Category Alternating Current

Cross-talks on individual issues.

Mar 25 2014

Animal Man 29

animal man 29Today, Scott and Drew are discussing Animal Man 29, originally released March 19th, 2014. 

 And the best part of all was that one day… when they were all real old and had lived happily for a long, long time, they would die, too…

Maxine Baker

Scott: This statement, made by a four year old finally processing the meaning of her brother’s death, underlines the tragic nature of the final issue of Jeff Lemire’s Animal Man. It’s both the realization her father, Buddy Baker, needed her to make, and the promise he knows he can’t keep. Not every family gets to live happily ever after, especially not when the patriarch has as many responsibilities as Animal Man. This issue shows Buddy doing whatever he can to make sure everyone around him gets the happiest ending possible, even if it’s not the fairly tale ending they desire. In the face of uncertainty, maybe that’s the best you can do.

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Mar 24 2014

Ms. Marvel 2

ms marvel 2Today, (guest writer) Suzanne and Spencer are discussing Ms. Marvel 2, originally released March 19th, 2014. 

slim-banner“If everyone were cast in the same mold, there would be no such thing as beauty.”

Charles Darwin

Suzanne: For all of the rhetoric about body image and positivity, it’s easy to forget how confusing and filled with insecurity the teenage years can be. I can remember those years of acne breakouts, bad haircuts and trying to fit in with the “cool kids” at school. Being a teenager is hard enough when you look, talk and dress exactly like everyone else. Did you wear the same North Face jacket or UGG shoes as five of your friends? Did you want to be ten pounds thinner because all of your friends were slim and “beautiful”? Now imagine being from a different ethnicity, culture or religion than most of your peers and struggling with your identity. It’s easy to see how insecurity can morph into internalized racism or self-hate. Skin-lightening creams are a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide and sold over 200 tons in India alone last year. So how does the new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, respond to the pressure of society’s expectations? Continue reading →

Mar 24 2014

Sex Criminals 5

sex criminals 5Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Sex Criminals 5, originally released March 19th, 2014.

Shelby: The honeymoon’s over. The cat’s out of the bag. Issue 4 of Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky’s Sex Criminals sees a confrontation between the sex police as well as uncomfortable secrets revealed between our favorite comic book couple. The issue opens with a charming limerick summary, so I thought it would be appropriate to open our discussion in the same fashion. Ahem:

There once was a blogger called Bee
Who loved the criminals sexy
The dirty stuff was the best
But as to the rest
It was actually pretty touching (heh) to see

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Mar 24 2014

The Illegitimates 4

illegitimates 4Today, Greg and Drew are discussing The Illegitimates 4, originally released March 19th, 2014.

Greg: There’s a level of poker-faced sincerity in The Illegitimates that is, at the very least, somewhat admirable. At times the issue reminded me of VHS box art to 1980s action movies, the “blue skies” of USA shows like Burn Notice, and a sense of hazy nostalgia that I’ve played this video game before but couldn’t tell you the name of it. I offer muted applause to the issue for offering unironically these kinds of low-stakes, predictable pleasures gleaned from these cultural experiences, yet can’t help but notice it neither commits hard enough nor subverts strongly enough to make any lasting impact. 

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Mar 21 2014

American Vampire: Second Cycle 1

Alternating Currents: American Vampire 1, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing American Vampire: Second Cycle 1, originally released March 19th, 2014.

The second button literally makes or breaks the shirt, look at it: it’s too high! It’s in no-man’s-land.

Jerry Seinfeld, Seinfeld

Drew: I spend a lot of time (maybe too much) thinking about form in narratives. Why do plot points happen when they do? How are they foreshadowed? How are they recalled? For all of my time and energy spent focused on these questions, however, I don’t have a lot of answers — theories for sure, but no solid explanations. Like, why arch forms are so pleasing to us. The return is an important part of the Heroes’ journey, but I’ve always been more satisfied with the more character-based return, like the Seinfeld quote above. It appears both in the series’ pilot and finale, and while the characters have entered a very different status quo by the series’ end, there’s something incredibly pleasing about the same turn of phrase returning verbatim. I’d like to suggest that it’s because it reinforces some fundamental truth about the characters — such that the very final scene of the very final episode is just as good of an introduction to the characters as the very first scene of the very first episode. That kind of consistency is incredibly difficult in any serialized medium, where the characters may need to settle in a bit before truly becoming themselves (and may change a great deal over the course of the narrative), but writer Scott Snyder manages a similarly impressive reintroduction here at the midpoint of American Vampire. Continue reading →

Mar 21 2014

Daredevil 1

daredevil 1Today, Spencer and Shelby are discussing Daredevil 1, originally released March 19th, 2014. 

