POBB June 7, 2026

Pick of the Brown Bag

June 7, 2026

by

Ray Tate 

Black Cat: King in Black #1

Venom began life as a parasitic pair of pantyhose in Secret Wars #8. How this definitely happened still escapes me.  The machine allegedly reads a person's thoughts and replicates what they want.  I doubt Spider-Man created Venom. Thinking:  "What I really need is a pair of alien Levis that will drain the life out of me, wreck my home life through a toxic, one-sided, borderline sexual relationship and unleash a series of otherworldly crimes upon the Marvel Universe."  No, no.  Spider-Man is actually quite intelligent.   

I can only guess that the device sends a teleport beam to search the universe for new threads.  The beam struck a puddle of ooze.  Venom thought to itself:  "Face it, Tiger.  You hit the jackpot."

  

Before its lucky break, Venom being Venom probably lurked in fashion shops all over the galaxy.  Taking advantage of the old adage that every woman should have at least one little, black dress.  Feeding on anybody who tried it on or took it home.  Though not Mary Jane Watson in early days.

Amazing Spider-Man #300

Upon discovering that the pair of pants threatened Mary Jane, Spider-Man soon does the right thing.  He hunts down the deadly dungarees, overcomes new host and punk murderer Eddie Brock and wards both to the Fantastic Four.  

Ben Grimm is clearly wearing a Felix the Cat robe to 

intimidate the planet-hopping long-johns in Amazing Spider-Man #300.

Because of Mary Jane's experience with Venom, she asks Peter to discard even his regular copy black suit.  

#300

Perhaps not wanting to take chances, Peter decides to burn it.

Also 300

Venom didn't just terrify Mary Jane, it also victimized the other woman in Spider-Man's life.  Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat.  Felicia was onto Venom from the very start.

Amazing Spider-Man #257

It rewarded that knowledge with violence.  

Amazing Spider-Man #316

Venom makes the Punisher look like a pair of comfy pajamas.  The Punisher is a bona fide antihero.  However, if we redefine heroes in the context of James Bond or the Shadow, the Punisher can be defined sometimes as outright heroic.  Venom not so.  Venom is pure bastard.  That hasn't stopped Marvel from trying to parlay Venom's bizarre haute couture success into something other than villainous.  

Only whatever his fanbase looks like buys into this.  To all of us who know what it and Eddie Brock did to Mary Jane Watson and Felicia, the creature is dead to us.  We also wish it only a permanent comic book death perhaps eaten away by voracious moths.  Tall order, but there it is.

Black Cat's opinion on Venom and Eddie Brock hasn't changed an iota.

Black Cat: King in Black #1

This brings us to a recent Black Cat and Mary Jane Team-Up. 

Hey, babies, how about some cunnilingus with your space-louse abuser.

MJ and Black Cat despite being exes and one-time rivals for Peter Parker's affection kind of like each other.    

Jackpot and Black Cat #1

Mary Jane and Felicia have in fact teamed up often.  Still, this is a bit much.

Black Cat #7

Yeah.  MJ loves Felicia?  I don't think so.  Thoroughly likes Felicia.  Sure, but loves? Is this another "love ya" vs.  "I love you," kind of thing? 

Black Cat #7

Anyway.  The entire story feels like fan-fiction created by some whiny little Venom fan.  Indeed, this whole exercise is an exploitation of talent meant to serve marketing.  You have to like Venom now.  Mary Jane is Venom.  

You are incorrect, Sir.  I can still loathe Venom, even with the shiny gold Spider on its chest, plainly indicating meritorious conduct from its kindergarten, but still like Mary Jane and Black Cat.  

Actually, liking MJ and the Black Cat precludes ever liking Venom.  You may as well ask me to like the Joker and Batgirl.  I like to see the Joker beaten to a pulp.  I'd like to see Venom harvested by silkworms.  Does that count?

Venom is essentially a garbage domestic abuser.  Like all  abusers, it also happens to be an energy-vampire taking the form of a cheap-jack costume.  It has inexplicably been artificially ballyhooed to be raised upward into the scope of the public eye.

 

Yeah.  Venom is that guy.

How did this recent nonsense happen?

Black Cat #7

What's an Archiniote?  No idea.  Doesn't matter.  Mary Jane could have said "stabbed by a unicorn." It still would present a situation just as contrived.  

Marvel:  There's a whole bunch of people who loathe Venom.  We can increase sales if we get Venom a host nobody can deny.  What about Mary Jane?  The survivor of Venom's domestic abuse?  Are you nuts?  Wait.  Wait.  Maybe the maniac's got something.

For the record, I didn't read the book where this happens, and you can make the argument that it's unfair for me to judge the fusion since I don't understand the whole story.  Let me present a counterargument.  

