Monthly Archives: December 2017

Dec 29 2017

Monster Malaise Sets In in Lumberjanes 45

by Taylor Anderson

Lumberjanes 45

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

At this point, the Lumberjanes have encountered just about any type of weird monster/creature that you can dream up. They’ve faced giant stone statues, huge ravens, ghosts, and dinosaurs just to name a few. When all is said and done, there’s not really a whole lot of things the Janes haven’t faced. As the 45 issue of the series shows, this is beginning to take a tole on the Janes, and, in some ways, perhaps the creative team as well.

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Dec 29 2017

Spoofy Action in Despicable Deadpool 291

by Taylor Anderson

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

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If you haven’t seen Edgar Wright’s supremely funny Hot Fuzz, I heartily recommend renting it and making tonight a viewing party. The movie is predictably funny because Simon Pegg is a comic genius, true, but what always makes me laugh is the way Wright directs action scenes. He clearly has an ironic fondness for silly action movies (think Michael Bey) and that is made clear in the way he so cleverly spoofs typical action movie tropes. My favorite of these is when Simon Pegg and Nick Frost leap into a room guns-blazing and seem to be falling and shooting for an endless amount of time. This scene so well captures and lovingly makes fun of action movies in a clever way that is also present in Despicable Deadpool 291.  Continue reading →

Dec 29 2017

Glitterbomb: The Fame Game 4: Discussion

by Patrick Ehlers and Spencer Irwin

Glitterbomb The Fame Game 4

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

Patrick: In the first Glitterbomb series, writer Jim Zub and artist Djibril Morissette-Phan explore the late-career of actress Farrah Durante. Durante was abused by the system, sexually assaulted by her co-star, and discarded by the studio. She was emboldened by a spirit of vengeance, and ended up murdering a theater full of Hollywood’s worst scumbags in a whirlwind of intensely satisfying supernatural revenge. Mind you, it costs the character her life.

Glitterbomb: The Fame Game follows the next generation of celebrity in the form of Kaydon, Farrah’s only real friend toward the end of her life. Kaydon isn’t an actress on a TV show, she’s a personality, famous for her experience and perspective. She’s a woman of color, and at least a little bit queer, so we already know she’s able to express herself more completely than Farrah ever would have been allowed to. Continue reading →

Dec 28 2017

Doomsday Clock 2: Discussion

by Michael DeLaney and Drew Baumgartner 

Doomsday Clock 2

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

Michael: It seems that the divisive issue this holiday season was not about the fictitious “War on Christmas” but instead about your opinion of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I’m fascinated by the varying differences of opinions on this film. One of the most popular criticisms amongst detractors is that it didn’t meet their expectations. Some Star Wars fans might have given The Last Jedi a small margin of potential victory where the film was both different and spiritually the same to the original films. I’m reminded of this intense desire for both nostalgia and innovation in Doomsday Clock 2. Continue reading →

Dec 28 2017

Back to the Future meets Wile E. Coyote in Fu Jitsu 4

by Drew Baumgartner

Fu Jitsu 4

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

Man, I’m such a sucker for time travel stories. Fu Jitsu 4 has plenty of other sci-fi insanity that someone might latch onto, but I can’t help but be charmed by the little time paradoxes and other time travel quirks built into the narrative. Indeed, the irreverent tone that Jai Nitz and Wesley St. Claire have struck with this series allow them to have much more fun with those tropes than any other time travel story I’ve ever encountered. Continue reading →

Dec 28 2017

The Guardians Frustrate in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps 35

by Mark Mitchell

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps 35

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

Through no fault of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps 35’s writer, Robert Venditti, the Guardians are deeply uninteresting characters. Supposedly supremely wise, they mostly manage to make Hal Jordan seem brilliant by comparison. Supposedly extremely powerful, their existence seems to be threatened with frightening regularity. All of this on top of the fact that they’re frankly unpleasant to look at, especially the more human they’re rendered. Continue reading →

Dec 27 2017

Quantum and Woody 1 is an Assured First Chapter

by Drew Baumgartner

Quantum And Woody 1

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

…story is an apple and plot is the arrow through the apple.

Chuck Wendig, Damn Fine Story

It can be hard to know what a story is about based on its first chapter. Put in terms of the analogy quoted above, it can be hard to guess the shape of the apple when the arrow has only just started to pierce it. At least, assuming the path of the arrow is linear. If, instead, that first chapter jumps around the edges of a story enough, it might start to imply the shape that narrative will ultimately take. Such is the case with Quantum and Woody 1, which skips between various moments in the lives of its titular duo, but always keeps their relationship at its center. Continue reading →

Dec 27 2017

Simultaneous Silliness and Sincerity in Marvel Two-in-One 1

by Patrick Ehlers

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

Patrick: Does writer Chip Zdarsky leverage humor to find pathos, or does he exploit genuine emotion for comedy? It’s almost impossible to tell. Zdarsky often rides the line between celebrating the absurdity and celebrating the sincerity of his characters and his stories. Marvel Two-In-One somehow achieves both simultaneously, giving the reader a sad, almost Venture Brothersian look into the loneliness and ennui of the last remaining members of the Fantastic Four, while never letting go of the inherent weirdness of these characters. It’s a stupendous feat of writing, emboldened by Jim Cheung’s reverent artwork. Continue reading →

Dec 27 2017

Angelic 4 Urges Us to Ask “Why?”

by Spencer Irwin

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

While organized religion is well known for rigid rules and requiring blind faith and obedience, I’ve never thought of them as qualities inherent to actually worshipping God. Malachi 3:10 implores worshippers to put God to the test in order to see for themselves the blessings he’ll bring those who love Him, while Genesis 18 describes a lengthy exchange between God and Abraham where Abraham continually questioned God’s intentions to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, bartering for the lives of any righteous who might be in the city. I can really only speak for Judeo-Christian religions, but the point seems clear nonetheless: asking questions certainly seems to be an acceptable part of navigating faith. Forbidding questions only serves to empower men with agendas, as is the case in Simon Spurrier and Caspar Wijngaard’s Angelic 4. Continue reading →

Dec 27 2017

The Narrative Meanders in The Wild Storm 10

by Ryan Desaulniers

The Wild Storm 10

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

The opening panel of issue ten of The Wild Storm by Warren Ellis and artist Jon Davis-Hunt is a half-page shot showcasing a new table upon which coffee should not be be placed. Continue reading →