Monthly Archives: July 2013

Jul 10 2013

Green Lantern 22

green lantern 22

Today, Shelby and guest Mike are discussing Green Lantern 22, originally released July 3rd, 2013.

Shelby: There’s a lot of baggage to be had with the way women are depicted in most forms of media. Comic books get it especially hard, as they existed for so long as a form of entertainment drawn by men for a male audience. Robert Venditti is only on his second issue as writer of Green Lantern, but already I find myself slightly uncomfortable with his depictions of the women in the book. I have a sneaking suspicion it is more a result of the pervasive attitude towards women in comics and their role in the Green Lantern universe as a whole, and less a reflection of the creative team’s own attitudes, but that doesn’t make me have any more fun reading this title.  Continue reading →

Jul 10 2013

Swamp Thing 22

swamp thing 22

Today, Scott and Shelby are discussing Swamp Thing 22, originally released July 3rd, 2013.

Scott: There are certain people you just can’t rely on, and you know it. In a sense, it’s better to be aware that someone is a liar, or a flake, or a selfish prick, because then you can’t be caught off guard by it. At the same time, it’s tough, because if you give that person the benefit of the doubt too many times, you make yourself into a fool. This is Alec’s Holland’s relationship with John Constantine- he knows Constantine’s a liar, but still convinces himself that Constantine might be able to help him. It’s also quickly becoming my relationship with Charles Soule, the writer of Swamp Thing. I can’t count on him. Just when I think he’s going to give me some answers, just when I think he’s going to reveal something about this so called “Seeder”, he goes and writes an issue about…John Constantine? It’s so crazy, it actually works really well.
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Jul 10 2013

Dial H 14

dial h 14

Today, Taylor and Ethan are discussing Dial H 14, originally released July 3rd, 2013.

Taylor: Why do superheroes exist? Why do the worlds they inhabit even need them? Looking at our own world, it seems that superheroes aren’t necessarily needed for us to survive in relative peace. Sure, it would be nice if Superman could do something to stop global warming but we don’t need him exist to stop that. If humanity could get its collective shit together, then we could easily curb global warming along with the vast majority of other problems that plague our little planet. Of course we don’t live in a world with superheroes and it would seem that the reason they don’t exist is that we don’t need them. However, in other universes — especially those in comic books — superheroes are needed to face the incredible dangers that plague their homes. Killer comet heading towards your planet? Undead wizards? Malevolent aliens? Your local superhero has you covered. But why are certain worlds and universes subjected to these life threatening situations and others not? Is there a reason for that or is it blind luck? In typical self-exploratory fashion, issue 14 of Dial H explores these questions as Nelson Jent and company race to stop the Centipede from achieving his nefarious goals.

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Jul 9 2013

Avengers 15

Alternating Currents: Avengers 15, Drew and Patrick

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Avengers 15, originally released July 3rd, 2013. 

Drew: I have a buddy who doesn’t like Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films — but it’s not because he doesn’t like fantasy. In his mind, the story is a too simple escalation of “then they fought an even bigger villain” repeated ad nauseam. He has a point: that narrative is particularly focused on building to the final boss battle, but I’d argue that that focus is exactly what prevents each encounter from feeling routine. We understand the importance of Frodo’s quest, so there’s actual tension to be garnered from any obstacles that might pop up along the way. More importantly, having that goal laid out offers direction after each villain is defeated — there’s none of that “wander around the woods until you find something else to fight” RPG bullshit. Unfortunately, Avengers 15 lacks that kind of focused direction. Continue reading →

Jul 9 2013

The Green Team 2

green team 2Today, Mikyzptlk and Drew are discussing The Green Team 2, originally released July 3rd, 2013.

Mikyzptlk:  Superhero books are a dime a dozen these days. I should know, because it feels like I read most of them. No, I know that isn’t true, but I do read quite a few. Actually, it’s hard to read so many superhero books when I know that publishers like Image or imprints like Vertigo are producing some pretty amazing books. I only have so much time in my schedule, so a lot of times, when I read a superhero book, it means that I can’t read an “indie” book that may be a lot more interesting. I’m not sure if that’s a fair way to go into a review, but it is an honest one. With that, I give you my thoughts on The Green Team #2. Continue reading →

Jul 9 2013

The Movement 3

movement 3

Today, Spencer and Scott are discussing The Movement 3, originally released July 3rd, 2013.

