Author Archives: shelbykpeterson

Jan 22 2014

Thor: God of Thunder 17

thor 17

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Thor: God of Thunder 17, originally released January 15th, 2014.

Shelby: Sometimes you have to sacrifice what you want for the greater good. If it’s the happiness of just you versus the happiness of many, you just gotta bite the bullet and go for the greater good. It sucks, but it’s the right thing to do, and generally there is some consolation found in that. But if the greater good you’ve sacrificed your happiness for actually leads to even greater suffering, where does that leave you? I can tell you this much; it leaves me with a very unsatisfying end to the latest arc of Thor: God of Thunder.
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Jan 17 2014

Batgirl 27

batgirl 27 gothtopia

Today, Shelby and Mikyzptlk are discussing Batgirl 27, originally released January 15th, 2014. This issue is part of the Gothtopia event. We talked with John Layman about Gothtopia, you can find that interview here.

goth div

Shelby: 

“It was a disaster. No one would accept the program…I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream your primitive cerebrum kept trying to awake from.”

Agent Smith, The Matrix

There’s some truth to ol’ Agent Smith’s theory. Humans do in part define their reality through suffering, because without suffering how would we know joy? In order to recognize and truly appreciate the good in life, you have to know the bad, which is the problem Batgirl is running into as she tries to understand her stay in Gothtopia.
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Jan 13 2014

Young Avengers 15

young avengers 15

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Young Avengers 15, originally released January 8th, 2014. 

slim-bannerShelby: New Year’s Eve is a night of…well, generally heavy drinking, but it’s also a night of contemplation and renewal. The last year, with it’s good and bad, is over; whether you liked it or not, it’s over, and it’s time to prepare for a fresh start in the new year. I definitely understood that this year, since I moved to a new apartment December 29th. It was a short move, just a block away, but having lived in my last place for 3 years made it a really big change. There’s the “out with the old” as you throw out a bunch of crap you can’t believe you kept for so long, and the “in with the new” as you figure out a new way to arrange your home. Like New Year’s Eve, it’s a bittersweet thing, and Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie (with a little help from their friends) capture it perfectly at the end of their run on Young Avengers. Nothing but spoilers and revelations ahead, folks.
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Jan 9 2014

Swamp Thing 27

swamp thing 27

Today, Shelby and Scott are discussing Swamp Thing 27, originally released January 8th, 2014.

Shelby: In Robert Jordan’s series Wheel of Time, children often play a game called Snakes and Foxes. The player has to get their game piece from the center of the board to the edge, and back to the center without getting “killed” by a snake or a fox. They are represented by separate pieces that the player has to roll for and move at the same time he moves his own. It’s only played by children because once they get to a certain age, they realize the game is structured such that the only way to win is to cheat; if you follow the rules of the game, there’s no way to defeat the snakes and the foxes. In Swamp Thing 27, Alec finds himself in a similar pickle; he played the Parliament’s game by their rules, and he lost. Instead of quitting the game because it’s pointless, though, he decides it’s time to cheat.

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Jan 7 2014

Batman: The Dark Knight 26

dark knight 26

Today, Shelby and Greg are discussing Batman: The Dark Knight 26, originally released December 31st, 2013.

Shelby: Whenever I think of a “silent episode” of something, my first thought is the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode Hush from season 4. The Gentlemen come to Sunnydale and steal everyone’s voices, then proceed to cut people’s hearts out and no one can scream. It’s delightfully scary. Anyway, even as a dumbass high schooler, I was really impressed by that episode, and not just because it scared the bejesus out of me. I was impressed  by how much the actors could convey without dialogue, by how much tension could be built in the silence. Silent comics can do the same, can show the same range and build the same tension, and that’s what Greg Hurwitz and Alberto Ponticelli give us in this issue appropriately titled, “Voiceless.”
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Jan 6 2014

Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure 1

legenderry 1

Today, Shelby and Taylor are discussing Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure 1, originally released December 31st, 2013.

