Today, Peter and Shelby are discussing Deathstroke 9, originally released May 9th, 2012.
Peter: With the release of issue 9, Deathstroke gets both a new writer and artist, who turns out, is the same person. Rob Liefeld takes the reins of the Terminator and sends him on a new adventure. However, I feel that DC should have gone ahead and called this issue #1, since, well, that’s pretty much exactly what it is.
Today, Patrick and Peter are discussing Batman and Robin 9 originally released May 9th, 2012. This issue is part of the Night of the Owls crossover event. Click here for complete NotO coverage. Not caught up on Batman and Robin? No problem! Get up to speed with our video Cram Session.
Patrick: I’m spending this weekend with my family in Fort Benning, Georgia. My older sister and her family live on post here, and my folks flew in for my little sister’s graduation from the Army’s officer training program. The ceremony is about what you’d expect: a lot of pomp and circumstance, Army pageantry and pride. The rest of the weekend has been spent playing with my niece and nephew. This month’s Batman and Robin is focused so tightly on both children and the military that I feel extra fortunate to have experienced it here, far from my Hollywood world. Continue reading
Today, Drew and Shelby are discussing Batgirl 9, originally released May 9th, 2012. This issue is part of the Night of the Owls crossover event. Click here for complete NotO coverage. Not caught up on Batgirl? No problem! Get up to speed with our video Cram Session.
Drew: As a crossover event, the Night of the Owls is pretty rigid in what it requires of its participating titles. Namely that the hero(es) 1) receive Alfred’s APB, 2) rush to protect one of the target on the hit-list, and 3) battle at least one Talon in order to protect said target. Those strict guidelines run the risk of getting old rather quickly, as they are repeated in about a dozen titles in a single month. It’s credit to writer Gail Simone that she managed to wrangle and subvert those guidelines into a compelling narrative, though doing so left little room for that signature Babs wit we’ve come to love from Simone’s writing. Continue reading
Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Green Lantern 9, originally released May 9th, 2012.
Shelby: If you had a terrible personality flaw that you could change with a flip of a switch, and essentially become someone else, would you do it? What if you had done terrible things, but you could just snap your fingers and become a better person, would you make that change? How about if someone else had that control, and made that choice for you? You’re a better person for it, but does that make it ok? These are the questions running through my head, not as I’m on a trip of contemplation and personal discovery, but as I read this month’s Green Lantern.
Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Batman 9 originally released May 9th, 2012. This issue is part of the Night of the Owls crossover event. Click here for complete NotO coverage. Not caught up on Batman? No problem! Get up to speed with our video Cram Session.
Patrick: In the margins of this whole kerfuffle with the Court of Owls, there have been literal manifestations of the battle between Bats and Owls. And the bats have been getting this asses handed to them. The symbolic defeat has always been the more devastating side of the equation for Bruce — yeah it sucked that he took a knife through the back, but that’s a back that’s been bent over Bane’s knee. Last month saw Bruce stepping up to defend his home, an empowering scene, for sure, but this issue saw him standing up for his legacy. And that’s a different animal all together. Continue reading
The Retcon Punchers spend an awful lot of time looking for ways to celebrate our nerdy obsessions. This means a lot of time sunk into scouring Etsy, Deviant Art, Think Geek or whatever. Sometimes we see things so great we just have to share them… and then clutch them fiercely to our collective chest. Throw it in The Vault.
Website: Etsy
Who Would Love This: Little old ladies with big picture windows facing their flower gardens, regular people with regular windows
Price: $45
I like the idea of proclaiming my nerdy allegiance to the world. Not just by hanging things up in my living room, no no. I mean the WHOLE world, including the part of the world that doesn’t see the inside of my house. That’s where this bright little piece comes in. Hang this lovely stained glass in your window, and suddenly, you have a shining beacon of your love for Wonder Woman, and all she stands for. Not only will this brighten your day, but it will let everyone else know that dammit, you like Wonder Woman, and you don’t care who knows it!
Today, Patrick, Drew, Peter and Shelby are discussing The New 52 1, originally released on Free Comic Book Day, May 5th, 2012.
Patrick: Now that the dust has settled and we’re all able to calm down after a thrilling Free Comic Book Day, it’s time to get down to brass tacks. The issue that DC released was anything but an easy entry-point, packing in more characters and mythology than we’ve seen in any single issue since the relaunch. This book makes a lot of intriguing promises for long-time fans, but I doubt new readers were all that excited to spend 11 pages following a character they’ve never heard of.
As an upstart comics review site, one of our primary methods of publicity is tweeting our reviews at creators and hoping for a retweet. This process is made much more complicated (or at least uncomfortable) when the review is openly negative, and impossible when the creators aren’t on twitter in the first place. For last month’s review of Detective Comics, I just started tweeting at randos who had posted positive things about #DetectiveComics, asking them to defend their position. One such rando was game enough to actually engage us, offering several arguments to both why DetCom 8 wasn’t so bad, as well as why our attitude may actually be detrimental to comics in general. As I sat down to write this month’s review of DetCom, I realized that I was much more interested those arguments than in anything going on in the issue. I’d like to use this space to respond to those very arguments. Continue reading
It can be hard to keep up with all the comics you love. But it’s damn near impossible to keep up with all the comics you’re interested in.
Retcon Punch got you covered.
Scott Snyder’s current run on Batman in both character- and author-defining work. It also manages to rope every other superhero in Gotham into its orbit, and the Night of the Owls sweeps through 11 different series this month. Batman is the hub. It’s also the strongest title in the bunch. Read every issue twice, then read them all again six more times, then watch our video recap.
The Retcon Punchers spend an awful lot of time looking for ways to celebrate our nerdy obsessions. This means a lot of time sunk into scouring Etsy, Deviant Art, Think Geek or whatever. Sometimes we see things so great we just have to share them… and then clutch them fiercely to our collective chest. Throw it in The Vault.
Website: Mimoco
Who Would Love This: Computer people who don’t already have better solution for this
Price: $9.92 – $22.95
We all need data storage, right? SURE YOU DO! Yeah cloud storage and Drop Boxes and web-based email account may render the need for physical data storage totally obsolete, but in the meantime, let’s make sure our flash drives look like DC superheros. Look how big their heads are! That implies so much storage potential. Also, hilariously, there isn’t one for The Flash. Whu?
Retcon Punch 