POBB April 3, 2019

Pick of the Brown Bag

April 3, 2019

by

Ray Tate

Salutations, Buckaroos.  My name is Ray Tate.  I’m the creator and writer of the Pick of the Brown Bag, a weekly review blog.  Here, I look at best and the worst comic books.  For this entry I reveal the merits of...The Adventures of the Super-Sons, Bronze Age Boogie, Chandra, Immortal Hulk, Marvel Team-Up, Red Sonja, The Six Million Dollar Man and Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider.  If you haven’t the time for the entirety, look me up on Twitter: #PickoftheBrownBag

The Hulk and Doc Samson investigate the last known whereabouts of Shadow Base.  

Shadow Base is run by a general dick named Fortean.  The Base is a clandestine government operation.  It aims to weaponize the gamma irradiated through the most repellent means.

The personnel of course long vacated the premises.  Instead of clues, our green team find here be monsters.  

Artist Joe Bennett beautifully depicts a kaiju styled monster mash.  His unlovely opponents clash, and the Hulk's dispatch alludes to a classic Godzilla film.  

These attributes should be enough to warrant purchase, yet there's more.  The story’s narrator is the deceased Rick Jones.  

Rick makes a startling insight mirroring that of writer Al Ewing.  Bruce Banner died the moment he first transformed into the Hulk.  In other words, in Ewing’s philosophy, the Hulk’s immortality always was a given, just waiting to be revealed.  

Through Rick Jones' words, the reader discovers one of the kindest individuals in the Marvel Universe.  Consumed by guilt, Rick sticks by Doc Banner and the Hulk.  He seeks to atone for his cursing Bruce, and even when abused by the Hulk, he can only think of Bruce's safety.  Rick's thoughts and feelings make the cover to Immortal Hulk all that more affecting.

Gwen Stacy bitten by a radioactive spider, gifted with arachnid powers and hounded by the guilt of failing to save her best friend Peter Parker became Spider-Woman.  A series of events, not the least one being jail, cut short her superhero life.  Gwen served her time.  The whole world knows Gwen Stacy is Spider-Gwen, Spider-Woman, Ghost Spider.  

The premise hasn’t moved an iota.  Writer Seanan McGuire is content to let Gwen feel her way to a new status quo.  Simultaneously, McGuire appears to be building to something big involving the symbiotic suit Spider-Gwen wears.  Venom already took over Gwen in a previous volume, but McGuire seems to be working toward something fresh.
  

Gwen attempts to date Harry Osborn, in this universe a swell guy.  When he takes her to a nice restaurant, Gwen discovers a surprising bias.  She swings off humiliated and in no mood for romance.

McGuire however doesn’t play the scene for melodramatic nonsense.  The date continues at a much friendlier venue, later in the tale.

In the meanwhile, Gwen makes ends meet by selling her services for unusual jobs that only she can fulfill.  McGuire comes up with some clever possibilities.  The best being the scientist in need.

Betty Brant, a guitarist for the Mary Janes, and one of Gwen’s friends set her up with a business site.  The cops use this social media connection to page Gwen, and she finds herself in the midst of a life-saving situation filled with tension and intricate breakdowns of what must be done to save lives.

Ghost-Spider relates another day in the life of Spider-Gwen, and the reader benefits immensely.

The newest incarnation of Marvel Team-Up brings Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man together.  It’s in fact a flip-book that relates Eve Ewing’s story from two different points of view.  No prizes, seriously no prizes, for guessing the two narrative viewpoints.

Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel collide on the Empire State University campus where Peter Parker's friend Dr. Rosario is giving a lecture.  Rosario specifically asked Peter to introduce her.  The faculty at ESU begrudgingly acquiesced.

I’m out of touch with Spider-Man.  This is where I just have to take things for granted.  According to the ESU, Peter committed plagiarism, and they rescinded his degree. Rosario nevertheless treats Pete with warmth and kindness. On some level, she must believe in him and respect his accomplishments. 

Rosario is the genius behind a mental-transference device, the subject of the lecture.  Enter the Jackal.

The Jackal is a whack-job ESU biology professor named Miles Warren.  Warren was so in love with Gwen Stacy that he cloned her.  Thus, the Jackal unwittingly triggered the multiple clone sagas that plagued the Spider-Man titles for years.  

