Yearly Archives: 2013

Jun 26 2013

Anti-Hero 1

anti-hero 1Today, Spencer and Patrick are discussing Anti-Hero 1, originally released June 26th, 2013. 

Spencer: Superhero comics have been around for over 70 years now. In that time, they’ve amassed quite a pile of tropes that writers return to time after time. One thing I’ve always admired about Jay Faerber’s writing is the way he takes these tropes and plays with them, using our intimate knowledge of them as a kind of shorthand to effortlessly familiarize us with a situation or character. In Faerber’s new series, Anti-Hero, he combines superhero and crime tropes to create a world that shares the best—and worst—of both genres, all while creating a hero who might just be lost in either world.

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Jun 26 2013

A + X 9

a+x 9

Today, Shelby and Taylor are discussing A + X 9, originally released June 19th, 2013.

Shelby: I grew up watching TGIF on ABC every Friday night. Full House, Family Matters, Step by Step, Boy Meets World, the Peterson household was all over it. So too I am quite familiar with the family sitcom format that delivers a bite-sized portion of morals every episode. I gobbled that up as a kid, but now the 20-minutes-from-conflict-to-lesson-learned setup generally isn’t enough for me. I want more complexity in my story-telling. That lighter fare can still certainly be fun, but lay on the morals to thick, and it becomes a lesson you’re trying to force down my throat instead of fun and mindless entertainment. A+X usually falls on the “fun and mindless” end of the spectrum, but this issues seems to be trying to teach me a lesson, and it’s bogging things down.

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Jun 26 2013

New Avengers 7

new avengers 7

Today, Spencer and Patrick are discussing New Avengers 7, originally released June 19th, 2013. 

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Spencer: The more responsibility you have, the harder it is to find time to yourself. I consider myself fortunate to have a job that I can ignore completely on my days off, but if I was, say, a CEO or the president, I just wouldn’t have that luxury; there are no days off when you’re that important. As the self-appointed protectors of our universe, the Illuminati fall firmly into that camp. Even as the threat of the Incursions recedes for the moment, they’ve still got more than their fair share of life-or-death, morally gray decisions to make.

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Jun 26 2013

Animal Man 21

animal man 21

Today, Scott and Drew are discussing Animal Man 21, originally released June 19th, 2013. 

Scott: We’ve reached a historic lowpoint for privacy. Every phone call, email, text message you send can and will be recorded and filed away in some classified government database. It’s ironic, I think, that the harshest condemnations of the NSA I’ve come across have been voiced on Facebook and Twitter, forums infamous for their users’ public over-sharing of thoughts better kept private. The rise of social media has made privacy invasion a daily risk for nearly everyone; most of us can only take solace in knowing our every thought is of little interest to anyone but our inner circles. But it’s enough to make you feel bad for celebrities, who must pay for their time in the spotlight by never being able to truly leave it — their privacy always at the mercy of any bystander with a smartphone. Animal Man 21 explores the potential dangers social media poses for newfound celebrity Buddy Baker and his fans.

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Jun 26 2013

Batman and Batgirl 21

batman and batgirl 21

Today, Drew and guest writer Gino Killiko are discussing Batman and Batgirl 21, originally released June 19th, 2013.

Drew: I have to admit, as a stage of grief, bargaining never made all that much sense to me — especially not as the third stage. I can accept that somebody might make an impassioned plea to whatever powers exist at the time of a loved one’s death, but I’m just not sure who people are bargaining with long after a loved one has died. It turns out, that is because the whole Kübler-Ross model that the “five stages of grief” are based on is actually adapted from the stages associated with an impending death, which kind of supports the notion that bargaining after the fact doesn’t necessarily make any sense. That might explain why Batman and Batgirl 21, which is meant to focus on the third stage of grief, doesn’t quite work. Continue reading →

Jun 25 2013

The Superior Spider-Man 12

superior spider-man 12

Today, Ethan and Shelby are discussing The Superior Spider-Man 12, originally released June 19th, 2013.

