now artist Lora Innes keeps Wynonna Earp lively.  An excellent premiere.

In the latest issue of Black Magick Rowan Black visits friends.  Each visit yields different consequences.  Her dinner with her partner Morgan and his pregnant wife Anna appears to be all relaxation and no threat, but the mood changes when Anna reveals her fears to Rowan.  Rowan speaks more than words.

She makes a vow, and that's more important.

Rowan next checks up on fellow Witch Alex, who as a favor was delving into the depths of the lighter, which Rowan borrowed from evidence.  The lighter belonged to the hostage taker, the so-called Rowan White, from the debut issue.  As you will see, there’s considerably more to the first crime than first believed.

This is a classic type visit to a netherworld.  Something that you might see on The Night Gallery.  The “special effects” in the visuals are primitive but effective.  The witch is a vision of ghastly make up courtesy of artist Nicola Scott.  The entrance in the pool is a camera trick.  

Rucka and Scott convey the drama with acting and make up.  We see the witch scratch Alex in the netherworld.  The damage shows up in the real world setting as sudden maiming on Alex.  This subdued attention to magical manifestation facilitates Black Magick’s verisimilitude.

The White Tiger isn't so much a hero, but a mystical necklace.  The story began with the necklace falling into the deadly hands of three martial artists known as The Sons of the Tiger.

The necklace's shtick was to unite the heroes psychically so they would fight in unison.  No idea why teamwork wasn't enough, nor what difference it makes getting beaten up by three separate individuals or one mystical Voltron.

Alas, even with the addition of a female member to the team, The Sons' antics failed to ignite the hearts of fans.  So, the characters retired from magic and crime fighting.  

The Sons returned when in the Marvel magazine The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Hispanic newbie Hector Ayala combines the abandoned three talismans to become the first White Tiger.

The White Tiger sticks around until eighties Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man.  There Hector becomes addicted to the necklace's power, like a junkie.  Their metaphor.  Not mine.  Hector gets rid of the trinket.  

The next White Tiger shows up in the mid-nineties in Heroes for Hire.  Actually a Bengal Tiger turned humanoid by Doctor Moreau's biggest fan the High Evolutionary.  She has nothing to do with the amulets and gets her power naturally.

Marvel hired fantasy author Tamora Pierce to breathe life into a new White Tiger.  The richly characterized FBI Special Agent Angela del Toro broke a passport counterfeiting ring and did so with rare literary sensibilities.

Lastly, a relation to Angela, Ava, turned up in Avengers Academy.  When that White Tiger appeared, I was a little confused.  I purchased this week's New Avengers to find out what exactly happened to the Angela, in my opinion the best of the Tigers, in no small part to Pierce's skill.  I am not a happy man.

Angela died at the deadly hands of a shitty writer.  That said.  I cannot blame New Avengers writer Al Ewing for this miserable discard.  He didn't make Angela a literal Hand puppet.

Ewing's story is actually quite good.  The continuity not so much.  The tiger tale begins with an evil version of Reed Richards freeing Angela from prison and handing her a brand new set of jade pendants, which he snatched from an alternate universe.

Richards intends for Angela to kill Ava.  His rationale is unknown to me.  Ava currently enjoys a gelato with Power Man in Italy.  They may or may not be on a date.

That point is moot because soon war breaks out between Tigers.  Ewing throws a lot of chi around, and I have a personal dislike for such hocus-pocus due to nurses in the nineties believing they could manipulate chi in the form of therapeutic touch.  I know.

Hot nurses performing massage on you.  What on earth could be wrong with that?  You see.  They didn't actually touch you.  They waved bye-bye over you.  In other words, not only had you not reached second base, you were penalized and sent to the dugout.

Anywho, chi irritates me, but again, not Ewing's fault, and it's a mainstay in cheap martial arts films.  White Tigers are all about that.  So, it's a fair annoyance.  That said.  Connecting the new Power Man's ability to chi is damn stupid.  Not Ewing's fault.  Power Man is complete rubbish.  He's like a superhero some scholastic association might create for edutainment.  Nevertheless, the idea that Angela can use chi to stop him cold is a perfectly valid twist.  In chopsocky films, a master of chi fighting can puncture a heart without touching his opponent.

