Monthly Archives: May 2013

May 31 2013

The Wake 1

wake 1

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing The Wake 1, originally released May 29th, 2013.

Shelby: There are certain things you come to expect from stories. As an example, with a rom-com you know there’s going to be the initial meeting between protagonists, things will go well, then things will go poorly, then everything will fall apart (usually with a sad montage), and then everything is resolved in the end, often with some sort of grand declaration of love. Throw in a spunky, comic-relief sidekick bestie for each protagonist, and you’ve got the next big girls-night-out hit. Now, The Wake is certainly no romantic comedy, but I definitely had some expectations about the kind of story I would get. Underwater sci-fi horror means: a rag-tag team, a mysterious monster lurking about for a few issues, a gory reveal, and eventually a big final fight. Leave it to Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy to somehow give me exactly what I expected and still deliver something very fresh and new.
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May 31 2013

X-Men 1

Alternating Currents: X-Men 1, Drew and Spencer

Today, Drew and Spencer are discussing X-Men 1, originally released May 29th, 2013.

Drew: Anticipation is often the enemy of objectivity. Not that I can ever claim to be all that objective, but it can be difficult to evaluate a work on its own merits when expectations have been allowed to brew for as long as they have for X-Men 1. Since the announcement of this title, the all-female cast has been cited for everything from pandering to its female audience to serving as a rare bastion of female role models in comicdom. But, are any of those things what writer Brian Wood and penciller Olivier Coipel actually set out to do? Does that matter? Art shouldn’t have to answer for what people turn it into sight-unseen, but its difficult to talk about this series without some reaction to the expectations it was released into. Hopefully, I’ll be able to tie it back to the series itself. Continue reading →

May 31 2013

Indestructible Hulk 7-8

hulk 8

Today, Ethan and Shelby are discussing Indestructible Hulk 7-8, originally released May 29th, 2013.

Ethan: Sometimes, when you’re feeling a little blue, you need a distraction. Something to take your mind off of what’s causing you pain. A kind word from a friend, a spontaneous trip to somewhere new, an experience that shakes you out of the depression. Or a near-death experience accompanied by front-row seats to a couple of big, brawny dudes rolling around in the snow. In Indestructible Hulk 7 and 8, writer Mark Waid and artist Walter Simonson explore all of the above. Continue reading →

May 30 2013

Happy Birthday Drew!

ant man happy birthdayHey, sometimes hanging around Retcon Punch isn’t just about disagreeing with Drew. Sometimes it’s about wishing him a Happy Birthday. SOME TIMES LIKE THIS TIMES.

Much as Ant-Man has been become a source of guidance for the FF, so too has Drew been a beacon of patience and intelligence and integrity around here. Plus he’s getting over the death of his daughter, and some of us are clones of supervillains… okay, the analogy doesn’t hold up all the way through. Join us in wishing Drew the best!

May 30 2013

Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual 1

red hood annual

Today, Mikyzptlk and Patrick are discussing Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual 1, originally released May 29th, 2013. 

Mikyzptlk: Our past is a part of who we are. Often enough, it can be something that defines us if we let it. Now, that can either be a good or a bad thing depending on who you are. The last few issues of Red Hood and the Outlaws have focussed on Jason erasing his own past from his memories in an attempt to start fresh. Things haven’t gone as smoothly for Jason as he had hoped it seems as he is finding it harder to escape his past than he thought. Jason’s teammates are no strangers to a past they’d rather forget too, and this issue finds everyone looking back, when all they really want to do is look forward. The Annual is definitely another step in the right direction, even if I do have a bone or two to pick. Continue reading →

May 30 2013

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 22

tmnt 22Today, Taylor and Patrick are discussing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 22, originally released May 28th, 2013.

Taylor: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have a lot of descriptors in their name. While it’s always easy to remember that they are turtles and ninjas, it’s a little harder to remember that they are teenagers. I’m not sure what to attribute this forgetfulness to. Maybe it’s because most superheroes are in their 20s or 30s. Or maybe it’s because it’s hard to guess the age of a half man/half turtle based solely on appearance. I don’t know. Whatever the reason is, it’s easy to overlook the fact that the turtles have to deal with some heavy shit on a regular basis. While your average teen worries about school and sex, the turtles have to worry about ninja battles and saving the earth from an evil, alien brain. It’s not exactly a fair shake and given the circumstances it seems like only a matter of time before those hormones (turtle or otherwise) and inexperience kick in and hurt our half-shelled heroes. Issue 22 of TMNT begins the City Fall event and with it we see our turtles being challenged in new ways and asked to achieve things beyond their years. But are they up to the task?

