Author Archives: Drew

Jan 9 2014

100 Bullets: Brother Lono 7

Alternating Currents: Brother Lono 7, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing 100 Bullets: Brother Lono 7, originally released January 8th, 2014.

…I’m afraid the heart of religion is fear.

Father Manny

Drew: It’s hard to deny the importance of fear. It is the fundamental driver of our sense of self preservation, and may very well be the most basic, universal emotion there is. Of course, that also makes it the easiest to manipulate. Modern life is filled with organizations trying to scare us: corporations want to scare us into buying their products, political parties want to scare us into electing their candidates — but none of those organizations are about fear in quite the same way that religion is. I’m not just being cynical (and I don’t think Brian Azzarello or Father Manny is when he makes the above statement) — underneath all of that scary stuff about hell and sin is an elemental fear of the unknown: what if our ignorance of things we couldn’t possibly know (i.e. the meaning of life, the existence of a creator, etc.) was bad? Brother Lono 7 finds almost every character confronted by some unknown entity, and the results are decidedly bad for all of them. Continue reading →

Jan 8 2014

All-Star Western 26

all-star western 26

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing All-Star Western 26, originally released December 31st, 2013.

Drew: I’ve always been suspicious of happy endings. Not that I’m a grump or a pessimist (or, not just because I’m a grump and a pessimist), just that I think the tendency to wrap stories up with a nice bow tends to make them same-y. Knowing everything will work out in the end robs stories of most of their drama, and more importantly, they tend to ring false. Still, there’s something undeniably alluring about a happy ending — a gentle reassurance that the characters will be okay specifically, and that things tend to work out generally. It’s incredibly tricky to acknowledge both aspects of the happy ending, but Alan Moore’s classic “For the Man Who Has Everything” does it beautifully by presenting (and ultimately rejecting) a classic “what if” scenario. Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti aim to tap that same magic in All-Star Western 26, but as is the case with most comparisons to Moore, they come up just a little short. Continue reading →

Jan 7 2014

Red Lanterns 26

Alternating Currents: Red Lanterns 26, Drew and MikyzptlkToday, Drew and Mikyzptlk are discussing Red Lanterns 26, originally released December 31st, 2013.

Drew: I’m a pretty logical person, which means I tend to be suspicious of emotional reactions — especially in high-stakes situations. That is, until I learned about an array of studies that suggests that our “gut” — our emotional responses to options laid before us — may be more reliable than conscious, logic-based decisions. Turns out, our emotions might be useful, after all. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the various Lantern Corps, which draw their powers from their own emotions. I’ve always thought it was strange that those characters were defined by one emotion — is Hal Jordan even allowed to feel love, rage, or compassion? — which goes double for the Red Lanterns. How can you constantly be feeling rage? With Red Lanterns 26, Charles Soule sets out to examine exactly what happens when you take the rage out of a Red Lantern. Continue reading →

Jan 2 2014

Guardians of the Galaxy 10

guardians of the galaxy 10

Today, Drew and Scott are discussing Guardians of the Galaxy 10, originally released December 31st, 2013.

Drew: We may lament the way crossover events tend to hijack otherwise enjoyable series, but it’s an unfortunate way of life for comics published by the big two. Once the crossover is over, the series can return to the conflicts and situations that defined the series up until that point. Usually. Guardians of the Galaxy 10 is committed to the fallout of it’s most recent events (still reverberating from Infinity, which saw the “living death” of Thanos, AND Age of Ultron, which saw the introduction of Angela to the Marvel Universe), which is great for legitimizing the stakes of those events, but may alienate fans who liked the series before all of that started. Continue reading →

Dec 30 2013

Best of 2013: Best Writers

2013 best writer

In such a collaborative medium as comics, it can be difficult to say where a writer’s influence on the story ends, but there’s no question on where it begins: words on the page. Whether they thrill, elate, chill, or deflate, the best writers create characters, settings, and situations we want to return to, again and again. These are our top 13 writers of 2013. Continue reading →

Dec 27 2013

Best of 2013: Best Creator Twitter Personality

2013: Best Twitter

Time was, you might only ever get a chance to interact with your favorite comics creators if they happened to be attending a con near you, but technology (for better or for worse) has now put them only a few clicks away. Still, some manage it better than others, and we wanted to take a moment to single out those creators that have gone above and beyond with crafting an inviting, entertaining twitter presence. Here it is, our 13 favorite creator twitter personalities of 2013. Continue reading →

Dec 27 2013

Best of 2013: Best Covers

2013: Best Cover

You know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but that doesn’t mean you can’t judge the cover on its own merit. Some covers are so excellent that they back all the drama, excitement and emotion of the whole issue into one succinct image. Sometimes they end up being their own surreal experience. And other times, we’re just exciting to see our favorite heroes kicking ass one more time. These are our top 13 covers of 2013. Continue reading →

Dec 26 2013

Best of 2013: Best Issues

Best of 2013: Best Issue

It’s that time of year again: where we suck up all of our grumblings about art being unquantifiable and compile our best-of lists. Today, we’re looking at our favorite single issues. Love or hate the subjectivity of this list, at the very least, it serves as a great reminder of all of the fantastic comics we’ve read over the past year. We’re sure your list will be different (and welcome your thoughts in the comments), but here are our top 13 issues of 2013. Continue reading →

Dec 26 2013

The Private Eye 5

private eye 5

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing The Private Eye 5, originally released December 21st, 2013.

Drew: There’s a touch of irony that the greatest mystery in a detective story is the detective himself, but mysterious detectives are the best. The questions that surround their existence reflect and emphasize the mysteries they’re hired to solve. If that seems too tidy, bear in mind that the mysterious detective falls out of the format of a detective story: while he is busy grilling everyone else about their pasts, his stays conveniently in the dark. Some stories largely ignore this aspect of their detective, treating them as a force of nature designed to solve cases, but many more have mined rich emotional connections from their heroes’ mysterious pasts. In this way, Private Eye may bear more in common with Blade Runner than just its futuristic LA setting. Continue reading →

Dec 19 2013

Daredevil 34

Alternating Currents: Daredevil 34, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing Daredevil 34, originally released December 18th, 2013. 

Drew: We tend to associate soapbox speeches with masturbatory lectures important only to the speaker — it’s an annoyance when someone gets on their soapbox — but at one time, soapbox speeches were actually considered a form of entertainment. I’m not entirely sure if the audiences tended to agree with the speeches, or if there was more of a morbid curiosity factor in play (the same type that might keep you up late watching youtube clips of The O’Rielly Factor), but the point is: there was a time when somebody would literally be on a soapbox, and people’s reaction wasn’t to just tell them to get of of their damn soapbox. I was reminded of this as I read Kirsten McDuffie’s soaring call for levelheadedness in Daredevil 34. Continue reading →