Category Drew Baumgartner

Drew Baumgartner, Co-Editor-In-Chief
drew@retcon-punch.com

Location: Milwaukee

History With Comics: Drew grew up with Superman pajamas. His best days were when he never had to change out of them. He fell in love with Batman the Animated Series when he was 5. He had never read a comic in his life, but started reading Batman trades when he was in high school. He continued to pick up trades and one-offs throughout the 00’s, but never got into the monthly swing. After almost a decade of being an outsider looking in, Drew seized upon DC’s relaunch to start picking up monthlies.

Sep 13 2012

Batman 0

Alternating Currents: Batman 0, Drew and ShelbyToday, Drew and Shelby are discussing Batman 0, originally released September 12, 2012. Batman 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Drew: If I may, I’d like to offer a bit of my own zero issue: One year ago, I had never purchased a monthly comic. Comics culture struck me as insular and impenetrable, and I saw fans as hyper-vigilant of petty continuity issues. Today, I’m a regular Wednesday warrior, and — more surprisingly — have become a nascent continuity-phile. That tendency has reared its head most fiercely in our coverage of the Before Watchmen prequel series, where I’ve argued that strict observance of continuity is an important means to observe the source material. It’s an opinion that has lead to a few clashes with Shelby, who would much rather enjoy a comic than obsess over details — an opinion I can totally respect, and am striving towards. What better test, then, when another creative team I respect immensely revisits beloved, seminal works?

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Sep 12 2012

Worlds’ Finest 0

Alternating Currents: Worlds' Finest 0, Peter and Drew

Today, Peter and Drew are discussing Worlds’ Finest 0, originally released September 5, 2012. Worlds’ Finest 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Peter: There is something to be said for the best-friend formula for dramas. You see it all the time with things like buddy-cop dramas and best-friend roommates. However, there are some basic formulaic elements that must be present for it to work well. Up to this point, Worlds’ Finest has been lacking. Trust me, I know. Hell, we all know. We constantly talk about what could make this book better, and what it’s specific issues are. No matter how long that list is, it must start with the basic components of friendship and duality.

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Sep 12 2012

Dial H 0

Alternating Currents: Dial H 0, Shelby and Drew

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Dial H 0, originally released September 5, 2012. Dial H 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Shelby: Our biggest complaint about Dial H has been, not that it’s too weird, but that it’s too inscrutable in its weirdness. I love the madcap collection of heroes in this world and sad-sack Nelson, but this universe is damn confusing. The zero issue takes great steps forward in not only explaining a little bit more how the dials work, but also gives us an idea of just how broad this universe is. Turns out, this universe extends further through time and space than I ever realized.

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Sep 11 2012

Phantom Stranger 0

Alternating Currents: Phantom Stranger 0, Drew and PeterToday, Drew and Peter are discussing Phantom Stranger 0, originally released September 5, 2012. Phantom Stranger 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Drew: I don’t remember when it is that I first stumbled across William Safire’s cheekily ironic Rules for Writers, but the last rule, “Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives,” has managed to nestle itself in my editing subconscious. I make a point of eliminating any cliche I see on the site (the odd exception aside), which has effectively lowered my tolerance for reading them. It rarely becomes a problem — this is one of the most well-known axioms in writing, after all — but every so often, I’ll come across a piece that indulges in cliches to excess, it’s beyond distracting. The Phantom Stranger 0 is one such example, offering sequences that are so dense with cliches, it’s hard to remember that this story was published in 2012.

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Sep 10 2012

Detective Comics 0

Alternating Currents: Detective Comics 0, Drew and ScottToday, Drew and (special guest writer) Scott Baumgartner are discussing Detective Comics 0, originally released September 5, 2012. Detective Comics 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Drew: I have kind of a strange relationship to Detective Comics. As the original home of Batman, and the namesake of DC Comics, I have nothing but respect for the history of the title — I want to like it. Unfortunately, since the relaunch, the title has been marred by embarrassingly clunky writing, leading it to be the perennial “Retcon Punching Bag” until we unceremoniously dropped it after issue 9. Most of that blame falls on the shoulders of writer/artist Tony Daniel, whose overly grim tone and unnecessarily convoluted plotting made the title a real slog. Well then, the fact that Daniel is off of writing duties as of this issue should be a good thing, right? Continue reading →

Sep 7 2012

Before Watchmen – Silk Spectre 3

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Silk Spectre 3, originally released September 5th, 2012. Silk Spectre is part of DC’s Before Watchmen prequel series. Click here for complete Before Watchmen coverage (including release dates).

