POBB April 2, 2022

Pick of the Brown Bag

April 2, 2022

by

Ray Tate

Welcome to first of another two part Pick of the Brown Bag.  For those who just arrived, my name is Ray Tate.  In this blog I review television series, movies and sometimes prose novels.  Mainly, though, the name of the game is comic books.   If this blog is too in depth for you and you need a decision ASAP, check me out on Twitter: #PickoftheBrownBag. 

I'm often questioned about why I don't pick up certain books.  In that regard, I'm probably much like you.  I'm not invested in that particular character.  I'm not wild about the art.  I dislike the writing, but the comic book as I have said before isn't like any other medium.  Comic book series present other challenges.

Sometimes there are just too many.  This is how I feel about Spider-Man.

I like my Spider-Man Amazing, Spectacular and Marvel Team-Up.  Once you stick in overlapping specials, mini-series and/or maxi-series, you've pretty much lost me.  

That said.  I gravitate toward certain scribes, and the presence of these writers guarantee my at least flipping through the Spider-Man titles, even if they are weirdly numbered and/or part of one, two or, blimey, three mini-series.  

Because of Jed MacKay and Kelly Thompson I wagered this current lot of Spider-Man titles would make sense even if I hadn't followed the whole enchilada.  Sure enough.  I was right.

Amazing Spider-Man starts the snowball rolling.  It's designated 78.Bey.  Short for 78 Beyond, which should in no way be associated with Batman Beyond.  

Although it's subtitled Beyond and borrows Terry McGuiness' friend Max.  

Eleonora Carlini, Federico Blee

Coincidentally the name of the white, pink-haired CEO of The Beyond Corporation, which is not involved in making new Batman Beyond cartoons.  Drat the luck.

This isn't really a Spider-Man book.  It's a Daughters of the Dragon book, which isn't a bad thing if you like the Daughters of the Dragon.  I happen to love Misty Knight and Colleen Wing.  So, good on me.  

If you're buying the book out of your loyalty for Spider-Man, you're out of luck.  Because it doesn't even feature the Spider-Man you're looking for.  

That's a lot of information.  

Let me break it down for newcomers.  Misty Knight and Colleen Wing--The Daughters of the Dragon--debuted as Iron Fist cast members in Marvel Premiere back in the seventies.

Misty and Colleen also received their own feature in the contemporary magazine Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu.  Years later they would again take the spotlight when Marvel restarted their magazine endeavor.

Colleen and Misty are private investigators who run Knightwing Restorations.  I don't know why the Powers That Be referred to them as Daughters of the Dragon.  My guess is that it's just ballyhoo to better connect them with the Martial Arts scene happening back then.  No matter.  They are casually groundbreaking.  

With the exception of Nancy Drew and her cohorts Bess and George, and maybe the 1970s iteration of Rose and Thorn, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing are the first female detective partners in fiction.  Certainly the first professionals.  They beat Cagney and Lacey by about ten years.

Colleen Wing is a supreme swords woman who also knows all the moves and semi-mystical secrets of seventies Iron Fist due to a controversial Mind-Meld with Danny Rand.  

Misty Knight is an ex-cop who lost her arm to a terrorist bomb.  Hence her turn to the private sector.  Because this is Marvel Comics, Tony Stark gifted her with a bionic arm.

Ben Reilly, our Spider-Man d'jour, is the first clone of Peter Parker that made it out alive.  Reilly is from the original clone story from the seventies.  He also previously adopted the Spider-Man guise when--oh, let's call it food poisoning--waylaid Peter out of the webs. 

Yeah.  Apparently Ben lost his memories.  No idea how.  Beyond Corporation hired Colleen and Misty to train Ben Reilly.  They're his sponsor for reasons I cannot fathom.  So Colleen conceives the ultimate fighting arena.  

Avengers Murder Mansion.  Like the Danger Room only with Avengers.

That's as far as the Spider-Man related material goes.  Beyond's leader Max has other plans for Colleen and Misty in the issue.

Welcome to Jed MacKay's forte.  Conceiving enjoyable adventures and antics featuring kind-of or low-powered superheroes.  

The monster hunt leads to all sorts of entertaining mayhem as well as a justifiably staccato styled narrative where Max Debriefs Misty and Colleen in between the flashback battle sequences against the monster.

The battle grows more complex.  The monster reveals some unusual powers that drop Colleen and Misty into the Avengers Murder Mansion.  Trouble is.  If they die in here, they die for real.

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The Daughters of the Dragon don't die.  They return in Amazing Spider-Man 91.Bey to battle Beyond Corporation's basement of Misfit Toy Creatures.  On the bright side, for Spidey fans, this book features the Spider-Man you're looking for.