So you take the bad with the good.  Al Ewing's story is good.  The continuity is bad.  The art by J. Cassara and Rachelle Rosenberg pretty.

Last issue, X-Men villain mainstay The Blob killed a poor mutant beast to feed his face.  Causing a commotion at the restaurant, the Blob attracted the attention of Wolverine and Angel.  Despite the Angel being the voice of reason, Laura intended to take out the Blob herself.  He promptly beat the All-New Wolverine to death.

Writer Dennis Hopeless tries to keep things light in All-New X-Men.  The young time-hopping X-Men never met the modern day Blob.  So, Hopeless and Bagley try to make their first encounter a violent lark.  At the same time, Bobby Drake appears to be as gay as his older self, but he's having problems coming out of the closet.  Meanwhile, the temperature controlling mutant known as Equinox yells at The Christian God's icons.

Sounds like fun doesn't it? It kind of is, but nothing really takes because all of the frivolity lies in the shadow of this emotional scene.

Wolverine is not dead.  She's just recuperating.  Bagley, at an all-time artistic high, displays the consequences of the healing factor through Angel's point of view.  It's painful to watch.  Painful to "hear" and just overall painful.  The demonstration is remarkable.

Mythic balances drama and comedy.  Our world according to Mythic runs on superstition, that’s facilitated by Mythic.  Mythic on the surface is a slick operation conducted by professionals.  What’s beneath the surface are gods, sorcerers, ghosts and legendary immortals, all in the company uniform and logo.

Recently, Mythic discovered a pattern of interference.  What they could not predict was a foe that’s dedicated to bringing the world back to rationality.  A laudable goal, but the execution leaves for much to be desired.  In the fluster of activity, Cassandra, the Oracle, fired the newly appointed Nate.  No doubt part of a clever plan.

This issue begins with the bad guys revealing themselves and the comedy of a double cross the Midgard Serpent should have seen coming.

The story continues with the appears to be finished Mythic member Waterson, and an homage to kaiju with the big dukeraoo between diapered god Asha and Surtur, who needs no explanation, thanks to being a recurring villain in Thor.  Writer Phil Hester juxtaposes these large scale events with Nate’s attempt to re-enter Mythic.  Solid and entertaining, Mythic tackles well trod territory but in a wholly unique manner.

This is easily the best issue of Hellboy I’ve read in a long time.  That’s because the Hellboy of 1953 is the Hellboy I first read about in the premiere issue.  At this point in time, Hellboy is liked and accepted by his teammates as well as the general populace.  He’s fighting monsters, and his already impressive experience gives him a convincing attitude of victory.  

In the continuing saga of “The Darkseid War,” the Justice League finds itself accepting a disturbing truth.  They cannot win against the Monitor Mobius.  They must team up with their former interdimensional enemies, the Crime Syndicate.

For those not in the know, the Crime Syndicate consists of Ultraman, Superwoman, Owlman, Volthoom, Power Ring and Grid.  These are the analogues of the Justice League.  They are not their parallels.  Owlman for example is Thomas Wayne, brother and killer of Bruce Wayne.  Superwoman is not Diana of Paradise Island.  Only Ultraman can claim a certain amount of isomerism.  That however is a nuance.  Neither character acts the same, even when Superman has been corrupted into the God of Strength.

Mobius attacks Gotham City, and you know the situation’s bad when he unleashes Shadow Demons.  These were the things that unmade the multiverse person by person.  They’re meta gone mad.

Fortunately, we have a more powerful Justice League, and I don’t mean the minor upgrades.  I’m talking about the return of majesty.  The idea that if the planet is threatened, these are the individuals you want on your side.  You can say that about any hero I suppose, but no group of heroes resonates with such history than the Justice League, and that echo through time means something, turns the Justice League into more than marketing, more than trademarks, it turns them into American mythology.

Putting all of this emotional connection aside for the moment.  This issue of Justice League is simply well written.  Johns hasn’t failed once in creating an engrossing chapter of “The Darkseid War.”  In addition to the collusion, Johns brings in special guest stars and draws upon the scattering of the Apokoliptan prophecy that he setup in a previous issue.  The foreshadowing of a birth comes to fruition, and accompanying Johns on this fictional epic artist Justin Fabok gives his all.