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.

Jul 23 2012

Birds of Prey 11

Alternating Currents: Birds of Prey 11, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing Birds of Prey 11, originally released July 18th, 2012.

Drew: I’ve often said that I prefer questions to answers. Questions stimulate the imagination, where answers play in the realm of cut-and-dried facts; questions keep us guessing, while answers end the guessing. This leads me to seek out narratives steeped in mystery, like LOST. As that series drew to its conclusion, I was often frustrated as we received answers, partially because they weren’t always that interesting, and partially because I didn’t care. Answers to questions I’m not interested in — however well conceived — aren’t as interesting as more guesses about the questions I am interested in. I found myself thinking about this quite a bit as I read Birds of Prey 11, an issue that sets out to give us answers about Ivy’s past I hadn’t even realized were questions. Continue reading →

Jul 20 2012

Wonder Woman 11

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Wonder Woman 11, originally released July 18th, 2012.

Patrick: Drew! It has been ages since you and I wrote about this series together. Last month, we had help from guest-writer (and voice of our Cram Sessions), Siri Hellerman. Otherwise, Shelby usually gets in on writing about Wonder Woman, and we’re thrilled to get that female perspective. It’s by pure random chance that you and I selected the butchest issue of Wonder Woman yet to review. Thankfully, the more action-heavy tone didn’t overpower the series’ usual style, cleverness and depth.
Continue reading →

Jul 19 2012

Before Watchmen – Silk Spectre 2

Alternating Currents: Silk Spectre 2, Drew and Shelby-B4WToday, Drew and Shelby are discussing Silk Spectre 2, originally released July 18th, 2012. Silk Spectre is part of DC’s Before Watchmen prequel series. Click here for complete Before Watchmen coverage (including release dates).

Drew: This Before Watchmen thing must have been a hard sell to creators. Sure, they’d have the opportunity to work with some of comicdom’s most interesting characters, but they’d also be competing with some incredibly beloved source material, written by one of the greatest comic writers of all time. Hoping to improve on Watchmen would be beyond unreasonable, so the best anyone could really hope for is a competent expansion of that universe. That’s not exactly the world’s most rewarding job. Writer Darwyn Cooke and artist Amanda Conner have the additionally arduous task of being saddled with everybody’s least favorite character from Watchmen, which they handled dazzlingly in last month’s debut, managing to take Silk Spectre in a totally unexpected direction. This month’s issue subverts our expectations yet again, taking a step that can’t so much be described as forward or backwards, but sideways. Continue reading →

Jul 18 2012

Chat Cave: Nemeses

In October, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman series will be reintroducing the Joker to the New 52 continuity, reigniting one of the greatest rivalries in comics history. But what does it mean for a hero to have a nemesis? Are nemeses important to the identity of a superhero? Who are the best nemeses? Welcome to the Chat Cave.

Shelby: A nemesis is an important character in a comic book. It’s an opportunity for stories to explore the dark side of our heroes. Very often, the nemesis represents the “flip side of the coin” of the hero; they are what the hero would be without the sense of morality and justice. The nemesis tests the hero to find his limits, and tries to push the hero past them. Also, the nemesis is an easy trick to pull out of the bag when you’re stuck for a plot.

Continue reading →

Jul 17 2012

Batman and Robin 11

Today, Peter and Drew are discussing Batman and Robin 11, originally released July 11th 2012.

Peter: In preparation for The Dark Knight Rises, I’ve been watching Batman Begins and The Dark Knight a lot lately. In Batman Begins, Bruce examines what he is afraid of in order to figure out what his enemies will fear. Tomasi and Gleason have taken Bruce’s bat symbol and perverted it for evil means. No longer do just criminals fear the bat, but ordinary citizens of Gotham are being terrorized by the very symbol they have grown to rely on for protection. Continue reading →

Jul 13 2012

Before Watchmen – Curse of the Crimson Corsair 1-6

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Curse of the Crimson Corsair 1-6, originally released June 6th (in Minutemen 1), June 13 (in Silk Spectre 1), June 20th (in Comedian 1), June 27th (in Nite Owl 1), July 4th (in Ozymandias 1) and July 11th 2012 (in Minutemen 2). It is also available for free on DC’s Source Blog. Curse of the Crimson Corsair is part of DC’s Before Watchmen prequel series. Click here for complete Before Watchmen coverage (including release dates).

