Today, Ethan and Drew are discussing Daredevil 25, originally released April 17th, 2013.
Monthly Archives: April 2013
Sword of Sorcery 7
Today, Taylor and Shelby are discussing Sword of Sorcery 7, originally released April 17th, 2013.
Taylor: The last bite from a bag of Doritos is not the best. Having eaten more than my fair share of Doritos, I feel as if I can speak with some authority on this issue. So trust me when I say that Doritos are not good until the last crumbs. A much better bite is that last full chip you get in the bag. You know the one: it’s still a perfect triangle, it’s evenly coated in faux cheese powder, and it delivers the perfect crunch between your teeth. This last full chip is made all the sweeter by knowing it is the last of its kind, never to return until you make the shameful trip to the grocery store for more junk food. And while the crumbs and the half-chips at the bottom of the Doritos bag are tasty, they don’t come near the tasteful bliss that is a full chip, the way the gods intended Doritos to be eaten. In just the same way, the penultimate issue of Sword of Sorcery delivers on all of the hallmarks that make this short lived series so good, giving us an issue that is perhaps the last, best taste of the title. Continue reading
DC Universe Presents 19
Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing DC Universe Presents 19, originally released April 17th, 2013.
Shelby: I won’t lie to you, gentle readers: I wasn’t especially excited to write about this issue. I had heard rumor that the secret hero from the future was going to be Booster Gold. I don’t have anything against ol’ Booster, but I don’t feel any strong connection, either, so I wasn’t particularly joyful about it. But, as I took a closer look at the cover and saw the giant sword impaling Flash, and remembered the last time I saw Tony Bedard and Jesus Saiz [editor’s note: the issue was actually drawn by Javier Pina – Patrick talks about it in his response] team up, I grew more and more excited. I won’t spoil it here, in case you haven’t read it yet and want to be surprised. Continue reading
Age of Ultron 6
Today, Mikyzptlk and Ethan are discussing Age of Ultron 6, originally released April 17th 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.
Mikyzptlk: Age of Ultron has taken us to some pretty extreme places. We’ve seen cities destroyed, deaths of countless civilians, and heroes taken out left and right. In a series that’s all about going to dark places, this issue really manages to go to some darker places. Essentially, it asks us if the ends justifies the means. More importantly, it asks us what we would do to protect the ones we love. Continue reading
Wonder Woman 19
Today, Drew and Scott are discussing Wonder Woman 19, originally released April 17th, 2013.
Drew: Wonder Woman 18 ended on an atypically happy note — Zola was reunited with her baby, Diana and Ares seemed to have patched things up, Hera had found a bottle of wine — but the end of those good times is lurking around every corner. Unfortunately, Diana and friends may be caught unawares, mistaking their recent battles for the coming war. Indeed, when wagering on the outcome of that war, Poseidon discounts Diana, suggesting that he “always bet[s] against a player who doesn’t know they’re in the game.” Poseidon has made the mistake of underestimating Diana before, but he may have a point: while her adversaries are arming themselves, Diana seems to be distracted by more basic team maintenance. Continue reading
The Superior Spider-Man 8
Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Superior Spider-Man 8, originally released April 17rd, 2013.
Patrick: How do we measure the “good” a superhero does? By how many supervillains they fight or alien worlds they protect? Or maybe by how many times they save the world? Those are some impossible benchmarks to understand — no matter what kind of life you lead, you’re never going to meet someone who achieves victory on the scale of an Avenger. That level of “good” is alien. Real life heroes address much more personal issues — hunger, disease, poverty, crime. Y’know, like a doctor. Hey, wait, Dr. Octavius is a doctor. Continue reading
Age of Ultron 8 PREVIEW
Age of Ultron 8 comes out on May 13th, 2013 and is written by Brian Michael Bendis with Art by Brandon Peterson. Click here for our complete Age of Ultron coverage.
Marvel’s previews for these things are getting increasingly obtuse. Okay, what do we have here? Someone in the Iron Man armor sorting through images of Ultron’s destruction. The logical question – who’s in that armor? Unless Tony’s had a rough couple weeks, that ain’t him. I’ll get the ball rolling with wild speculation: LOST’s John Locke.
Also, the cover suggests we’ll see some of Sue and Wolverine’s adventures in the past. That could be fun.
Preview a couple pages after the jump. Continue reading
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Microseries Villains 1: Krang
Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Microseries Villains 1: Krang, originally released April 17th, 2013.
Patrick: To the best of my recollection, the original TMNT action figure line contained two basic Krang toys. The first was Krang in his battle armor — it was like double the size of a regular action figure and cost about three times as much. The second was a weird minimalist walker-thing that he rode around in. I had the latter, because I was never patient enough to save up for the big one. As a kid, I knew I had the shittier toy: I wanted that big robot — the scary one that would send the Turtles running. While I technically had the character right there, I never felt like I had Krang. What good is a squishy little brain monster without his killer-robot-suit? Writer Joshua Williamson answers that question by arming Krang with the most tenacious agency usually reserved for survival fiction.
Batgirl 19
Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Batgirl 19, originally released April 10th, 2013.
Shelby: I’m the oldest kid of three. My brother, sister, and I get on famously now, but that certainly wasn’t always the case. As a kid, I knew that Lindsey and Ben would always be compared to me; I came first, chronologically speaking, and that made me the yardstick. It’s not a fair system: not fair to the sibling forced to be the standard and DEFINITELY not fair to the siblings forced to be compared to someone else instead of being free to forge their own path. Happily, though, the Peterson kids weren’t raised in Gotham, where sibling rivalry is enough to turn a kid with an overachiever sister into a sociopath. Continue reading
Avengers Assemble 14AU
Today, Drew and Ethan are discussing Avengers Assemble 14AU, originally released April 10th 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.
…it’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you.
-Rachel Dawes, Batman Begins
Drew: I remember laughing out loud when I first heard Rachel’s lecture to Bruce in Batman Begins. It’s not that the scene was poorly acted, or even that the sentiment was that offensive, but that its underlying “who you are on the inside doesn’t count for much, after all” message flew in the face of essentially every 90s movie, from Beauty and the Beast to She’s All That. Of course, the message here is about action vs. sentiment — talk is cheap, if you will — rather than about superficiality, which makes it a more appropriate, if sensitive, topic for comics. It’s sensitive because we care about who our heroes are underneath. Does Superman’s moral strength come from never failing to want the right thing, or from never failing to do the right thing? Many fans may balk at finding out Superman has immoral thoughts, while others may find a squeaky-clean mind entirely unrelatable, making the very act of pulling back the curtain a precarious one. You might expect this discomfort to be smaller with more down-to-earth human characters, but as Al Ewing demonstrates in Avengers Assemble 14AU, the opposite might be true. Continue reading
Retcon Punch 