Jackpot and the Black Cat #1

Mary Jane was already a super-hero with a decent costume and an impressive gadget granting her superpowers before she subsumed her identity to her former domestic abuser.  Like many victims of domestic abuse, mental and/or physical, regrettably do, 

Number One

If you can't make out what's happening in the above graphic.  Mary Jane known as Jackpot possesses a bracelet which she operates like a slot machine.  The spin decides on what superpower the bracelet grants.  There's no limit to what the bracelet can bestow, nor how many times MJ can spin.

So here's another contrivance I must accept.  Mary Jane didn't wear her bracelet when threatened and forced to bond with Venom.  Alternately, the bracelet suddenly proved to be worthless for getting out of this particular situation.  Or the bracelet conveniently gets destroyed before she's threatened.  No matter what.  It seems to me that Marvel set up MJ "to be pinched by the leprechaun," disregarded her other identity, all to try to drum up fans for the domestic abuser.   

#300 again; Even MJ's clown pants are more attractive than Venom, as outerwear.

Marvel's message to survivors of domestic abuse seems to be.  You'll never escape.  Your identity will never be your own. I'm sure that this was an inadvertent social motif because only Nazis would be that cruel on purpose.  

Another means of defense.  Mary Jane could have contacted Felicia and using the bracelet, whip up an anti-Venom suit.

Felicia uses an Anti-Venom Suit to bloody Venom's nose and steal Dr. Strange in King in Black #2

G. Willow Wilson is Black Cat's current scribe.  Her run hasn't been as wacky nor Lupinesque as Jed MacCay's terrific turn.  Wilson's Black Cat is more street level.  However, Wilson respects Felicia.  She gives her dignity ninety-percent of the time.  The differences between Wilson's and McCay's Black Cat are many.  

Wilson makes the Black Cat a little more vulnerable, a little less cocksure, self-reflecting.  It's a valid characterization.  Wilson also subtly ties her into the Spider-Man universe more frequently and in a less spectacular way.  Both characterizations for the Black Cat fit.  They connect.  They're complimentary.  That being said.  If you want episodic heist and adventure, you go to Jed MacCay.  If you want a day-in-the-life comedic drama of sneak-thief Felica Hardy, you go to Wilson.  

Until this Venom garbage, I was content to read G. Willow Wilson's Black Cat.

To Wilson's credit, in the team-up, she focuses mainly on MJ and Felicia.

Unfortunately, she still must pay the bills.  So, she tailors her work to suit an ugly pair of pants. Some of her choices are missteps to be kind.

That scene never would have happened.  There is no way, in any universe that Black Cat hugs Venom.  Black Cat hates Venom more than Mary Jane.  That scene highlights the insidiousness of this whole exercise.   Mary Jane gains nothing from this story.  Black Cat gains nothing from this story.  Venom in theory gains respectability from this story.  Or Marvel wants Venom to gain acceptance and credibility from this story.  Too Bad.  I see what you did there.

A turd is a turd.  Putting a caramel in its center doesn't make it more appetizing.  That's why I cannot recommend this story in an otherwise consistently good Black Cat run.  

Not

  

 

POBB November 6, 2019

Pick of the Brown Bag

November 6, 2019

by

Ray Tate

Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag.  This week I review most of the usual suspects plus a couple of new titles.  Batman, The Black Cat, Doctor Doom, Fantastic Four, The Immortal Hulk, Miles Morales Spider-Man, New Mutants, Spider-Man/Venom Double-Trouble and Vengeance of Vampirella.  Even as I write this, the tweets have already been posted.  Check them out if you haven’t the time for the blog:  #PickoftheBrownBag.

So.  Big.  Yellow.  Birds.  Can’t even stop one Justice Leaguer.  Let alone the entire team.  Son-of-a-Gun.  Who would have thunk it? Me! That’s who!

I don’t know why I continue to hope the X-Men will someday make sense, entertain and be readable.  It hasn’t happened in decades.  So why am I such a cockeyed optimist?

The New Mutants isn’t the worst X-Men book I’ve ever read, but neither is it as good as the John Byrne/Chris Claremont era of Uncanny X-Men or early issues of Joss Whedon’s run.

Anyway.  The best scene in the whole book is the one above.  That’s back from the dead Wolfsbane.  One of the original New Mutants.  She’s just enjoying being alive again.  It’s well-illustrated, emotive, given scope and quite lovely.

The rest of New Mutants is mediocre.  For those that care, these are the clones of the original New Mutants infused with their proper memories.

Sometimes a thousand words are superfluous when two will suffice: “Yep.  Clone.” 

Those two words could have dispensed with all the New Age frou-frou.  Storm becoming rain-mother and Cyclops sitting like a trickster on a toadstool, which is way more disturbing than a naked Wolfsbane slathered in goo.