Patrick: If there’s one part of the original Watchmen I never quite got behind, it was the whole “Marooned” story. I’ll concede its many virtues: 1) that Moore envisioned what the comic book industry would look like in a world where actual superheroes were common place; 2) that the darkness of the story provided chilling barometer for the global psychology under the threat of nuclear war; 3) that the artist for the books was conscripted to help design Ozy’s squid monster, thus unifying horrors expressed both within the story and the story-within-the-story; and 4) that the protagonist’s decision to sacrifice the bodies of crew to achieve his goals parallels Adrian Veidt’s decision to murder half of New York City to spare the world from nuclear annihilation (with a similar loss of humanity as a result). I CONCEDE ALL THOSE POINTS. Still, I find those portions of Watchmen remarkably dull. Turns out “Pirate Comic Loosely Related to Watchmen: The Next Generation” inverts that formula. The results aren’t great.

Continue reading →

Jul 12 2012

Batman 11

Alternating Currents: Batman 11, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing Batman 11, originally released July 11th, 2012.

Drew: Comic books often rely on well-worn tropes. As do mystery novels. And action movies. This arc of Batman (like all great Batman stories) is essentially all three of these things, so a little soliloquizing from the villain in the final act isn’t just expected, it’s downright obligatory. Of course, Scott Snyder is not a writer content to simply rely on such tropes, and instead uses the opportunity to comment on that particular cliche, while simultaneously delivering a final act soliloquy that is better than any of those it is riffing on. It’s one of my favorite tricks of postmodernism (one that is rarely pulled off so well), and is only a microcosm of what Snyder has been doing with this whole arc. As the Court of Owls arc concludes, we’re left with a deconstruction of a Batman story that is among the best Batman stories ever told. Continue reading →

Jul 11 2012

Swamp Thing 11

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Swamp Thing 11 originally released July 11th, 2012 (but mistakenly released a week early on Comixology.com)

Patrick: There’s a pivotal moment near the climax of Swamp Thing and Arcane’s fight where Alec realizes what he’s up against. He stares, deadpan, at his injured enemy and puts the pieces together: “every wound… becomes a mouth.” The Rot is consumption: and nothing can quash its appetite. That’s us — you, me, the comics industry, the entertainment industry, consumers. We relentlessly chew up narratives, characters, histories… christ, DC Comics alone puts over 60 titles on the sacrificial alter on a monthly basis. They reboot the line, they run cross-over events, they revive Watchmen, they do line-wide zero issues. But it’s basically never enough, the consumers always want more. And so the war between the Green, the Red and the Rot goes on forever, a conflict insatiable. Continue reading →

Jul 10 2012

Worlds’ Finest 3

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Worlds’ Finest 3, originally released July 4th, 2012.

Shelby: Often, the hardest review to write is for the really good issues. All I want to do is gush, “IT’S SO GOOD!!!” and I have to force myself to find something intelligent to say. It’s not unpleasant, by any means; it gives me an excuse to spend more time with something I really enjoy, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy. The really bad issues, though, are much easier to talk about. I can compose a laundry list of reasons why I don’t like it, and usually don’t have to spend much more time with it than a couple of readings. This month’s Worlds’ Finest falls firmly into that latter camp, and I’m really glad I don’t have to read it anymore than I already have.
Continue reading →

Jul 6 2012

Animal Man 11

Alternating Currents: Animal Man 11, Drew and PeterToday, Drew and Peter are discussing Animal Man 11, originally released July 4th, 2012.

Drew: Animal Man’s power-set is weird. He can seemingly take any trait of any animal and apply it to himself. It makes sense for things like “the vision of an eagle” or the “strength of an elephant,” but the thought of taking on “the weight of a bumblebee” just seems to defy the laws of physics. Upon closer scrutiny, an eagle’s eyesight and an elephant’s braun are clearly related to their specific physiologies, and the thought that Buddy’s relatively tiny frame could contain the strength of a two-ton animal simply doesn’t make sense. To put a finer point on it: birds fly because they have wings, not because they have some supernatural abilities, so Buddy’s supernatural connection to them should only allow him to fly if it allows him to grow wings. As Buddy’s adventure into the Rot concludes, writer Jeff Lemire takes the opportunity to fix what I hadn’t realized bothered me until I thought about it. Continue reading →