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May 29 2013

Justice League 20

justice league 20 trinity

Today, Scott and Shelby are discussing Justice League 20, originally released May 22, 2013. This issue is part of the Trinity War crossover event. Click here for our complete Trinity War coverage.

trinity war div

Scott: What is the greatest threat to the Justice League? For a group with the power to make neutralizing powerful villains and preventing catastrophic events seem routine, maybe they should be looking at one another as possible threats. It’s hard for the Justice Leaguers to believe that one of their friends could let power get to his or her head or, worse yet, actively be working against them, but that’s a reality they must face. Justice League 20 explores different types of threats to the Justice League, those present, pending, and merely theoretical.
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May 29 2013

Batman Incorporated 11

Alternating Currents: Batman Incorporated 11, Drew and Tyler

Today, Drew and guest writer Tyler are discussing Batman Incorporated 11, originally released May 22nd, 2013.

Drew: I love one-offs. I don’t know if it’s the satisfaction of a self-contained narrative, or just their relative rarity in modern comics, but I’m always excited to jump into a single-serving adventure. Unless, of course, it falls in the middle  of the closing arc of an Epic I’ve been reading for years. I don’t want to hold the placement of this issue against it — especially since it likely afforded the creative team time to craft an incredible close to this arc — so I’ll do my best to put my expectations aside, but it’s a strange uphill battle that very few issues in comicdom are subject to. Continue reading →

May 28 2013

Fearless Defenders 4AU

fearless defenders 4 AU

Today, Patrick and Taylor are discussing Fearless Defenders 5AU, originally released May 22nd 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.

ultron-div

Patrick: I make up our posting schedules around here, so any time you see two of our writers fighting about something, I’m partially to blame to for that. Also when someone is like “I don’t normally read this title, so I don’t know what’s going on or who any of these people are” – that’s my fault too. Our writers are always good sports, though, and I think they all sort of relish the opportunity to say “I don’t have all the information, but here’s what I do know.” And isn’t that the experience of reading superhero comics? It almost doesn’t matter what you’re reading – you’re in the deep end. Throw this whole alternate-alternate timeline from Age of Ultron into the mix and you’ve got yourself a perfect recipe for misunderstanding. Oddly, Fearless Defender’s contribution to this event offers context to both the event and the main series by making explicit connections between the characters that transcend conflicting timelines.

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May 28 2013

Uncanny X-Men 6

uncanny x-men 6Today, Ethan and Drew are discussing Uncanny X-Men 6, originally released May 22nd 2013.

Ethan: One evening in college, I was getting ready to turn in a paper that was due the next day. It was all written & polished, so I was just going to skim it one last time and make sure there weren’t any glaring issues. As the file loaded, Word showed a popup window, which I dismissed without reading in the same way you click “I agree” at the bottom of Terms & Conditions. Computers are always showing popup messages, right? They’re usually redundant, whatever. The first page of my paper rendered as a solid mass of gibberish: letters, numbers, and symbols smashed together without spaces… as did the rest of it. 15 pages of junk characters. Alarmed, I closed the file without saving & re-opened it; it turns out that the popup window was warning me that the file was corrupted. As I sat there, in the fading light of the last day before I had to turn this thing in, I thought about what it would take to reproduce the paper from scratch: all the quotes, analysis, and dozens of footnotes containing the specific page references. All of which didn’t exist anywhere else, neither as a hard copy nor digital. While I knew I could pull it together again given some time, in that moment I was overwhelmed with trying to figure out how I was going to make the situation work. While writing a paper isn’t quite the same thing as fighting a giant, fireball-headed master of a hell-dimension, the characters in Brian Michael Bendis’s Uncanny X-Men 6 are definitely up the creek without a paddle (OR MLA-formatted citations).

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