Category Alternating Current

Cross-talks on individual issues.

Mar 9 2017

Inhumans v X-Men 6

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Inhumans v X-Men 6, originally released March 8th, 2017. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

“You guys… who are the good guys?”

Ms. Marvel, IvX 4

Patrick: Kamala’s rhetorical question at the end of issue 4 might have been meant to highlight the idea that there are no “good guys” in war, just people living out of various levels of desperation. And that’s definitely true of both the I and X Camps — these are peoples who believe that their survival is contingent on the destruction of the other. What they’re willing to do to each other is resultant entirely from the treat they perceive from their enemies. In effect, everyone is retaliating, acting in self-defense, and therefore the answer to Ms. Marvel’s question is “everyone.” But that’s not true, is it? There is one agent of aggression who has been manipulating all players, X-Men and Inhuman alike. And that person — the sole “bad guy” — is Emma Frost, who defines her identity by the fear she experiences as a mutant.  It’s a heartbreaking fall from grace as the long-suffering White Queen finally succumbs to paranoia and unequivocally cedes the moral high ground. Continue reading →

Mar 8 2017

Royal City 1

Today, Ryan D. and Spencer are discussing Royal City 1, originally released March 1st, 2017. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

Ryan D: In my first weeks as an English major at college, I learned a lesson which, at the time, blew my mind: don’t trust the narrator. Most of what I’d read for high school or for pleasure until then featured omniscient or objective narration, so finally tackling novel’s like Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, wherein Chief Bromden casually mentions the walls oozing, or Nabokov’s Lolita, in which the main character very subjectively rationalizes his pederasty, really expanded my mind as to how an author could influence an audience and curate their reading experience. While I have come to expect writer and artist Jeff Lemire to throw down some tricks for a new title, the reveal at the end of Royal City 1 treated my brain to a lovely narrative twist which has my eye opened skeptically towards narrators all over again. Continue reading →

Mar 8 2017

Savage Things 1

Today, Michael and Drew are discussing Savage Things 1, originally released March 1st, 2017. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

Michael: I live in Chicago, a town that is full of excellent restaurants. If you run a restaurant that doesn’t distinguish itself from the rest, you’re not likely to last long in such a competitive market. In this sense I like my storytelling similar to my restaurants: there’s gotta be something unique and original about it or you’ll probably lose my interest. Unfortunately, Savage Things doesn’t seem to be my kind of restaurant. Continue reading →

Mar 7 2017

Extremity 1

extrimity-1

Today, Mark and Ryan M. are discussing Extremity 1, originally released March 1st, 2017. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

Mark: Extremity 1 is a beautiful pastiche. From Heavy Metal to Star Wars to Mad Max, writer and artist Daniel Warren Johnson works with colorist Mike Spicer to lovingly render the brutal, hostile world of Extremity. So while the plot and characters feel familiar, there’s enough emotion behind the book to believe that this first issue acts as a mere prologue, and that there’s a meatier story to be told in the issues to come. Continue reading →

Mar 7 2017

Unstoppable Wasp 3

unstoppable-wasp-3

Today, Taylor and Patrick are discussing Unstoppable Wasp 3, originally released March 1st, 2017. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

Taylor: Being an adult who is every day more aware of the inescapable progression of time, it’s becoming easier to look at he past through rose-tinted glasses. When I think back to my time in high school, it’s hard not to picture it as a carefree time when things were simple. However, when I make the effort to wade through the thick seaweed of nostalgia, I remember that high school was anything but easy. One of things that made it challenging was trying to figure out who I was, what social group I identified with, and who I planned on being in the future. These are things every high schooler deals with and as Unstoppable Wasp 3 reminds me, being smart and talented doesn’t make those choices any easier. Continue reading →

Mar 6 2017

America 1

america-1

Today, Spencer and Drew are discussing America 1, originally released March 1st, 2017. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

Spencer: I’ll never forget a piece of advice a friend once gave me: “You’ve learned everything you can from this job. It’s time to move on.” That statement has always stood out to me because, up until that moment, I had never considered the challenge provided when looking at a potential job; I’d grown up thinking of a job only as a means to an end, a way to get money to survive and pursue more meaningful hobbies. Now though, while I recognize that there’s a certain amount of privilege involved in that advice, I also recognize the truth in it. I think that statement is certainly going through America Chavez’s mind in America 1 as well, as the hyper-competent Ultimate embarks on a new stage of her career: college. Continue reading →