Sara Pichelli, Fran Galan, Brian Reber

Thrill to Daughters of the Dragon fighting alongside the true Spider-Man, now better.  And his also-ran.  

Misty and Colleen haven't teamed up with the real Spidey for years.  In fact, one of Iron Fist's major stories concludes in Chris Claremont's and John Byrne's Marvel-Team Up.

Now, at this point you may be wondering how I managed to miss 79.Bey to 88.Bey.  I have no idea.  I have no idea how this numbering system works.  I have no clue as to what titles it spans, and I paid attention.  You see my problem with subscribing to the Spider-Man titles?

91.Bey doesn't immediately continue into 92.Bey.  You have to stop by plain old Amazing Spider-Man 92 to get the rest of the story.  Except this plain old Spider-Man is decked out as something else.

Now, honestly does that make any sense to you? You may think that okay, they just stopped with the .Bey business, but no.  92 follows into Amazing Spider-Man 92.Bey.  WTF.

Anywho, behind door number two, or Z as they refer to it, the Lizard.  He's on the cover.  It's hardly a spoiler.  

The Lizard is one of the classic Spider-Man menaces that go all the way back to the creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.  

He's actually Dr. Curt Conners, a well meaning biologist trying to use the regenerative powers of lizards to grow a new arm.  Alas, things go awry.  

Depending on the Spider-Man era you drop in on, Curt Conners'  can be perfectly sane, teaching at college.  He may be a semi-intelligent Lizard primed to protect his son from the evil Stegron.  He may also be utterly mindless and bent on pure destruction.

with Ze Carlos

Now the chap whose DNA got spliced into the Lizard should be no surprise given his unanticipated movie career.  This is a spoiler I guess.  Go to the next cover graphic if you don't wish to know....

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...Beyond spliced Michael Morbius' DNA into the Lizard.  It's both dumb and brilliant at the same time.

First of all, there's absolutely no need for this to happen.  The Lizard without Conners' conscience is more than enough of a threat.  Second, Michael Morbius isn't really a vampire of the undead variety.  He's a scientific vampire created inadvertently in attempt to cure a blood disease.  So, yeah, he would have viable living DNA.

The metamorphosis into Morbius the Living Vampire also turned Michael quite insane.  Spider-Man's radioactive blood charged with lightning cured Morbius for a helluva long time, but eventually, he reverted back to bloodsucker.  The difference is that this time around, he kept his marbles and has been on an even keel for most of his modern existence.

Third, Thompson raises some interesting parallels between Morbius and the Lizard.  Things I never really considered before.  Both scientists.  Both looking for a cure.  Both caught in an experiment gone skewed.  Both vacillating between bouts of insanity and long periods of sanity.  Both turned into monsters.  Fourth, I don't actually know if including Morbius in this hootenanny was Thompson's idea or not, but she does something with the inclusion.  It doesn't just lie there.  And the dialogue scripted by Jed MacKay brings everything home.

I hesitate to call Amazing Spider-Man 92.Bey a Spider-Man book.  MacKay concludes the Daughters of the Dragon contract and the problems of the Lizard and Moribus in the first section then reintroduces the lady in the Spider-Spotlight.  For the record, Ben Reilly appears on one page.  Just one.  Peter Parker? Sorry.  Nowhere to be found.

Artist Unknown.  There's a whole bunch to choose from this issue.

It's real surprising to see Captain Marvel's history presented in a whole different light.  Changes in Avengers writers were the real life reasons for Captain Marvel's downfall.  While one writer raised Captain Marvel to Avengers leader, another knocked her off the team.  Still, more over the years felt warmth for Monica than the low-rent mystic Dr. Druid, who I believe is absolutely nowhere in comics at this moment and sonuvagun not part of the Marvel cinematic universe.  That's right.  I'm dissing Dr. Druid.  Wanna make something of that? Of course not.  Ben Reilly has more fans.  So does the Menudo version of Vibe.

Captain Marvel teams up with another hero of her acquaintance languishing for care.  Together they take down Beyond's current operations.  Hamstringing them at best, but it's a good hit and gives the letterer something to do as well.  A callback to another time and another place.

I suppose the most remarkable thing about this group of Spider-Man books is how little Spider-Man involves himself.  I would be interested in how this story went over amongst the rabid Spidey fans.  In any case, I found the group helluva entertaining.  