Shelby: It’s hard being a teen-aged girl. You always fight with your mom, you can’t do what you want, there’s always some sort of boy trouble. Usually, though, you aren’t fighting with your mom because she’s forcing you to be a caped superhero and the boy trouble is not from your secret dad forcing your boyfriend to break up with you or be killed. Amanda Conner and Darwin Cooke have somehow managed to balance the two very distinct voices of the average teenager with Alan Moore’s Silk Spectre in such a way that I am immensely disappointed there is only one more issue to go of this mini-series.
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Sep 6 2012

Swamp Thing 0

Alternating Currents: Swamp Thing 0, Drew and PeterToday, Drew and Peter are discussing Swamp Thing 0, originally released September 5, 2012. Swamp Thing 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Drew: One of the most interesting things to me about this zero month experiment is the diversity of types of stories we might get to see. Some titles have large, overshadowing histories that have only been teased. Others have managed to make revealing the origin of their hero a key element in the narrative at large. But what do you do if your title has followed the hero since before he was a hero? Scott Snyder has made clear through his previous work on Swamp Thing that he’s not afraid of telling an Alec Holland story (as opposed to a Swamp Thing story), but is that really necessary at this point in the narrative? Snyder manages to answer both questions in surprising ways, turning the focus to Anton Arcane’s history, and how it shockingly ties into Alec’s own past. Continue reading →

Sep 5 2012

Superman Annual 1

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Superman Annual 1, originally released August 29th, 2012.

Patrick: DC Comics has a Superman problem. Supes is the quintessential American comic book superhero. Batman, Wolverine and the Hulk have all proven to be more bankable than ol’ Kal-El, but there’s no escaping the simple mythology and iconography of Superman. Remember when they killed Superman? Of course you do — everyone knew about it — it was a news item. When your grandmother knows the name ‘Clark Kent,’ it’s clear that the character — for whatever reason — has immeasurable appeal. But when you try to pick up a comic and read about the adventures of the last son of Krypton, you are never rewarded with that same simplicity. In fact, Superman has his feet in both the superhero-nonsense AND the outer-space-nonsense aspects of the DC Universe. At this point, I’m starting to fancy myself a bit of a comic book nerd and I am still off-put by the sheer volume of aliens, heroes, villains and history (both secret and otherwise).

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Sep 3 2012

Green Lantern Annual 1

Today, Drew and Peter are discussing the Green Lantern Annual, originally released August 29th, 2012. This issue is part of the Rise of the Third Army crossover event. Click here for complete Third Army coverage. 

Drew: I have a confession: before the relaunch, I had never read a single comic written by Geoff Johns. Moreover, I had never read a Green Lantern story of any kind. However, all of other Retcon Punchers had read all of Johns’ work on Green Lantern, from Rebirth through Brightest Day, so his titles came with very high praise. It quickly became clear why: he’s unrivaled in developing complex mythologies. His work on Green Lantern has broadened its universe immeasurably, nesting decades of comics history into an elegant mythology that manages to make more sense than it has any business doing. At the same time, his tendency to draw out individual plot points to take up entire issues occasionally tried my patience. The Green Lantern Annual finds Johns at his best, delivering all of the insane mythology and plotting, and doing so at such a breakneck pace to please even the most impatient readers.

Oh, and GOOD GOD are there ever plot points to spoil here, so read the issue first, or proceed with caution.

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Aug 31 2012

The Flash Annual 1

Alternating Currents: Flash Annual, Patrick and DrewToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing the Flash Annual 1, originally released August 29th, 2012.

Drew: When I interviewed Francis Manapul back in April, he expressed that he reveled at the unique expectations mandated by the New 52. Specifically, he expressed that “the best thing about knowing what people are expecting is when I change something, it seems shocking.” Subverting expectations is such a simple concept — and one so central to genre fiction in general — that you’d think it would start to lose its spark; but then again, with Manapul and Brian Buccellato on writing duties, nothing ever is that simple.

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