Shelby:

We’ve got a steampunk revolution/We’re tired of all your so-called evolution
We’ve darted back to 1886/Don’t ask us why; that’s how we get our kicks

Out with the new/In with the old

Abney Park, Steampunk Revolution

It’s really no surprise Taylor and I get to write about this first issue of Legenderry, as we are both rabid fans of the steampunk subculture. I think we both not-so-secretly desire to walk around every day in bowlers and bowties for him, corsets and granny boots for me, and goggles for everyone. I’ve never really thought about why I like the genre so much, though. I’ve taken the same approach as the steampunk band Abney Park; I don’t know why I like it, I just know I like it. Maybe my “out with the new, in with the old” attitude deserves a closer look as we embark on this steampunk adventure.

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Dec 23 2013

Saga 17

saga 17

Today, Shelby and Spencer are discussing Saga 17, originally released December 18th, 2013.

Shelby: There’s a little snippet of folk lore that always gets tossed around when things are looking grim: the darkest hour is just before dawn. Meteorologically, I can’t speak to the accuracy of that statement, but anecdotally it means that things always look their worst just before they begin to get better. It’s meant to inspire hope; life may be dark now, but it just means that soon the sun will come up and things will be better. In the penultimate chapter of Saga’s latest arc, I would say things are definitely at their darkest hour, but since we’re reading a Brian K. Vaughan story, the old saying should probably read, “the point at which everything goes to hell in a hand-basket just before the arc is resolved, but probably someone will die.”

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Dec 20 2013

East of West 8

east of west 8

Today, Shelby and Taylor are discussing East of West 8, originally released December18th, 2013.

Shelby: The occasionally tempestuous relationship between the church and the state has a longer relationship than one might realize. In ancient times, being a ruler often came with the title of deity; your word was law because it was divine. Martin Luther was one of the first to begin to call for a separation of the two, and by the time the First Amendment of the United States was drawn up, Thomas Jefferson was speaking of “a wall of separation between the church and state,” in order to guarantee religious freedom. Personally, I believe very strongly in the idea of the separation of the two, namely because there are many religions in the world, and I see no point in a government forcing someone to follow a set of beliefs. That is not genuine worship. In East of West, however, Jonathan Hickman presents a trickier situation; there is no religion, there is no government, there is only The Message, and if the Message demands political leaders keep the populace dumb and under control to prep them for the four horseman of the apocalypse, the politicians hasten to obey.

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Dec 12 2013

Lazarus 5

lazarus 5

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Lazarus 5, originally released December 11th, 2013.

Shelby: With family dramas like Lazarus, it seems to always come down to loyalty. With family, a certain amount of loyalty is assumed; they’re your family, you have to be loyal to that. Greg Rucka really tests that with the Carlyles; the first issues are rife with schemes and betrayal. Poor Forever is stuck with the task of not only remaining loyal to the back-stabbingest family, but also not really having a choice as the family’s Lazarus. Despite her unwavering facade, there’s that tiny seed of doubt planted by the anonymous message that she’s not actually a part of the family. If blood ties are the driving force behind her loyalty, what’s she to do if those ties don’t even exist?
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Dec 10 2013

Velvet 2

velvet 2

Today, Shelby and Ethan are discussing Velvet 2, originally released December 4th, 2013.

Shelby: I do so enjoy a good spy thriller. There’s something about the James Bonds, the Jason Bournes, the Ethan Hunts that is just impossibly cool. They’ve got the neatest gadgets and the most impressive skills. The life of a spy is built on lies, no one can really be trusted. The story is intrigue layered on mysteries, usually layered on top of betrayal. That’s why I think the mole-hunt/double agent story is my favorite kind of spy thriller; it transforms the necessity of the secrets and lies into a liability. Who better to hide from spies than another spy? Who could take down a secret agency other than one of its own? How is an agency supposed to find a mole when all its own tricks are being used against it? Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting take on these questions in their spy thriller Velvet, and it is exactly as fun as you would think.
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