Spencer: What responsibility do I have to change the world? Are my actions making the world a better place to live in, or a worse one? Hopefully we’ve all considered these questions at one point or another in our lives—with all the riots and movements in the media now, it’d be hard not to—but if you haven’t, The Movement 3 will probably change that. As its characters grapple with these questions, its hard not to ask them of ourselves as well.

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Jul 8 2013

Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger 10

phantom stranger 10 trinity

Today, Patrick and Taylor are discussing Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger 10 originally released July 3rd, 2013. This issue is part of the Trinity War crossover event. Click here for our complete Trinity War coverage.

trinity war divPatrick: Comic books have an unhealthy relationship with death. For superheroes and their enemies and friends and families, death is a temporary setback. It’s such a common assumption that heroes will come back from the dead, and that assumption affects our language as we talk about these characters. Here’s a good example — in the blurb introducing the new Marvel series Superior Foes of Spider-Man, the editor explains the conceit of the series by saying:

…One thing they have in common is their shared hatred for their nemesis, the Superior Spider-Man — even if he’s possessed by their old boss Otto Octavius at the moment.

“At the moment?” Dude, come on, let’s commit to the idea that Peter Parker is dead. Otherwise, he’s not dead — he’s on vacation. So, it’s nice a character so integral to DC’s mythology journey all the way to heaven only to discover that he can’t just pluck the souls of his family from the afterlife.

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Jul 8 2013

Green Arrow 22

green arrow 22

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Green Arrow 22, originally released July 3rd, 2013.

Shelby:  Last night I was hanging out with friend and fellow writer Taylor; we’re going to the steampunk weekend at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, and we needed to spend some time crafting toy guns into steampunk weaponry. After adding some gears and coils to the rubber band shooter he’s going to use, Taylor started to play around with some copper wire, but ultimately decided to keep it simple with what he already had. It’s easy to give in to the temptation to add more stuff to a craft project because you can, but it’s important to know when something is finished, to keep things simple instead of cluttering your project with unnecessary extras. Jeff Lemire is the king of keeping things simple; his books may not have a lot going on, story-wise, but he definitely knows how to use simplicity to let a book shine.

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Jul 8 2013

The Private Eye 3

private eye 3

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing The Private Eye 3, originally released June 28th, 2013.

Technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself.

Vinton G. Cerf
The New York Times

Drew: In 2009, the highest court in France declared access to the internet a basic human right. In 2010, Costa Rica’s Supreme Court issued a similar ruling. Greece even wrote that right into their constitution. I tend to agree more with Vinton Cerf’s op-ed piece (quoted above) than the courts and councils of these countries, but that only dredges up the stickier question of what rights are enabled by the internet? The freedom of speech is an obvious example, but it also obviously existed before the internet. Sure, the internet facilitates the distribution of ideas, but so does being published by Random House, and nobody would claim that publishing contracts are an inalienable right. To me, the internet isn’t nearly as much about the freedom of speech as it is about the freedoms of convenience and anonymity. I would argue that neither of these are rights, per se, but does something need to be a right for someone to feel injustice when it is taken away? More importantly, how might that sense of injustice deform society? This seems to be the question at the heart of Private Eye — and the reason its setting doesn’t simply resemble a pre-internet world. Continue reading →

Jul 5 2013

Trinity of Sin: Pandora 1

pandora 1 trinityToday, Patrick and Mikyzptlk are discussing Trinity of Sin: Pandora 1 originally released July 3rd, 2013. This issue is part of the Trinity War crossover event. Click here for our complete Trinity War coverage.

trinity war divPatrick: After reading through the first issue of Trinity of Sin: Pandora, I went back and reread Ray Fawkes’ masterpiece – One Soul. The book is beautiful: it’s a sprawling, 200 page meditation on birth, sex, death, life, love, disappointment, god, war – all as told through the eyes of 18 people throughout history that never meet, never interact. None of these characters are named, but they always occupy the same single panel in each spread. When they die, their panel just goes black, and remains that way for the rest of the book. By all accounts, One Soul is a slog. It’s hard to parse out the meaning in 18 different rambling monologues, and every time you do zero in on a character, Fawkes takes them away in a tragedy of circumstance. It’s disorienting and it’s heartbreaking. The middle of this issue shares a lot of these qualities as Pandora hopelessly wanders the Earth for centuries, experiencing unspecified loss over and over again. This directionless wandering is bookended by dense DC mythology, emphasizing the long, meandering, often pointless nature of these big superhero universes. But just because they’re long, just because their meandering, just because they are often pointless, doesn’t mean they’re not also beautiful.

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