Mar 3 2017

Batman 18

batman-18

Today, Michael and Patrick are discussing Batman 18, originally released March 1st, 2017. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

Patrick: Two weeks ago, Drew made a pretty convincing argument that Tom King’s Batman is attempting to synthesize all canonic and non-canonic versions of Batman. References to both Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on A Serious Earth and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy seemed to suggest that all of the Batman franchise’s greatest hits were implicitly in play, even during the main-continuity run in DC’s flagship series. With all of those connections freshly in-place, Batman 18 starts to negate some of the commonly held beliefs about the character, hinging almost all of the real-time drama of the piece around Batman’s simple utterance of the word “No.” Continue reading →

Mar 2 2017

Once and Future Queen 1

Alternating Currents: Once and Future Queen 1, Drew and Taylor

Today, Drew and Taylor are discussing Once and Future Queen 1, originally released March 1st, 2017. As always this article contains SPOILERS.

Louise: Say I taught them chess instead of English. Every conversation is a game, every idea expressed through opposition — victory and defeat. You see the problem? If all I ever give you is a hammer…

Colonel Weber: …everything’s a nail

Arrival

Drew: Man, I loved Arrival. That movie is particularly good at crystallizing its themes in single moments — there’s a ton of them in the film — but the one quoted above is my absolute favorite. It’s a key turning point for the plot, but more importantly, it reasserts the notion that language influences the way we think; a key concept that had only only been playing in the margins before that moment. Of course, it may just be that “everything’s a nail” is a favorite pet theme of mine, explaining a good portion of human interactions, from minor conversations to declarations of war. It remains to be seen whether that theme will be important to Once and Future Queen, but I couldn’t help but remember this quote as this issue puts the welfare of the planet in the hands of a chess prodigy.

Continue reading →

Mar 1 2017

Spider-Woman 16

spiderwoman-16

Today, Patrick and Spencer are discussing Spider-Woman 16, originally released February 22, 2017. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

“…as for Ellen and me, we were finally joined into a new element — much, much bigger than anything we had ever known. We didn’t know what the future had in store for us, but what did it matter? We fulfilled our destiny.”

“Day of the Dot” The Adventures of Pete and Pete

Patrick: Action movies and will-they-won’t-they romanic stories have a lot in common. Both rely on the promise of something big and meaningful just on the other end of the narrative. It’s a sense of longing — either for a pair of soulmates to recognize each other or for explosions and motorcycle chases — that drives like 90% of the story. When the lovers get together, or the fists start flying, that means we’re just about at the end of the thing. The Adventures of Pete and Pete got its two teenage leads together in a special before the series even got started, which made for a weird transition to a regular serialized romance. It was kind of neat though, to actually see the glory of their romance (in all of its innocence) before having it awkwardly revoked a few episodes later. Spider-Woman 16 moves us to those goal posts on both the romanic and action fields, showering the reader in destinies fulfilled. Continue reading →

Feb 28 2017

Black Panther 11

Alternating Currents: Black Panther 11, Drew and Ryan D

Today, Drew and Ryan D. are discussing Black Panther 11, originally released February 22nd, 2017. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

Drew: Comics is a medium of juxtaposition. We derive meaning from seeing two images next to one another, understanding some causal link that only exists in our minds. The magic, then, is crafting those images such that the reader can piece together the causality in a natural, intuitive way. That includes both the content of the images and the arrangement of those images on the page, which is remarkably complex. Indeed, in his seminal Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud points out that arranging panels is so complex “that even seasoned pros will sometimes blow it.” While the clarity issues in Black Panther 11 have more to do with content than layouts, I feel this sentiment is particularly apt, as the issue was drawn by not just one, but a veritable army of seasoned artists. It’s odd to argue that this artistic team failed to make this issue clear, but I’m afraid that’s really the lynchpin upon which all of this issue’s problems turn. Continue reading →