There’s no really good explanation as to why he turned himself green and furry, nor why security let him in.  Perhaps, he's still tenured.  

Happily, no clones back up the Jackal.  The vernal villain naturally sees Rosario’s device as a means to better his technique.  So, this is prep-work before stirring up a new batch.  Stop him now!

Marvel Team-Up presents a promising first issue filled with superhero antic.  The flip gimmick is a pretty good one, and the Jackal actually harbors a good reason to attempt the crime.  Though...I mean honestly.  Does he have a Jackal-mobile?  Did he take a campus bus? Did not one student notice a furry, dude in the seat next to him? Does he still teach at ESU? Do students look at him scratching his neck with his foot and say, "Oh, hi, Professor Warren.  Is it all right if my term paper is a little late?"

Chandra is the star of a Magic The Gathering tie-in.  I know beans about Magic. Nevertheless, having never picked up a card, I still enjoyed this book.  So much that I put it on my subscription list.

Despite the fantasy setting, Chandra's more like Supergirl rather than Morgan Le Fey.  She's a young, fire-casting superhero that travels the realms and deals with trouble.  That's really it.  I mean.  With the exception of The Immortal Hulk, superhero books don't exactly reinvent the wheel.  

Vita Ayala however does give Chandra support through her mom.  Ayla is savvy enough to make mom more than an extension of Chandra.  She's got her own life, status and appears to also be an inventor.  Chandra's mom is kind of like actress/scientist Hedy Lamarr.    

After a power-nap, Chandra runs into abductors of falcon royalty.

Next, she's fighting Ice Ghosts.  I'm sure these creatures mean a lot more to Magic players.  However, such is the design and the concept that you don't really need background knowledge.

The centerpiece of Chandra's second issue occurs when Tybalt shows up.

Nope.  Don't know who he is either, but you can just smell the trickster on him.  

Shakespeare created the original Tybalt.  He briefly bows onto stage as Juliet's cousin before ending up skewered by Romeo.  Tybalt murdered Romeo's friend Mercutio.  Oh, sorry.  Spoiler Warning and all that.

Tybalt in Chandra is an emotional vampire.  He feeds on misery.  So, he not only physically attacks Chandra but also mentally abuses the champion with reminders of her failures.  Some of which he catalyzed.  

What can I say? I like super-heroes. Tough, female characters and gorgeous artwork.  Chandra checks all the boxes.

Mark Russell's Red Sonja is Xena Warrior Princess meets Duck Soup.  Mind you.  The Emperor, Dragan the Magnificent, is a very venal version of Groucho's lovable pest Rufus T. Firefly.  The Emperor seeks Sonja's land of Hyrkania, and the newly appointed Queen Sonja simply sees no reason to give him the deed.  This creates conflict and sets Dragan against a foe he's never encountered before.

The famed warrior Domo trained this version of Red Sonja, and the lessons she learned draw easily from the recesses of her mind when determining the strategy to thwart Dragan.  Last issue, she sent her thieves including her cousin Kyron to steal Dragon's coffers.  Kyron returns with great news.

The theft proves to be a personal consternation to Dragan.  At that point, Russell switches the scene to the Empire where Dragan's son and wife rule.  You can sort of see what's coming down the road for Dragan.  It's likely been Sonja's plan all along.  

As Sonja gains ground against Dragan, a new player enters the story offering his services.

Now, Red Sonja becomes an back-hand version of Yojimbo.  Although, the protagonist in those films becomes a wannabe antagonist in Red Sonja.  He  also lacks the lone samurai's cunning.

Russell's story and the presentation by artists Mirko Collack and Bob Q is largely comical, but the bloody consequences of war soon arise.  Russell also generates emotion through Sonja's discovery of newfound family.  Traditional fans may find this newest addition superfluous or worse, but those fans should be reminded that they're not really reading the Robert E. Howard version of Red Sonja in the first place.  For those that believe Red Sonja is a model of feminism, I concur with that, Russell adds to the intrinsic legend of Sonja's homeland with a fighting force of females that eschew the chainmail bikini of their host and the shininess of the Amazons.

Ahoy Comics, the publishing company that brought you The Wrong Earth, unleashes the Bronze Age Boogie on the unsuspecting republic.  This is one strange comic book.

