Author Archives: shelbykpeterson

Apr 22 2014

C2E2 2014!

It’s that wonderful time of year when hordes of our fellow geeks descend upon the fair city of Chicago for C2E2. Our esteemed editors Drew and Patrick will be flying in to join Shelby for three days of con madness, and we’d love to see your shining faces there!

If any of you guys out there in the ether are planning on making the trek to the Windy City and would be interested in meeting up with us for a drink Saturday night (and who doesn’t need a drink after the second night of a con?), sound off here! Join us in celebration of the three editors being in the same time zone for the first time since we started this crazy blogging adventure. You’ll be able to find us at Plymouth, 327 S. Plymouth Court (near State and Van Buren). The con floor closes at 7:00, and that’s when we’ll head over to get our drink on.

If you can’t make to C2E2 this year, don’t fret; we’ll be covering the con all weekend, so tune in here for updates. Hope to see you there!

Apr 21 2014

Hulk 1

hulk 1

Today, Shelby and Taylor are discussing Hulk 1, originally released April 16, 2014.

Shelby: I love online quizzes, the dumber the better. If I can answer a dozen questions and find out which sandwich I am, I rest easier at night. There’s always that one question, “If you friends could pick one word to describe you, what would that word be?” that always gives me pause. How can a person be distilled down to just one, defining thing? And how am I supposed to know what other people would say that one thing is? Comic book characters probably don’t suffer the same sort of existential crisis I feel talking personality quizzes because most of them do have that one thing that defines them. Take Bruce Banner, for instance. He’s defined by his intelligence; he’s one of the smart ones. Well, I suppose he’s also defined by his predilection towards turning into a green rage monster, but if we consider Bruce alone, the one word I’d use to describe him would be “smartypants.” So, what does it mean for the character if he loses that one thing that makes him who he is? Or who he was, anyway.

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Apr 17 2014

The Superior Spider-Man 31

superior spider-man 31

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing The Superior Spider-Man 31, originally released April 16th, 2014.

Shelby: If I learned anything from watching countless episodes of M*A*S*H* as a child, it’s that the first step of dealing with any disaster is triage. You need to assess the situation and make some quick decisions to prioritize your next steps. Usually this means letting some people in pain suffer a little while longer so you can tend to the immediately life-threatening issues. It’s only after you’ve stopped the bleeding and patched up the worse off can you step back and consider the situation as a whole; that’s the point you can begin to make some decisions about long-term fixes and really start cleaning up your mess.

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Apr 15 2014

Captain Marvel 2

captain marvel 2Today, Shelby and Scott are discussing Captain Marvel 2, originally released April 9th, 2014.

Shelby: Mistaken identities and their resulting confusion have got to be one of the more commonly used plot devices out there. I think just about every play I did in high school drama involved people being mistaken for someone else and a lot of hiding in closets/multiple door antics. It’s commonly used because it’s one small moment that can quickly telescope into an entire story; each person’s unexpected reaction based on the mistake triggers another unexpected reaction, and so on and so forth. It’s so easy when we’re outside observers to see that if everyone would just calm down and think for a second, everything would make sense. As Carol Danvers is about to learn, however, sometimes mistakes happen so fast, you don’t even have a second to spare to think about it. Continue reading →

Apr 10 2014

Superman/Wonder Woman 7

superman wonder woman 7

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Superman/Wonder Woman 7, originally released April 9th, 2014.

Shelby:  I’m pretty bad at talking about my feelings. I’ve gotten better, because I have realized the value in just stating how I feel or what I want plainly, but I still sometimes have a hard time with it. Talking to dreamy men is still my biggest challenge; there’s just something about the simple phrase, “You are cute and cool, want to grab a drink?” that causes my brain to just completely melt down. I recognize it’s pretty silly, but am at the same time powerless to stop it. Maybe it’s an extreme fear of rejection? Or maybe I’m worried I’ll end up in a awkward situation like Clark and Diana, who have an unspoken, “I love you, too” hanging between them (not to mention nuclear fallout).

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Apr 9 2014

Chat Cave: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Marvel continues to grow its movie universe with its second installment of our favorite super soldier in Captain America: Winter Soldier. Naturally, we all want to talk about it. Probable spoilers after the break: welcome to the Chat Cave.
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Apr 8 2014

Green Arrow 30

 

green arrow 30Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Green Arrow 30, originally released April 2nd, 2014.

Shelby: Because I like to stay on top of pop culture trends, I recently discovered the TV series Legend of the Seeker. It’s a pretty straight-forward magic-based fantasy, based on Terry Goodkind’s series The Sword of Truth. You know, right up my alley. Anyway, there are two groups of magical women in this universe: Confessors and Mord-Sith. The Confessors’ power is based on love and truth; they can see when someone is lying, and as a last resort force them to tell the truth by causing people to fall desperately in love with them. The Mord-Sith, however, get their power from hate; all love, kindness, and compassion is burned out of them from youth until all they know is how to cause pain and hatred. While neither situation is ideal, it’s made clear that the love for a Confessor can elicit positive change in a person, whereas “training” from a Mord-Sith can only breed more hate. So, what do you get when someone is motivated by both love AND hate? By quiet dignity and unbelievable cruelty? Maybe we should ask Green Arrow.

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Apr 3 2014

Inhuman 1

inhuman 1

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Inhuman 1, originally released April 2nd, 2014

Shelby: I have always been somewhat baffled by racism. I can’t understand the reasoning behind looking at another human being and deciding that they are inferior because of the color of their skin. I understand that racism exists, I’m certainly not trying to deny it, I just don’t understand the logic (such as it is) behind it. How can any one human be inherently better than another? And what could skin color possibly have to do with it? As Charles Soule kicks off Inhuman 1, he presents us with a situation where there IS a branch of humanity which is measurably superior. The Inhumans are stronger and more powerful than the rest of us mere mortals, and some are not afraid to show it. The real question is, once these inferior humans start instantly transforming into superior beings, what are all those racist Inhumans going to do about it?

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Apr 1 2014

Hawkeye 18

hawkeye 18Today, Shelby and Spencer are discussing Hawkeye 18, originally released March 26th, 2014.

Shelby: Everyone needs a reality check every now and again. It’s that moment at the end of a vacation when you first check your work email, when the fantasy you’d been living is revealed to be just that, and it’s time to get back to reality. It’s not a fun feeling, discovering something seemed too good to be true because it was, that the “happily ever after” you thought you had was just a story and now the story’s over. Kate Bishop has been trying to build herself a new reality away from a certain, “needy abusive black hole of crippled emotions,” and it was finally beginning to look like she’d succeeded. Unfortunately, she’s got a massive dose of reality headed her way, and it’s not going to be pretty.

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Mar 31 2014

Iron Patriot 1

iron patriot 1Today, Shelby and Greg are discussing Iron Patriot 1, originally released March 26th, 2014.

Shelby: Work-life balance is a hard thing to maintain. You need to work to, you know, live and stuff, but if you can’t have a non-work life then what’s the point? Even if you’re one of the lucky few who happens to love your job, you need a life outside of it to stay sane. I actually have two jobs, and even though I love my weekend gig working at my local comic shop, I still strive to remember to take time for myself. Hard as it is for me to maintain a healthy work-life balance, I have to imagine it’s nearly impossible for someone like James “Rhodey” Rhodes, a.k.a. War Machine, a.k.a. Iron Patriot. When your job consists of being a costumed superhero working for the United States government, is there ever really a point when you’re not working?

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