The New Mutants currently reside on the living island of Krakoa.  Which is funny because the “adventure” truly begins on page ten in space with the swashbuckling Starjammers!

Or maybe the old and boring Starjammers.  As dull as their encounter is, couldn’t we have at least cut to the chase? Something like, page two.

Incidentally, revisiting Sam may move somebody, but I don’t know who Sam is.

Aboard The Starjammer, things really start to get cracking.  Illyana Rasputin battles the cyborg guy whose name escapes me.

Of course, it’s just a sparring duel.  So no worries.  Things pick up a little bit toward the end where the New Mutants decide to be heroes.

I’d post a graphic, but I’d rather listen to Bowie.  Wouldn’t you?  On the whole, I don’t think I’m the audience for The New Mutants.  So, if you’re an X-Men fan, well-versed in the College of Mutants, this book may be for you.  I, on the other, hand found it remarkably tedious.

The Spider-Man/Venom team-up in Double-Trouble looked like it would be funny, but it’s not.  It’s just a light drama with a few strange situations and some stylishly cartoony artwork by Gurihiru.

The story starts out normal enough for Spider-Man and Venom.  Spidey stops a bunch of bank robbers.  Venom encounters the Green Goblin.

The first odd thing to occur is an homage to The Odd Couple.   Spidey attempting to aid Venom with his redemption takes him on as a roommate.  

Little does Spider-Man know that Venom’s playing him.  He’s got other plans in mind.  Those schemes mirror the first few issues of the newest version of Marvel Team-Up.

Another absurdity involves Spider-Gwen.  She lives in the same building and suffers from Venom’s sloppiness.

In Spider-Gwen and its rechristening Ghost Spider, Gwen and Marvel Earth proper Peter Parker are just friends.  The writers avoid the hassle of rekindling ex-lovers by relying on a considerable age-gap between the two.

In Double-Trouble, Spidey and Gwen are contemporaries.  However, this is a kids book and you shouldn’t think about it too much.

Miles Morales Spider-Man is a better option than Double-Trouble.  Miles attempting to talk down his Uncle Aaron alias the Prowler from a criminal act is a little like Into the Spider-Verse.  However, it’s balanced out by a wicked punch-up.  

Miles Morales cracks wise as he and the Prowler go up against Man Mountain Marko.  I love how artist Javier Garron makes Marko look like Elvis Presley on steroids in the disco-age.

The Black Cat goes on a date with Batroc Ze Leaper while the Black Fox battles Ninjas.  

Writer Jed MacKay demonstrates a flair for dialogue as Felicia gets to know Georges.  Minus the talk of heists and heroes, I can really sense the chemistry building between them.  Black Cat exemplifies some very understated writing with radiant illustration apropos for the mood, courtesy of Mike Dowling and Brian Reber.  

The Ninja stuff is equally impressive, but it’s not often that you get quiet scenes between two people feeling each other out done well in a comic book.  Don’t worry though, Batroc and the Black Cat cap their night with a some elegant thievery.

Doctor Doom framed for a crime he didn’t commit turns himself in to the United Nations and some guest-star guards.

Doom appears to capitulate.  Dejected, he’s content to quote Shakespeare.  In Shakespeare’s play Richard III is a villain.  A poisoner and a murderer of kin.  Children no less.  History presents a more even-handed depiction of Richard.  There is in fact zero credibility in Shakespeare’s tragedy.  Forensic evidence shows that Richard didn’t even have a hump.  

Writer Christopher Cantwell may be looking at Doom in the same way.  Much has been written about Doom, but the truth is something else.  Certainly, he appears to have nothing to do with the destruction of the Antilion Project.

When series guest-star Kang the Conqueror appears, Doom decides to take the action hero route.  Escape, go on the lam, prove innocence.

Hiding and running, he discovers an old ally in a strange place, and it’s here that Cantwell pops in on the Marvel Universe in general.  Using an impromptu Spider-Man appearance he adds humor, draws a hilarious and true comment from Victor and overall just create a sense of quirkiness.

At its heart Doctor Doom is a very weird book.  Cantwell flips the narrative.  The villains take the places of the heroes.  Kang becomes the fortuitous cavalry.  The mystery villainess becomes the lady that helps the hero out of a jam.  Cantwell imbues these scoundrels with a sense of style and panache missing from their typical treatments.  We don’t for example expect villains to like music other than Wagner or opera, but Cantwell dares to differ.

This issue of The Fantastic Four is a major upswing.  The last chapter setting up this issue was a real snoozer and filled with boring analogues.  

This issue is exciting and filled with good stuff like revolts, Thing-fights and daring escapes.  The Fantastic Four seek to complete the mission that made them.  So, Reed and Johnny repaired their original ship and off they went with better shielding against cosmic radiation.