As near as I can figure, the story takes place in two different time zones.  Neither of which mirror our own.  In the Bronze Age part of our title, a warrior father with a voice I imagine like a bellowing Picard takes his daughter to work.

Fighting zombies and sorcerers in the Bronze Age and even a daughter with anachronistic thoughts and speech is the least weird thing about the story.  

The Boogie naturally comes from the seventies.  Both eras however coincide with a timeline where chimpanzees become the dominant species.  One of those chimps consults with the Bronze Age daughter Brita.  The other is some sort of mastermind in the disco age, which is being attacked by aliens in Viroid ships.  Possibly a tribute to H.G. Welles.  

Adventures of the Super Sons is simply put outstanding.  Peter Tomasi is a consistently good writer, but sometimes he just goes far beyond his level best:  Batman and The Frankenstein Monster, the creation of the Hellbat, Lois Lane in the Batmobile, the Blue Falcon and the Super-Pets specials.  Now we have this issue of Super-Sons that I just sensed would be good.

What amazes me the most is that I don’t need to summarize anything.  Tomasi with artist Scott Godlewski relates an exciting tale that has a point.  At the same time, Tomasi gives the reader everything she needs to know about the story so far and the nuances of events unfolding right now.

For the extreme newbies out there.  It’s not that unusual to find famed bounty hunter Jonah Hex under the guns of aliens.  Despite being from the 19th Century, Hex is a time traveler.  He visited the future during the waning days of the Bronze Age and the shiny New 52.

The aliens shot Hex’s hand off, but it’s not even smoking.  So you can deduce that this is probably not the original Jonah Hex.  His youth is also evidence, but immortality and rejuvenation serums are quite common in comic books.  By the third page however we discover that Hex is a robot.

The aliens mention General Tomorrow.  This is likely a reference to Tommy Tomorrow, a sixties Silver Age science fiction hero who neither looked this sophisticated nor gritty. 

Hex’s reasoning for opting out of interplanetary war compliments the original Hex’s rationale for leaving the Civil War.  Despite joining the Confederate States, their cause for slavery weighed down on him.

The Super-Sons and the Green Lantern Cadet affect Hex in a multitude of ways.  In the end, he throws in with the kids to fight the miniature versions of the world's greatest super-villains.  My telling you this however should indicate how important is the plot development.  This is really a story about free will even in those programmed without, yearning for more that they can't fully describe.  Just taste.

Niko a Japanese agent informed her American "cousins" that a revenge seeking business man built a nuclear missile set to kill Hawaii.  The OSI sends Steve Austin, the Six-Million Dollar Man to gather intel.  The mission turns into a life and death situation, with Steve and Niko ducking Katanas wielded by Ninja type hit-men wearing menpo masks.  Last issue these henchmen felled Steve by chopping off his leg.  Things get much worse.

Chance though is in Steve's and Niko's favor, and the means in which the villains of the piece build the missile in the first place provides egress.  This allows Steve to show off one of his spiffed up bionics.

I can buy the laser in the eye upgrade.  On the other hand some of the changes left me bewildered.  

The Six Million Dollar Man must be considered an alternate universe because of the fresh hardware.  The original Steve Austin possessed a bionic eye giving him telescopic sight, bionic legs and a bionic arm.  The rest of him is organic.

Despite these minor caveats, I quite enjoyed The Six Million Dollar Man.  That's largely due to Niko's and Steve's through the fire-friendship and writer Christopher Hastings' mimicry of Lee Majors delivery.

POBB March 27, 2019

Pick of the Brown Bag

March 27, 2019

by

Ray Tate

Hey there, lonely girl, lonely boy, it’s the Pick of the Brown Bag.  Today’s reviews include Batgirl, Black Widow, Fantastic Four, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Scooby-Doo Team-Up and Star Bastard the brand new title from Scout Comics.  No time for even this short POBB? Pop on over to to Twitter: #PickoftheBrownBag.

Dr. Victor von Doom used the Power Cosmic to empower Zora, a woman whom he re-dubbed Victorious.  Dr. Doom played with the Power Cosmic before.  