POBB March 15, 2022

Pick of the Brown Bag

March 15, 2022

by

Ray Tate

Welcome to a new Pick of the Brown Bag.  I'm Ray Tate, the creator, writer and all around Grand Pooh-Bah of the POBB. This week I look at the hardback collection Batman The Detective written by Tom Taylor, illustrated by Andy Kubert, Sandra Hope and Brad Anderson.  Need the main gist rather than the in-depth look? Check me out on Twitter: #PickoftheBrownBag.

First, let me just say I love a nicely priced hardback such as this.  Collecting all six issues of Batman The Detective it goes for $24.99, which is a fair price.  

Those cash strapped may be able to purchase it cheaper through Amazon or Barnes and Noble.  Better yet, check it out at your local library.  Batman The Detective is listed in The Library of Congress: ISBN 978-1-77951-418-9.

The paper bears a newsprint texture and presentation.  Though, don't worry; a single sheet is much thicker than a newspaper.  Think thicker than an average comic book page but thinner than sketchpad paper.  Made from "sustainable forests" according to the imprint.  So good on DC.  

The overall quality is excellent for picking up the detail of Kubert's and Hope's illustration as well as Brad Anderson's colors.  Plus, the nature of the paper makes the collection lightweight.  The story anything but.

Taylor sets Batman The Detective some time after Alfred's death.  I don't actually know if this tale evolves in continuity proper.  Points of interest suggest yes and otherwise.  

I tend toward the later.  If anything, Taylor seems to be exploring the legend of Batman and a glimpse of the man behind the legend.  Unlike, the actual person, who visits in a Superman Son of Kal-El Annual.

Embarrassment, self-deprecating wit.  All elements of a person.  Anyway, it's a nuance of flavor rather than a drastic schism.

Taylor presents Bruce Wayne as much older in Batman The Detective.  Kubert, Hope and Anderson bestow a very unusual and off-putting look to Bruce.  They drastically contrast his typical appearance in comics.  They furthermore reintroduce him with scars and all.

Taylor and company give no specifics, and that benefits the theme of the story.  This Batman mystery however could not have happened at any time or any place in Batman's history and it's far too grounded to be an elseworld.  The Detective takes place in a seasoned Batman's world.  Batman though suffers no physical indignities like his alter-ego.  He's iconic even if older.

You really cannot mistake Batman for anybody else, despite the lack of a cape.  He still cuts an impressive imposing figure.  This Batman may be anywhere from fifty to seventy, but hell no, you do not want to mess with him.

No matter the tale's placement in time and space.  It's Batman's present.  We see flashbacks to when Batman looked more like the Batman from the comics.

The literal signature left after a downed plane in Lancashire draws Batman to England.  The woman who first combats the terrorists while still on the plane is Beryl Hutchinson.  That name may sound familiar.  Beryl holds a particular history with the Dark Knight.

Beryl Hutchinson is the Knight.  She used to be Squire to Cyril Sheldrake.  The second Knight.  Grant Morrison introduced the duo in his run of JLA.  Cyril was the original Squire to the original Knight Percy Sheldrake, the Earl of Wordenshire.

These heroes premiered historically in a 1950s issue of Batman  and joined the Batman of All Nations a year or so later in Detective Comics.

The creative team of Batman The Detective debuts a new squire for Beryl who teams up first with Batman, then Beryl who recovers from her ordeal.

Don't be surprised that she's recovering from the landing.  She's been touched by the Bat.  People touched by the Bat tend to be tough customers.  More of that legend I spoke of.

Now if you think I'm uncharacteristically spoiling a lot of Batman The Detective, think again.  Batman The Detective is just that.  Throughout the story, Batman must deduce why these murders occur.  Who isn't important.  In fact, I will state right here.  You don't know who that person is.  

She hasn't previously been seen in a Batman book, regardless of era.  So, this isn't a fair play mystery where you deduce the killer of a body in the library.  It's instead a cutting edge detective story.

The costume of course should look familiar to you, but it goes much deeper than Batman mockery.  Writer Leo Dorfman and artist Neal Adams created the Batman Revenge Squad in an issue of World's Finest.  

Sounds impressive, doesn't it? The Batman Revenge Squad.  Oooooo.  Ahhhhh.  These guys have never been seen in World's Finest, Batman, Detective Comics before that story.

Taylor and company updates the idea with an abnormal psychological twist that makes the crime worthy of Batman's involvement.  Even the choice of colors pertains to the rationale.    Neal Adams probably chose the colors for the BRS for aesthetic reasons.  I doubt anything deeper.

In Chapter one, before Batman embroils himself in the heart of the mystery, he matches wits and fists against an old enemy.

Through this encounter, Taylor, Kubert, Hope and Anderson establish the environment and setting and how it differs from Gotham City.  They also mirror Sherlock Holmes' most famous story The Hound of the Baskervilles.  

