Spidey 1

spidey 1Today, Spencer and Drew are discussing Spidey 1, originally released October 2nd, 2015.

Spencer: I’m pretty sure Spider-Man is the reason I’ve become sick and tired of origin stories; two different Spider-Man movies retelling the 3rd most famous origin in all of comics within the same decade is enough to turn anyone off origins. Robbie Thompson and Nick Bradshaw’s Spidey is smart enough to cut that origin down to a single page and move onto more interesting things, but it’s still caught up in one of the greatest issues plaguing all retellings and reboots; this is just a story I’ve seen a million times before. Continue reading

Gotham Academy 12

gotham academy 12

Today, Spencer and Ryan M. are discussing Gotham Academy 12, originally released December 2, 2015.

Spencer: I spend a lot of time talking about empathy on this site, but only because I believe that developing empathy is one of the single most important things people can do to help create a better world. Working to understand people and care about their feelings can avert catastrophes both big and small, while ignoring the viewpoints of others can turn even the most harmless endeavor dangerous. Case-in-point: Professor Strange. All ol’ Hugo wants to do is learn about Calamity, but his lack of compassion for the actual people hurt by Calamity means that even his simple quest for knowledge has the potential to ruin lives. It may have already ruined Olive’s. Continue reading

East of West 22

east of west 22

Today, Patrick and Taylor are discussing East of West 22, originally released December 2nd, 2015.

Patrick: The world of East of West exists in a state of ceaselessly progressing apocalypse. Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta’s series is appropriately grim to match the tone of a world mired in sustained war, famine, disease and death. And while that’s all terrible, it has sort of become background noise against which millions of people still lead their lives. It takes a specific moment of invasive violence to snap readers out of their apocalypse-apathy, and issue 22 doubles down on both the specificity and the invasiveness of that violence. The result is a haunting, immediate issue that preys on our fears of being attacked when we are at our most vulnerable. Continue reading

All-New X-Men 1

all new xmen 1

Today, Michael and Patrick are discussing All-New X-Men 1, originally released December 2nd, 2015.

Michael: Crisis on Infinite Earths is often talked about as an editorial cleaning of house, continuity-wise. In a way, I think it contributed to the the opposite effect, with comic books becoming more and more concerned with continuity. I have no problem with that – the soap opera roller coaster that is superhero relationships has always been very appealing to me. More than any other series (maybe tied with Batman) the X-Men books have always been very concerned with the continuity and its ramifications. Continue reading

Daredevil 1

Alternating Currents: Daredevil 1, Drew and Patrick

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Daredevil 1, originally released December 2nd, 2015.

You might know me as Matt Murdock, defence attorney, here to help. That guy’s gone.

Matt Murdock, Daredevil 1

Drew: We’re living in the age of the comics auteur. We may not have yet settled exactly who the auteur is in a work that is written, drawn, colored, lettered, and edited by five (or more) different people, but so long as they work together in largely uninterrupted runs, we don’t really need to. That is to say, we may not be able to assign auteurship to one individual on, say, Mark Waid and Chris Samnee’s run on Daredevil, but we can appreciate that they brought a distinct set of sensibilities to the character that are unique to their collaboration. On the whole, I think this is a good thing — it allows creators to play to their own strengths and follow their own interests — but it makes the prospect of following a beloved run particularly daunting. What works for one creative team might not work for another, which means that anything from costumes and character designs to theme and overall tone might be subject to change. Indeed, with the freedom (and perhaps pressure) for each team to bring their own take on the character, those changes are unavoidable. Daredevil 1 features plenty of changes from its previous volume, but writer Charles Soule and artist Ron Garney quickly set about showing why those changes are going to work. Continue reading

Archie 4

archie 4

Today, Taylor and Ryan M. are discussing Archie 4, originally released November 25th, 2015.

Taylor: One of the hardest things about growing up is deciding who you want to be. While ultimately none of us can control what type of person we turn out to be (for really that’s in the eye of the beholder, no?), we try on many different guises as we grow into adulthood. Nowhere is the changing of who you are as easy, or as frequent, as high school. In high school you have the freedom to make your own decisions about what you’re going to do and what you’re going to wear that ultimately will make you into the person you wish to become. Keeping this in mind, it comes as no surprise that Archie would explore this topic given it setting and characters. But can this old comic perform new tricks when exploring this topic? Archie 4 dares to try and answer this question.

Continue reading

The Fade Out 11

Alternating Currents: The Fade Out 11, Drew and Patrick

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing The Fade Out 11, originally released November 25th, 2015.

Scientia potentia est (knowledge is power).

Francis Bacon

Drew: Anyone who’s ever seen a Schoolhouse Rock short will be familiar with the power of knowledge (or at least the sentiment), but another idiom reminds us that “the more you know, the more you know you don’t know.” In that case, knowledge isn’t power, is just the self-awareness of not having power. That’s exactly the kind of knowledge Charlie and Gil are grappling with in The Fade Out 11 — enough to know they’re out of their depth, but that realization may come a little too late for their own good. Continue reading

Silver Surfer 15

silver surfer 15

Today, Shane Patrick and Spencer are discussing Silver Surfer 15, originally released November 25th, 2015.

wait, i'm not real

Patrick: Why do reboots matter so much to us? The characters we’re reading about aren’t — in the strictest sense — real. The only thing that’s ever real about them are our feelings toward them. And those feelings never need to go away, even as the very qualities that made us fall in love with characters in the first place are retconned out of existence. Silver Surfer 15 tackles this notion literally, as Dawn has to chose between an idealized world based on all the wonderful things she remembers and a scary new world with limitless possibilities for change. Continue reading

Chewbacca 4

chewbacca 4

Today, Michael and Taylor are discussing Chewbacca 4, originally released November 25 2015.

Michael: Remember in Revenge of the Sith when Anakin Skywalker was arguing that from his point of view the Jedi were evil and we all laughed?  Flawed storytelling aside I think comic book fans can agree that the big difference between heroes and villains is their perspective. “History is written by the victors” is probably an overused statement but nonetheless true. Simple Star Wars logic dictates: Rebel Alliance = good, Galactic Empire = bad. I’m not sympathizing with The Empire here, but Chewbacca 4 had me examining the actions of our “heroes.”

Continue reading

Robin: Son of Batman 6

robin son of batman 6

Today, Spencer and Mark are discussing Robin: Son of Batman 6, originally released November 25th, 2015.

Spencer: “Redemption” can be an awfully selfish pursuit if the person seeking redemption is more interested in clearing their own name and conscience than about alleviating the pain they’ve caused others. I certainly wouldn’t accuse Damian Wayne of being selfish, but he is young, and still learning just what, exactly, redemption and forgiveness are all about. In Robin: Son of Batman 6, Patrick Gleason uses the events of the past five issues to teach Damian an entirely new definition of redemption, one focused more on others than himself. Continue reading