Years ago, Doom created a device to steal the Silver Surfer’s energy.  So in a way, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby foreshadowed this latest Doom gambit.

If you're new to The Fantastic Four and/or comics in general, you may not know that the Silver Surfer once heralded the arrival of a world-eater named Galactus.  Victorious lured a starving Galactus back to earth where Doom embedded him in the hills of Latveria.  His kingdom.

I’m a fan of Dr. Doom.  Few in the Marvel Universe can measure up to Doom's intellect.  That said.  I doubt that even he is capable of sustaining such a prison for Galactus.  Doom's setup is rife with pitfalls.  Right up front.  Giants don't need the Power Cosmic to break free from mountains. 

Before Dr. Doom captured Galactus he ordered everybody to stay out of his way.  The FF naturally defied Doom’s orders, and got themselves arrested for the courtesy.

Doom's incarceration of the FF requires additional failsafes.  Every one of them pedestrian.  For instance, Doom respects Susan Richards most of all.  I think he'd come up with something better than sound-waves to thwart her abilities.  Likewise for submerging Johnny.

I appear to be in the minority when it comes to enjoying the original Fantastic Four movies.  Tough.

Doom exploited freezing for Reed Richards in the first film.  He repeats himself this issue, although with a better budget.

So, on the whole, I found myself underwhelmed.  Then I thought what if Doom actually wants his captives to escape.  What if the entirety was merely a ruse? 

I think Doom knows he can’t keep Galactus at bay for long.  I think Doom knows that the FF will overwhelm his snares.  I think that the entire imprisonment is part of a scheme that is actually more worthy of Doom.  If I'm correct, then this isn’t a physical attack against the FF.  It’s a psychological attack on their cultural meaning to the world.  

Black Widow died during some Big Stupid Event.  Resurrected, she came back pretty damn angry.  She also for some reason cannot reveal that she’s alive.  Despite other heroes coming back from the dead and parading their resuscitation all over the place.

This secrecy likely makes Natasha even angrier.  She needs to kill something.  So, she goes to Madripoor, a sort of seedy island nation one might find in old comic strips like Terry and the Pirates and Secret Agent X-9.  Of course, in those strips, you would never get away with online child snuff movies, which is the basis of filmmakers Jen and Sylvia Soska’s Black Widow project.

Snuff flicks do not exist and never have existed.  Law agencies around the world investigated such rumors and found no proof of such things.  The Soskas being horror mavens certainly know this.  They also know the persistent legend is nevertheless ripe for exploitation purposes. 

Now, if a child snuff film core upsets you, and it should, let it be known that the Soskas and their artistic cohorts Flaviano and Veronica Gardini deal with the subject as tastefully as possible.  

Tyger, Tyger, the defacto ruler of Madripoor, seen recently in All-New Wolverine, hired the Black Widow to investigate the disappearances of Madripoor women and children that she traced to the online snuff show.  Black Widow first took out some pimps that she thought might be connected.  Alas, they were just pimps.  Then, she found a lead.  The lead draws her into the web of Madame Masque.

This issue of Black Widow is more in tune with the Marvel Universe.  While still ostensibly aiming the Widow at a horrendous crime that seems a little edgier than the MCU may be comfortable with, the story becomes more palatable by concentrating on the trappings that surround the abominable felonies.  

Black Widow contending against Madame Masque, seen on the cover, is a gold mine of continuity.  Iron Man introduced Black Widow as a femme fatale in the sixties.  When reformed, she became a frequent guest-star.  Madame Masque and Tony Stark were an item in the classic eighties Iron Man.  

The Soskas play the characters off each other with a nice dichotomy.  The Widow doesn’t really see herself as a superhero.  She’s a spy and assassin.  Madame Masque though once Iron Man’s ally returned to her organization where she became the crime boss.  So, we have two archetypes fighting each other.

They are not however evenly matched.  Last issue in absolute serial cliffhanger fashion Madame Masque shot Black Widow in the face.  So ends the Black Widow.  

Sure.  Natasha escapes by being a fan of another female superhero, in perhaps a meta-nod.  Within the span of a page Nat puts the kibosh on Madame Masque.  

Black Widow next uses her skills to assume Masque’s identity.  Once her facade is secured, she crashes a party of Marvel super and not so super villains.  