Spencer: While we often refer to the articles we write here at Retcon Punch as “reviews”, that isn’t necessarily the most accurate term for them. We aren’t here just to tell you whether an issue is good or bad, or to rate it from one to ten; we like to talk about the book itself, about themes and characterization and the craft that goes into making a book great (or bad, for that matter). In fact, as Patrick recently mentioned, we usually try to avoid broad statements of quality about the books we write. Why am I bringing this up? Well, I wanted to give you guys this context so that you’d realize how significant the following statement actually is: Daredevil 1 may just be a perfect comic book. Or, if it’s not, then it’s certainly a perfect first issue. Continue reading →

Mar 20 2014

Wonder Woman 29

wonder woman 29Today, Patrick and Scott are discussing Wonder Woman 29, originally released March 19th, 2014.

Patrick: Twitch Plays Pokemon allowed thousands of people all over the world to play one game of Pokemon Red together. This means the poor game was getting thousands of simultaneous inputs from players across the globe all with different agendas. Cultures sprang up on Reddit around specific Pokemon (which were all nicknamed hilarious things because actually typing a name in the game resulted in total nonsense) and weird little quirks of playing the game cooperatively (most famously, the Cult of Helix Fossil worked tirelessly to get the character to use a context-specific item in all contexts). Shit got weird, but it was a weirdness of consensus, a horrible democracy that gave shape to what “Twitch Plays Pokemon” means. This is largely true for long-lasting comic book characters as well — they pass through so many hands that the meta story of how they came to be can often eclipse the in-world origins. That’s why all your favorite heroes are irreconcilable messes of conflicting stories and ideas, and mixed together into one semi-coherent identity. Brian Azzarello’s Wonder Woman looks to change that for the titular heroine, giving her purpose, direction, vision and identity without having to wait for thousands of players to agree on the same input. Continue reading →

Mar 20 2014

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March 2

winter soldier 2Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Winter Soldier: The Bitter March 2, originally released March 19th, 2014.

Patrick: Enigmatic super-soldier spies are tough to characterize. How can you reveal someone’s true nature when they’ve been trained to be a tool of their government, forsaking all personal interests? Rick Remender’s new Winter Soldier mini-series attempts to paint a picture of a man by presenting his surroundings in as much detail as possible. Even when we get a flashback to Bucky’s more formative years, it’s his mentor’s perspective we see stated directly, and not Bucky’s. It’s addition by subtraction, and the sum is a tantalizing character sketch, made all the more compelling by a faithfully realized period thriller.

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Mar 19 2014

Nightwing 29

nightwing 29Today, Spencer and Shelby are discussing Nightwing 29, originally released March 12th, 2014.

Spencer: It’s hard to talk about Nightwing 29 without talking about the circumstances surrounding it. Forever Evil revealed Nightwing’s identity to the world and may possibly be killing him off; even if Dick survives, his life is going to be drastically different, as indicated by the cancellation of his title and the premature end of writer Kyle Higgins’ run. I admit that I’m a little bitter; Nightwing’s move to Chicago had rejuvenated the title, and I’m disappointed not to see the story of the Chicago Mask Killer resolved. I certainly can’t claim to know how Higgins feels about the decision, but if he’s upset, he’s not letting it show. Instead, he uses his final issue to create a highlight reel of his run, show us how it’s changed Nightwing, and ultimately, remind us why Dick Grayson is such an important, beloved character in the first place. Continue reading →

Mar 18 2014

Superman/Wonder Woman 6

superman wonder woman 6Today, Scott and Taylor are discussing Superman/Wonder Woman 6, originally released March 12th, 2014.

Scott: Why are Superman and Wonder Woman together? Anyone remotely tuned in to the DC Universe has wondered this at some point in the past several months. On the surface, it seems perhaps too convenient, or little more than an attention-grabbing ploy. Realistically though, doesn’t the relationship make perfect sense? People date the people they spend the most time with. A 20 year old college student is most likely to date another 20 year old who goes to the same college. So, in a time when Justice League duties seem to be dominating many heroes’ lives, it’s only appropriate that Clark and Diana, the two most similar Justice Leaguers, would get together. The real question is, what does their relationship have to offer us as readers? If Clark and Diana are going to be spending a lot of time together just by the nature of their jobs, does a romantic relationship add anything to the story? With Superman/Wonder Woman 6, Charles Soule sets the record straight — the relationship and, thus, this book, is more than the sum of it’s parts.

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