One of several parallels Taylor makes between Batman and Holmes.  Indeed, the creative team take Holmes' tacit historical acceptance of Batman being his successor in an anniversary issue of Detective Comics as now explicit.

If Taylor had started the second act of chapter one with Batman redirected to the hospital where Beryl recuperates, he would have too easily created a generic feeling, despite the presence of Tower Bridge in the background.  This prologue just speaks of Batman in England.

The new Batman Revenge Squad, who have a more meaningful name, seek to eliminate Beryl from the equation, and that's one of many mistakes they make.  

Reading the narrative that goes along with this giddy moment of relishing the Batman.  Taylor lets in a little depth to the legend.  Something very fitting to the character of Batman yet original.

A duality exists within these pages, a purposeful conflict between the artwork and the writing.  Batman feels the weight of reality.  His appearance does not.  He looks like he could fight the good fight forever.  His mind knows better.  Again, this is the glimpse of the man behind the legend, yet not as personal a look as in the Superman Annual.

Chapter two begins at Big Ben, where Batman relies on a classic method of Batman interrogation.  This is the legend.  This is Batman as a figure of terror to criminals.  Batman does not kill.  Part of the legend, yet from the criminal's point of view, he's mean enough to renege on that vow at any point in time.  Do you want to be the first?

In this chapter Batman gets to know the Knight's Squire Amina.  It's a delightful subplot that you should pay attention to as you read.  

It does not connect in any way to the main mystery.  Just put that out of your mind.  As you can see by the graphic, even though Taylor is doing more exploration than usual, he nevertheless infuses The Detective with a lot of Batman related comedy.  Amina thinks living with the new Knight is pretty cool, but she becomes awestruck just like her mentor over Batman.

Chapter two and three centers on the first mystery guest that becomes inveigled in the Batman Revenge Squad.  I can't really say much about the guest, other than he anachronistically looks in better shape than Bruce.  That appears to be artistic license dedicated in part to Batman's high moral standard.  This character doesn't possess Batman's conscience.  He therefore had an easier time of it.  Here we also see images of a younger, classic Bruce Wayne.  

Chapter four brings a Bondish flair to Bruce Wayne as he hits direr straits with law enforcement.  By this time, Batman's quest for answers takes him to Paris, and it's in the custody of the Surete, that Batman unravels the mystery for readers.  

Batman throughout each era of his published history protected his secret identity in unique ways.  In Batman The Detective, these clever ruses get reversed on him. 

The reversal produces a moment of genuine tension that demonstrates how you can coax suspense out of a situation from a character who simply refuses to die.

Chapter five brings on the cool and the legend.  These scenes I won't spoil because they're simply breathtaking.  The design, the meaning behind the plot device, the sight gags or Easter Eggs if you prefer, all congeal into what Batman is.  Taylor also includes an instant that reflects another scene in the Superman Annual.  Batman is beginning to see how Alfred took care of him all these years, not just in the grand scheme but these tiny slivers that kept him human and addressed human needs that he wouldn't admit.

Chapter five furthermore introduces a superb updating of a Sherlock Holmes method Batman adopts.  Using the connectivity of the world, Batman creates his own network of Irregulars.

In this and the final chapter, Batman proves his myth.  This is what writers like Taylor, like King, like Snyder, like Morrison, like O'Neil, like myself have been saying all along.  Batman is so much more than just a crimefighter.  He's so much more than just a guy in costume.  He's so much more than a martial artist.  He's so much more than a sleuth.  He is as Morrison termed him "The most dangerous man on the planet."  He is the acknowledged successor to both Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow.  He is Batman.  Batman is really as Geoff Johns implied about hope.  That's what Batman The Detective is really about.   Batman making a mark like no other mortal man.  One man changing the outcome of so many lives.  One man changing the tide of history because he's just that good.

POBB March 4, 2022

Pick of the Brown Bag

March 4, 2022

by

Ray Tate

Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag.  While you're waiting for the latest of my comic book critiques, enjoy this special review of The Batman.

Coming from somebody who thinks Michael Keaton is the only great live-action Batman to date, this praise should be more meaningful.  Robert Pattinson is one helluva Batman, and The Batman is an extraordinary Batman film.

The creative team behind The Batman seems to have listened to the criticism of the previous films and checked the boxes. 

First and foremost, Pattinson uses his own voice albeit with a very good American accent.  You don't get the ridiculous Fat Albert modulation that plagued Christian Bale's Batman.

Second, Batman's got ears.  Batman should have long ears.  Else you're in danger of making him into Helmet-Man. 

Nevertheless Ben Affleck was pretty good in Justice League.  