What they’re doing on Madripoor may or may not linked with the snuff films.  In the meantime, you enjoy the Widow’s frequently hilarious impersonation of Masque, a POV narration that highlights the dangers in her ruse and the return of a sometime hero/villain that may be a friend/foe to the Black Widow. 

I grew up reading comic books in the Bronze Age.  In that era, Barbara Gordon’s older brother was deep cover agent Tony Gordon.   

Previously mentioned in the Golden Age, Tony appears out of nowhere.  He saves Babs.  He returns to the shadowy world of espionage.  We never see him again.  He impresses by simply being a good brother who also dopes out that Batgirl is his sister.

The modern version of a Gordon sibling arrived in the post-Crisis at a time when I boycotted DC comics over Barbara’s crippling.  So other than Batman saving his life when a baby...

...I never experienced the majesty of James Jr.’s history, nor do I care to reexamine it now that Babs is back on her feet and kicking criminals in the face.

Gail Simone reintroduced James Jr. in the new Batgirl adventures for the New 52.  James Jr. was far too ubiquitous for my liking.  His arc was overall acceptable.  Junior was a minor psychopath on his way to the majors and ended by Barbara before he could become a threat. Simone intended for him to drown after Batgirl paralyzed him. 

DC saved James Jr. from Simone’s poetic conclusion.  The Powers That Be inducted him into the Suicide Squad.  So they fudged Simone’s damage.  The blow Batgirl dealt only became a throwing-bat eye-stabbing.  Otherwise, the boy could dance.

Newest Batgirl writer Mairghread Scott reintroduced James in a Batgirl Annual.  She isolated him from the rest of the population on his own island prison with multiple counteragents preventing his escape.  

Scott turned Junior from mere Jack the Ripper wannabe  into The Mentalist's Red John.  James acquired an inexplicable charisma that netted him like-minded killers that just needed grooming.  His ultimate goal we learn at the conclusion is to turn Batgirl into a psychopath just like him.

I don’t give a rat’s ass about James Jr.  Nevertheless I can tolerate him in a well-constructed story.  I don’t understand this current issue of Batgirl.  

Scott abandons her plans for Junior.  She releases the little emperor.  With new meds and a new lease on life.

Scott appeared to be laying the groundwork for a long game of bat and mouse between Batgirl and her brother.  The change in plot and tone is abrupt to say the least.

Batgirl’s reaction to the news isn’t good, which is to be expected.  Unfortunately, she vacillates into histrionics, and that’s just not Babs.  Babs would have prepared a contingency plan should James Jr. ever escape.  Instead, she behaves like a rank amateur and not an experienced crimefighting genius.  She also has green eyes.  Again.  This really must cease.

Ah, but perhaps this is a ruse.  Perhaps, James is as clever as Dr. Doom...Nah.  The whole reason behind Junior's change of heart seems to be tied into Batman: Metal.  

That’s even more rug-pulling.  Scott’s intent was down-to-earth psychological manipulation.  In keeping with the themes of her Batgirl run.  I probably wouldn't have cared.  Like I said.  I don't give a rat's ass about James Jr.  Yet Batman: Metal is multiverse chicanery.  I can’t see how it comfortably fits with Junior’s psychosis.

If I push this jerk of events aside, Batgirl still suffers, not just from sloppy melodramatic pap but also subpar artwork.

For example, when Babs confronts her father about James Jr.  Usually reliable colorist John Kalisz gets it in his head that it would be a great idea to swathe the scene in blue or red.

It’s not.  It just looks ugly, goes on for too long, and escalates the affair to over the top.

You don't get it.  It's the siren lights from Jim Gordon's prowl car.  Oh, I get it.  I don't want it.

When Babs faces her brother, he demands she talk to him as his sister Barbara Gordon, not Batgirl.

Peeling off the little domino mask and ears doesn’t have the same effect of Batgirl removing her full cowl.  It's just silly.  How does she look any different?  Oh, look.  A quarter of my face isn't covered.  I'm your sister now.  This issue of Batgirl fails on so many levels.

