Retcon Punch is on Summer Hours, which means we’re going to be writing fewer in-depth pieces for the month of August. But we’re addicts at this point, so we need a place for our thoughts on all those comics we can’t stop reading. Today, we’re discussing Midnighter 3, Detective Comics 43, Batman Beyond 3 and Green Lantern 43.
Howdy everyone! Your old pals at Retcon Punch are going to seek a little R&R for the month of August. Some of us have travel on the calendar, some of us are taking on new projects, and some of us need time to reflect on how the waning of the summer sun reminds us of our slow inevitable descent to a slow, cold, meaningless death.
But hey! That doesn’t mean we’re going away entirely! In fact, I still hope to publish 2-3 Alternating Currents a week and we’ll still be weighing in on the new direction of the DCU (please, don’t make me use “DCYou”) and Secret Wars in the form of our now-familiar Round Ups. Beyond that, there will also always be a sort of catch-all Round Up to discuss indie books, Vertigo, Star Wars, or whatever Marvel stuff doesn’t yet fall under the banner of “Secret Wars.”
So I hope you’ll stick with us and put your own two cents in the comments. I expect we’ll still be expressing quite a few contestable opinions, and nothing brings me more joy that watching those contests play out on the site. Plus, we’ll be back in the Fall, and all of this will look a little bit fresher. On behalf of Drew, Spencer, Michael, Taylor, Ryan, Mark, Shane, Shelby and myself, have a great Summer y’all!
Patrick, Co-Editor-In-Chief
Look, there are a lot of comics out there. Too many. We can never hope to have in-depth conversations about all of them. But, we sure can round up some of the more noteworthy titles we didn’t get around to from the week. Today, Drew, Spencer, and Patrick discuss Daredevil 17, Jem and the Holograms 5, Universe! 3, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 4, and Material 3.
Drew: What do people think of when you tell them you read comics? Do they assume you’re reading about Spider-Man and his friends? Do they think you mean “serious” graphic novels? Do they ever ask about newspaper strips? The point is, in spite of what genres we may chose to pigeonhole them in, comics are insanely diverse right now. Case in point: this week’s round-up. We’ve got superhero action, for sure, but we also have everything from irreverent comedy to twisted horror. More importantly, this week finds all of these series at different points in their narrative lives, from beginnings to ends to everything rolled up in one. That may mean that not everything on this list will appeal to everyone, but it also makes it likely that everyone will find at least one thing to like in this week’s comics. Continue reading
Today, Drew and Michael are discussing Sex Criminals 11, originally released June 29th, 2015.
Drew: I’ve played the “what superpower would you want” game enough to know that most people will settle for “flight” or “invisibility.” Does that predictability speak to the overwhelming awesomeness of those powers, or some failure of those individuals to be creative? I think it might actually speak to how we think about superpowers: they’re so arbitrary as to be kind of meaningless. Indeed, there are relatively few characters whose powersets are actually limited to just “flight” or “invisibility,” giving even those most popular choices the air of not quite being enough. Which is why Sex Criminals is such a revelation. “A series about a couple with the ability to stop time” doesn’t get nearly the reaction as “A series about a couple with the ability to stop time when they orgasm.” Part of the charm is the novelty, sure, but the premise requires that sexuality play a central role in the series. That makes it unique beyond its superpowers, as issue 11 takes us into the private lives of virtually every character via their sex lives. Continue reading
Today, Spencer and Ryan are discussing Lazarus 18, originally released July 29th, 2015.
Spencer: There’s a certain rush that comes with new stories, with watching a whole world full of new characters and relationships being established right before your eyes, but it’s a rush that by definition can’t last forever, and late-series attempts to keep things fresh often misfire. The answer isn’t continually adding new characters and concepts, which can often leave a story feeling bloated and distract from its core themes; the best storytellers know the power that comes from mixing up established relationships, throwing together characters who have never really interacted before, and finding new perspectives to view their cast through. Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s Lazarus is well into its second year and fourth storyline, and it’s exactly these kind of techniques that keeps issue 18 feeling as compelling as ever. Continue reading
Today, Taylor and Spencer are discussing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 48, originally released July 29th, 2015.
Taylor: Time is hard concept to understand. On the one hand, it’s totally an invention of humankind and wouldn’t exist without us. On the other hand, it does seem like things more or less move temporally in some fashion independent of human thought. That’s basically the second law of thermodynamics. The point is, time is a complicated concept. It should be no surprise then that time can be difficult to illustrate in comics. It’s such an abstract concept that it’s not always easy to show readers. However, one of the things comic book artists are experts at is showing the movement of time in and between panels. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 48, artist Cory Smith puts on a clinic on how to show the passage of time. Subsequently, this issue is beautiful to read.
Today, Michael and Mark are discussing Batgirl Annual 3, originally released July 29th, 2015.
Michael: I don’t know if the concept of “Annual” comic book really has a true characterization. Sometimes it’s just a giant-sized issue of an ongoing story. Other times it’s a semi-audition for up and coming writers to get their feet wet. Then there are annuals like to jam-pack the issue with as much muchness as possible. Batgirl Annual 3 is the much muchness example. Continue reading
Today, Patrick, Drew, and Spencer discuss Thors 2, M.O.D.O.K. Assassin 3, Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars 3, and Black Widow 20.
Patrick: It’s kind of a goofy week for Secret Wars: between Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars — which may have just delivered its own punchline — and M.O.D.O.K. Assassin — which is nothing but punchlines — and the deadpan homage to cop shows that is Thors, there’s a lot to make us smile. It’s not all shits and giggles: perhaps it’s fitting that series stuck telling stories of heroes’ Last Days would skew so dark, and issues like Black Widow 20 provide a necessary tonal balance when looking at the week in aggregate.
Continue reading
Today, Patrick and (guest writer) Elliott are discussing Star Wars 7, originally released July 29th, 2015.
Patrick: Comic books are the go-to medium for fleshing out stories and characters set up in movies, TV shows and video games. There’s always going to be a Firefly comic or something featuring Lara Croft – and 90% of the time, those series are filling in gaps in the narratives. And those gaps — those times before or after or during the main stories are usually filled with precisely that: more narrative. That’s not fair to comic books as a medium, which move in their own rhythms and will always be compared to the storytelling prowess of the original. We’ve had a ton of conversations on this site about what we even want from these things: Star Wars isn’t just a set of aliens and some colloquialisms about the Kessel Run, it’s the music, the motion, the sound effects, the light, the performances. Star Wars 7 is an interesting issue; it fills in gaps in the narrative we’re already reading, which in and of itself is filling in gaps in a different narrative altogether. But rather than letting the necessarily weak plot drive the issue, writer Jason Aaron imagines what Obi-Wan Kenobi must have felt during his years on Tatooine, and builds a story out from there. Continue reading
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