The team reached the planet they aimed for, and they found communication problems, a prophecy and a group of resident super-humans that resembled the Thunderbolts.  They are not the Thunderbolts.  So, I was wrong about that.

The story begins in the underworld where Ben Grimm meets the monsters.

For the monsters’ appearances, artists Sean Izaakse and Marcio Menyz just go nuts.  This is just a gorgeous gamut of grotesqueness.  In thought they reflect the kind of monster Jack Kirby and Stan Lee plotted and wrote.  These are not monsters but a people.

Writer Dan Slott contrasts Ben’s plight with Johnny Storm’s fall into the lap of luxury.  Similar to the Timothy Dalton James Bond in License to Kill, really.  Albeit a different reaction.

The Soul Mate motif becomes a source of not only Johnny’s story, but some rare comedy from Reed Richards and friction between the home team.

Johnny's scene segues to Reed and Sue confronting the Grand Poobah of affairs and the revelation of a secret that he blames on The Fantastic Four.

Like Sue said, this is not on the Fantastic Four.  The conclusion of the Poobah’s speech leads to Sue and Reed exemplifying their perfect partnership and dazzling the reader with a superb escape that brilliantly uses their superpowers.  More of this, please.

I’ve never been all that thrilled with nesting a superhero universe in the real world.  The presence of superheroes should affect change, which is what Hulk writer Al Ewing is getting at.  

However, I can’t accept superheroes being complacent while evil things happen in the nation.  How can you have Captain Marvel and a government that cages children? The two conflict.  That said.  This is a riveting story.

The Immortal Hulk defeated General Fortean and his followers from Shadow Base.  Now, the Hulk owns Shadow Base.  Working in concert with his alter-ego, Bruce Banner declares war on the Human World.

Banner’s call alarms authorities and triggers a grassroots movement building around an unfair status quo.  Our story though begins in a Massachusetts eatery.   Banner awaits the arrival of Amadeus Cho.

Amadeus Cho.  I never knew who this guy was, nor the reason behind his hype.  The brief encounters I had with him never led to anything good.  However, Al Ewing employs the character as a sounding board and devil’s advocate.  

He uses his youth and inexperience, despite allegedly being one of the smartest people on the planet.  The inclusive phrase is an improvement over his usual boasts.  As such, Amadeus Cho becomes the perfect addition to this issue.  In addition to a mystery guest whose identity isn’t revealed until the final pages.  Perfect.

Batman vs Bane.  Catwoman vs. Bane.  Big Bad vs. Everybody.  Tom King presents the difference between Batman before his return to Catwoman and after.  His style of fighting, his ability to fully partner up with somebody all changes.

Whereas Batman and Robin were arguably the ideal team throughout the history of comics.   The opening of that doubling and the rewrites suggested that Batman was giving orders, and Robin carried them out.  As Dick Grayson grew older, perhaps there was more give and take.

Batman cannot order around Catwoman and that makes all the difference.  She’s an adult.  She’s his lover, and he accepts her as his equal.  Together they fish around for ideas and find the means to overcome formidable odds.  It also doesn’t hurt to have Mikel Janin on board whose style pendulums to the realistic and the elegance of cartoons.

Vengeance of Vampirella resurrects the title character in dark fantasy detail.

Honestly, I’m a little foggy on how she ended up dead in the first place.  

Vampirella is not really a vampire.  That is.  She’s not a photophobic undead corpse walking around drinking blood to sustain her existence.  

Vampirella is an alien from the planet Drakulon.  So, it’s fair to ask how can she wake up from being dead.  Let me put it to you this way.  Kryptonite kills Superman.  Superman appeared to die upon being bathed in Kryptonite.  No matter, he still survives certain death through alien trickery.  Noted by Firestorm in one of the iterations of The Super-Friends.

A beam of some sort hits Vampirella.  This beam is courtesy of a transformed Pendragon.  Pendragon was one of the original Vampirella cast members.  He started off as a mere stage magician.  He gained actual magical powers throughout the years until becoming this.

I vaguely remember this transformation as well.  Not good on the details though.

Vampirella reawakens as if from a Lazarus Pit, and is a little more feral than usual.  Some demons suffer for the jarring.

Nobody to lose sleep over.  However, she remembers that most peculiar urge.  Protect humans.

Godzilla, Gamera, Vampirella.  They all share one thing in common.  Despite their being on the surface, monsters, they’re the good guys.  That’s what makes them so darn interesting.  You expect a giant reptile to wreak havoc and kill humanity.  You don’t expect such a being to defend us.  You expect a vampire to prey upon humanity.  You don’t expect a vampire to be valiant.