I’ve never been an Archie fan.  I respect the power of Archie Comics.  They’ve been around since the 1940s and impressive in their omnipresence.  That said.  If I were to choose a favorite Archie, Sabrina the Teenage Witch would be my pick.  She’s a witch.  She has powers and rarely interacts with the other Archies.  Add Nancy Drew writer Kelly Thompson and the inviting art of Veronica and Andy Fish, and yeah, I’m willing to try a new interpretation of the character.

Thompson doesn’t change the story much.  Sabrina is still a witch by birth, living with her witchy Aunts Hilda and Zelda and Salem a warlock cursed to be a cat.  Salem though originally was just a cat.

This is Sabrina's first day of school.  So, Thompson is starting from scratch and in the modern day.  Sabrina first appeared in Archie’s Madhouse during the early sixties.

The Girl Can't Help It

While embracing her magical side, Sabrina still sort of wants to fit in with the crowd.  So she casts her first spell of the day to change her hair color.

Thompson makes a big deal out of the occult dye job, and her focus is actually is justified.  Traditionally, Sabrina never hid her frosty locks, but striking isn’t what she’s looking for, and the subtle change is enough for anybody familiar with her to notice.

The school day passes with typical occurrences.  Sabrina for example meets the school bully.

Because of her mischievous casting, Sabrina gets netted into school detention.  Because of the lateness, she must go home after dark, and at this point Thompson and the Fishies distinguish Sabrina the Teenage Witch apart from other variants.

Like the Charmed Ones, Sabrina becomes involved in monster fighting.  That’s exactly the change I was looking for because despite the supernatural themes inherent in all of Sabrina’s appearances, they were still innocuously Archie.

To be sure, Sabrina isn’t Buffy nor the Charmed Ones, but her battle against the forces of darkness is enough for me. Thompson is such a good writer that she surprises even those familiar with the wide world of horror when Sabrina deals with the beast.

In the latest Team-Up, Scooby-Doo and the Gang meet Magilla Gorilla.  It's however not quite so simple as the premise of a little pet-shop owner trying to get rid himself of a clumsy gorilla and the cute tiny tot who wants to buy him.

Writer Sholly Fish and cartoonist Walter Carzon introduce a Hanna-Barbera themed creation that seems to fruit from the Dick Dastardly branch of the villainous family tree.  He wants to buy Magilla.

You can easily imagine Paul Wichell bringing Dr. Hasenpfeffer to life.  Fish and Carzon put together a cornucopia of evil scientist tropes to accompany this absolutely divine creation.

In a lot of ways Fish's story plays out as a typical Scooby-Doo Where Are You? 

However, you don't have to be remotely patient for the zaniness that lies within these pages.  Some of which pays tribute to Z-Grade science fiction.

Fish's role call comprises nine characters, and nobody's superfluous.  The Scooby-sleuths express some excellent interaction that's based on their history together.  Little Ogee provides the cuteness.  Mr. Peebles gives the story cantankerous dignity.  Magilla Gorilla portrays the innocent dupe that's victimized by slapstick. Seriously, there's only been about two of Scooby-Doo Team-Up that I've deemed mediocre.  We're up to a total of forty-seven issues.  Forty-seven.

Welcome to the world of Star Bastard.  This is an utterly hilarious book.  It's not for those looking for political correct staleness, but honestly, comedy doesn't really operate from niceness.  Greeves is the Star Bastard.  Though he may be an actual bastard, his title is more of a description of character.

The first act involves a father looking for his daughter, who happens to be the cute red-skinned alien above.  Yes, Greeves slept with her.  She's a princess.  Do the math. 

This is how Marvel introduced Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy.  So, you can't exactly scream foul.  Star-Lord though treated his alien bedmate to breakfast.  That's not what happens here, and this is one of the examples of Greeves being a bastard.  A clever bastard, but a bastard no less.

That's either a Kirk-Khan imitation or a John Vernon imitation.  Either one works.  As the story continues, we meet the rest of the crew, and this is where Star Bastard really succeeds.

Anybody can create a Star Bastard, but the second bananas are the most important factor in making the Bastard work.

That they consist of science fiction neatness is sauce for the goose.  With the crew identified, we soon travel to a new planet, with new people that want Star Bastard dead.  No inventions of the wheel here.  Just some thoughtful gags by writer Andrew Clemson well executed by brilliant artist Jethro Morales.  Lovely colors courtesy of Teo Gonzales.