Third, Pattinson, who trained in Brazilian Ju-Jitsu for the film, can fight in the bat-suit.  

Boy, can he fight in the bat-suit.  

We haven't seen this kind of group battling since Michael Keaton's Batman.  I'm happy when Batman is the greatest martial artist on the planet.  By the by, the movie's fight scenes are sharper than what you may have seen in various trailers or clips.  I was agog.

I'll even admit the fights in both number and prowess eclipse those of Michael Keaton's Batman.  Sorry, Mr. Keaton.  You've still got the Bat Nut-Cracker.

That makes you the meanest Batman ever.

Third, one of the silliest nit-picks I've heard over the years had to do with one of the final scenes in Batman Returns where Batman tears off the cowl and the eye-black disappears in the edits.

The way they dealt with the eye-black in Batman Begins is turning Bale's back to the camera.  That's not any better.  In The Batman, they emphasize that the eye-black is real, not artistic license.  

This makes Pattinson look more like the Crow in some places, but it's better than simply ignoring it, I suppose.  That brief scene in Batman Returns never fazed me one bit.  I didn't care because Batman Returns is a perfect Batman film.

The Batman takes place in the beginning of Batman's career.  He's a known quantity to the police and an ally to Lieutenant James Gordon portrayed splendidly by Westworld's Jeffrey Wright.

Wright also provides a lot of the humor in the movie.  I know that some people will object to the immersive darkness in The Batman.  That's why the Idiots That Were at Warner Brothers hired Joel Schumacher, and we ended up with not one but two Nipple Man atrocities.  

In The Batman the Dark Knight Detective matches wits with a realistic serial murderer.  Not a psychopath in a crazy-quilt costume nor a killer whose acts dilute under the pretense of artistry and misplaced humor.   I appreciated that there's no comedy in the murderer, nor his hideous actions.  

Comedy in The Batman arises in the reactions to Batman and his methods.  It's subtle, not one-liners or even wry wit.  For example, the police, early in the film, do not like Batman.  The CSIs on the other hand see him as a valuable resource for forensics.  It's a wonderful scene that must be witnessed to understand.

Another amusing moment can be found mid-way through the movie.  Jeffrey Wright almost gapes at the Batmobile.  A very mean machine but like the Neal Adams version of the craft, easily camouflaged with regular automobiles.  I'll not spoil the image.

The killings plausibly challenge the World's Greatest Detective.   The Batman is fascinating in how it seems to reboot Michael Keaton's films in the same way that Sherlock reboots the Basil Rathbone films.  

Both prior sets of movies exhibit the detective aspects.  The new presentations update for existing and cutting edge science fiction technology.  They advance Sherlock Holmes and the Batman into modern times and modern thought.

Batman's foray leads him to encounter familiar faces.  The Penguin brilliantly portrayed by a grossed up Collin Farrell is back to being a mobster.  Owner of the Iceberg Lounge.  At least on the surface.  

And of course Zoe Kravitz's superb Tom King/Mikel Janin inspired Catwoman.  Forgive me.  I have no umlaut capabilities.  

There hasn't been a bad Selina Kyle, and that includes the Adam West television series.  Zoe Kravitz continues a long fe-line of Catwoman portrayals.  She brings streetwise savvy to the part but also conducts a fantastic old school heist.  Thus marking her as an arch thief.

Batman's and Catwoman's relationship is surprisingly delicate.  The chemistry between the two actors is palpable.  However, Catwoman isn't written to be a love interest in The Batman.  

She is highly independent, even more so than Michelle Pfeiffer's treatment.  Moments evolve where Catwoman clearly demonstrates a passion for Batman, but the writer remains invisible.  It's her choice.  As it should be. 

Another villain from Batman's rogue's gallery gets named, but he is in fact a conglomerate that includes Black Mask and the Rat Catcher.  I may even imagine a draft script in which Batman must eliminate them from the suspect lists.  Nevertheless, writer/director Matt Reeves doesn't stray from the villain's original compulsion.

That said.  The villain's signature does not define him.  Extremism breeds from his twisted rationale.  This added element leads to an intriguing finale, predicated on a single foreshadowed mention.  In this last act, The Batman of the darkness becomes a superhero to Gotham City.  I was reminded of the way San Francisco adopts Godzilla as their savior.  That's a good thing by the way.

The Batman begins a new and valid cinematic journey.  I look forward to Robert Pattinson reprising Batman in a sequel and hopefully many more films to come.  Also on my wish list, a Zoe Kravitz Catwoman movie.  Make it a heist film, please.  As to what I didn't like about The Batman.  Well, I could have done without the songs.  That's when The Batman seemed typical.