Ethan: When I sit down to write about an issue, I tend to start by flipping through my digital copy to grab the panels I want to include in the post. As I was looking through Superior Spider-Man #11, I ended up with about 10 separate images. That obviously won’t fit into a single post, but it’s a credit to writers Dan Slott & Christos Gage and artist Camuncoli that so much of the issue struck a note with me. A flashback to the worst day of J.Jonah Jameson’s life, further insights into Otto’s and Smythe’s psyches, a surprise cameo – there’s no time to waste!

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Jun 25 2013

Batwoman 21

batwoman 21

Today, Shelby and guest writer Suzanne are discussing Batwoman 21, originally released June 19th, 2013.

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Shelby: Story breaks are a tricky thing to manage when you’re dealing with a serialized form of media. In the case of comic books, the writer already has to contend with a month of time passing between story points; I like to think I’m a pretty attentive reader, and there are times I have to go back and skim over last month’s issue to remember what all we’re dealing with. But to interrupt your own on-going story with a mini-story takes a lot of confidence in both your on-going work and your interlude. J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman have that confidence for good reason, as they interrupt out regularly scheduled Batwoman programming for a touching look at Gotham’s scaliest villain.

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Jun 25 2013

Birds of Prey 20-21

birds of prey 20-21

Today, Patrick and Mikyzptlk are discussing Birds of Prey 20-21, originally released May 15th and June 19th, 2013.

Patrick: Fun fact: when Family Matters debuted in 1989, Jaleel White had not been cast on the show. Instead of being the adventures of Steve Urkel and the neighbors he loved to annoy, the show was a simple spin-off of Perfect Strangers – the story of a middle class working family in Chicago. But Steve Urkel made his appearance in the twelfth episode and was so well-received that it changed the DNA of the series forever. For better or for worse Steve Urkel had taken over Family Matters, and suddenly he was the only thing mattered. As Birds of Prey struggles to find it’s own audience and its own direction, it receives an Urkel of its own: The Court of Owls. Continue reading →

Jun 24 2013

Invincible 103

invincible 103

Today, Patrick and (guest writer) Zach are discussing Invincible 103, originally released June 19th, 2013.

Patrick: Invincible is a series that resits being discussed on any terms but its own. Robert Kirkman has built up such an extensive cast of characters, and such a rich history, that nearly every new thing that happens can find its origin in previous issues of this series. There are three different editors’ notes in this issue, the first refers me back to to the Death of Everyone story (which I actually read), but the next note refers to issue 37 which came out seven years ago, and the other to the spin-off series Guarding the Globe. I always used to get the feeling that an editor’s note was in place to be helpful, assure you that there was some precedent for the thing that was happening. Failing that, the editor’s note was just trying to sell me some related material – a slightly-less-altruistic kind of helpful. Invincible editor Sean Mackiewicz uses them for another reason altogether – to identify moments of fan-service. It’s like Kirkman writes in all these winks and nudges to his long-time readers, only to have Mackiewicz let us newbies know how clever he’s being. Continue reading →

Jun 24 2013

Green Lantern: New Guardians 21

new guardians 21

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern: New Guardians 21, originally released June 19th, 2013.

Jingle bells / Batman smells / Robin laid an egg / Batmobile broke its wheel / and the Joker got away.

-Traditional.

Patrick: I know there are variations on the above. There are the small variations, like the difference between “broke its wheel” and “lost its wheel”; and there are the big variations, like the difference between the Joker getting away and dancing ballet. We’ve all been that little shit – belting away over a chorus of vanilla Jingle Bells. While it’s mostly nonsense, there are a few simple truths buried in those lyrics. The first being that superhero stories are simple and repetitive, but the second being that that the superhero trappings are all it takes to make the story engaging. If the “police car” broke its wheel and the “bad guy” got away, it’s not the same story. A new creative team on Green Lantern: New Guardians trots out all the all the trappings of the Green Lantern universe and threatens to do something new with it, before doubling back to the space operatics we’ve come to expect. Continue reading →