Author Archives: Drew

Mar 29 2012

The Flash 7

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing the Flash 7, originally released March 28th, 2012.

Drew: When we wrote about the Flash 6 last month, we couldn’t get over the thematic richness of that issue as it explored concepts of cause and effect through time and space. One of the reasons that issue is so satisfying is because it speaks to our own experience of events — we can arrange them chronologically, but they often have connections to distant moments in time. This is the Flash as the mortals around him (or, perhaps more importantly, comics fans) experience him; sometimes out-of-order chronologically, but never emotionally. With the Flash 7, Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato set out to do something much more ambitious, as they put the burden of cause on our hero without any real understanding of the effect. Continue reading →

Mar 26 2012

Birds of Prey 7

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Birds of Prey 7, originally released March 21st, 2012.

Drew: Issue 2 of Birds of Prey opened with Katana standing over a roomful of Yakuza she had just killed. When we first see her in battle alongside the birds later in the issue, she is running through one of Choke’s henchmen. Dinah comments on how Katana is “everything I’d hoped for. Lethal. Disciplined. Able to watch my back.” Dinah even reminds her that they need “at least one of them alive,” which strikes me as permission to kill all but one of the goons they’re fighting. In fact, they kill a lot of people during that scene, so Dinah’s insistence in issue 7 that “Rule number one” is “We don’t kill people,” is a bit of a stretch. Continue reading →

Mar 22 2012

Batman 7

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Batman 6, originally released February 15th, 2012.

Drew: Batman 7 begins in a pivotal moment in Bruce’s history; as he sits, broken and bleeding in his own library, considering the bat that has just broken through the window and lit on his father’s bust. It feels like familiar territory, but as the bat flies off into the night, creating an oh-so-familiar silhouette against the full moon, something…changes. Continue reading →

Mar 21 2012

Captain Atom 1-6

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Captain Atom, originally released September 21st, 2011, October 19th, 2011, November 16th, 2011, December 21st 2011, January 18th 2012, and February 15th, 2012.

Drew: Early in the second issue of Captain Atom, our hero, Nathaniel Adam, is immobilized by an overwhelming barrage of data. Replace “data” with “references,” and you more or less have a description of my experience with this title. This may very well be the most post-modern title of the New 52, which should say a lot to anyone who has read any of Grant Morrison’s run on Action Comics. To be fair, writers J.T. Krul and Freddie Williams II make those allusions largely explicit, so when I describe the book as “Dr. Manhattan by way of Top Gun with a little of John Carpenter’s The Thing and just a hint of Beauty and the Beast,” it’s not meant as a glib dismissal, but a frank (and efficient) summary of the tone it’s going for. Continue reading →

Mar 15 2012

Batwoman 7

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Batwoman 7, originally released March 14th 2012.

Drew: Last month, Batwoman kicked off its “To Drown the World” arc,  separating the action into six  separate times and perspectives: Batwoman’s, Jacob’s, Kate’s, Maro’s, Maggie’s, and Chase’s. It’s an interesting gambit, but one that makes assessing individual issues quite difficult. Each mini-story only has a few pages devoted to it each issue, which means they don’t have time for more than one or two story beats. I’m not entirely certain why the story is being told this way, but I have faith that writers J.H. Williams and W. Handen Blackman will more than justify breaking the story up in this way. Until that happens, though, these issues are a little frustrating in terms of how little each story moves. Continue reading →

Mar 8 2012

Batwing 7

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Batwing 7, originally released March 7th, 2012.

Drew: At the end of issue 6, I had mixed feelings about this title. I liked the stylized art, particularly Brian Reber’s atmospheric, almost dusty colors, and I appreciated the idea of distilling the idea of Batman down to it’s essence and seeing how it plays in different cultures. At the same time, I wasn’t sure I actually liked the approach writer Judd Winick had applied to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I complained that the title was exploitative, but it really isn’t guilty of doing anything any frank (or, more importantly, action-focused) depiction of subsaharan Africa wouldn’t do. I’m still not convinced that this title isn’t exploitative, but this month’s issue comes a long way in making me more comfortable with the world David Zavimbe inhabits. Continue reading →

Mar 2 2012

Green Lantern: New Guardians 1-6

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Green Lantern: New Guardians, originally released September 28th, 2011, October 26th, 2011, November 23rd, 2011, December 28th 2011, January 25th 2012, and February 22nd, 2012.

Drew: Creatively, the concept of the Green Lantern Corps is a tricky thing for DC to deal with. On the one hand, the density and vastness of literally an entire universe’s worth of mythology and intergalactic police stories is the perfect setting for the kinds of expansive, sprawling stories comics are so well-suited for.  On the other hand, that same density and vastness makes the title incredibly impenetrable to newcomers, which lowers their crossover appeal. Characters like Batman and Spider-Man can make the pop-culture leap into movies and television precisely because their mythologies can be so easily summarized. The reasons comics fans like Green Lantern are the same reasons that make a film adaptation so impossible (or at least ill-advised). Continue reading →

Feb 29 2012

Chat Cave: What embarrasses you about comics?

Comics have always been stigmatized, from the homophobia that led to the comics code to the perennial perception that comics are for kids. Fans have long tolerated these stigmas, but have recently enjoyed more mainstream acceptance. Between the regular presence of graphic novels on bestseller lists and superheros on theater marquis, comics readers need no longer feel embarrassed for their fandom. At least, not totally. This week, the Retcon Punchers discuss what aspects of comic books still embarrass them. Welcome to the Chat Cave.

Drew: This subject is very near and dear to my heart. In fact, one could argue that my first attempt to tackle this subject (posted on my blog devoted to subjects of such social stigmas) set me on the path that led to the formation of this very site. Suffice it to say, I’m maybe a little too sensitive to what people might be thinking about my comic fandom, but those sensitivities aren’t necessarily directly comics related. The thing I’m most embarrassed by is people assuming that I’m the kind of hyper-sarcastic, socially awkward pretentious hermit that has become the stereotype of the modern comic fan, but that has more to do with the culture surrounding comics than anything in the comics themselves. Continue reading →

Feb 28 2012

All-Star Western 4-6

Today, Peter and Drew are discussing All-Star Western 4-6, originally released December 28th, 2011, January 25th, 2012, and February 22nd, 2012.

Peter: As we delve farther into the story of Jonah Hex and the 1880s, it has become apparent that this book is on a mission. What it is exactly, I’m not sure. However, it is clear as day that writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti have a clear vision for All-Star Western, and how to make this book play a greater role in the greater DCnU. Continue reading →

Feb 23 2012

The Flash 6

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing the Flash 6, originally released February 22nd, 2012.

Drew: Barry Allen has a strange relationship with time. It’s the essence of his character; he moves (and thinks) fast enough for issues of cause and effect to not matter to him in the same way they do for us. The complexity of that relationship increases exponentially when time travel is added to the mix, breaking down the meaning of cause and effect altogether. Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato have done a great job introducing these elements without giving Barry absolute control over time. The EMP blast from the previous few issues addresses these complications dramatically, but issue 6 is told in a non-linear fashion, allowing Manapul and Buccellato to address the issue of time travel thematically. I’m going to re-shuffle the story into chronological order for the sake of clarity (a la our Batwoman 6 write-up), but understand that the story is arranged in LOST-style flashbacks to reveal the causes of events after the effect has been established. Continue reading →