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 22 2015

Guardians of Knowhere 1

Alternating Currents: Guardians of Knowhere 1, Drew and Taylor

Today, Drew and Taylor are discussing Guardians of Knowhere 1, originally released July 15th, 2015.

Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy regains girl.

Traditional

Drew: I’ve never seen any codified theories to this effect, but I strongly believe that every narrative has an ideal length. The Old Man and the Sea couldn’t be longer without losing its essence, just as War and Peace couldn’t be shorter. I can’t claim to understand all of the factors that determine the ideal length for a story, but it’s obvious enough when the length isn’t ideal. The epigraph may functionally describe a lot of stories we’re familiar with, but it’s too short to be a satisfying story — we have no empathetic connection to “boy,” no investment in his relationship to “girl,” no context for their eventual reunion. Conversely, Brian Michael Bendis is often criticized for making his stories too long to be satisfying, with each plot point dragged out for too many issues for us to be invested in the bigger picture. Of course, one of the big mitigating factors in the world of comics is the quality of the art — a dazzling action sequence may not require much of a plot, and indeed may be better off without many distractions. Nobody does “dazzling” better than Mike Deodato Jr., which makes him an ideal pairing for Bendis’ decompressed style. So does Guardians of Knowhere 1 live up to that “match made in heaven” expectation? Continue reading →

Jul 17 2015

Secret Wars Round-Up: Issues released 7/15/15

secret wars roundup9Today, Spencer, Taylor, Patrick, and Drew discuss Siege 1, Planet Hulk 3, Years of Future Past 3, Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders 1, Inhumans Atillan Rising 3, Secret Wars Battleworld 3, Hail Hydra 1, and Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps 2.

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Spencer: “Each domain is a region unto itself.” Each and every Secret Wars tie-in has begun with these words, and they really are a remarkably accurate mission statement: despite the common thread they all share, most of these mini-series feel like separate concepts far removed from the rest of their brethren. That begins to change with this week’s offerings, however. Several of this week’s issues find their casts questioning Doom and venturing beyond their own domain. Are we about to see some of these characters collide with the main Secret Wars title? Perhaps, but fortunately, these tie-ins still work as fun standalone stories as well. In many ways, it’s the best of both worlds.
Continue reading →

Jul 17 2015

Hawkeye 22

 

Today, Drew and Jack are discussing Hawkeye 22, originally released July 15th, 2015.

Drew: Endings are hard. Whether they break our hearts or leave us wanting more, even the most satisfying ending must face the bittersweet truth of being the end. “The End” takes on a peculiar meaning in the world of month-to-month comics (especially where the next volume may already be a few issues in), but whatever we’re saying goodbye to — whether its a paradigm or a creative team — can still have an almost hallowed air of significance. This makes talking about comic book endings in a issue-by-issue format particularly difficult, as its tempting to use the final issue as a platform for talking about the series as a whole. I absolutely want to talk about Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye run as a whole, but I want to first give issue 22 its due respect as perhaps the perfect distillation of what made his run so remarkable. Continue reading →

Jul 15 2015

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 7/8/15

round up

Look, there are a lot of comics out there. Too many. We can never hope to have in-depth conversations about all of them. But, we sure can round up some of the more noteworthy titles we didn’t get around to from the week. Today, Patrick, Spencer, Drew, Ryan, Michael and Shane discuss Saga 30, The Fox 4, Injection 3, Starfire 2, Justice League of America 2, Justice League United 11, Batman 42, Catwoman 42, Gotham Academy 8, Constantine: the Hellblazer 2, and Mad Max Fury Road: Max 1.

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Patrick: Our Weekly Round-Ups are often articles about comics we really feel like hosting entire conversations about. They’re not necessarily lesser comics, but there’s a little bit of a value judgement associated with it, for sure. This week saw an insane surge in quality, with all of these titles pulling out insightful, action-packed installments. There’s so much to say about all these comics, so let’s just get to it, huh? Continue reading →

Jul 10 2015

Archie 1

Alternating Currents: Archie 1, Drew and Spencer

Today, Drew and Spencer are discussing Archie 1, originally released July 9th, 2015.

Drew: Ah, the reboot. Comics have a long history of restarting characters from the beginning (or something resembling it), but new artists reimagining familiar characters can be seen everywhere, from Peter Pan to Macbeth. The recent popularity of rebooting movie franchises, however, has often smacked of a dearth of ideas. Reboots have all of the familiarity of sequels, but without any of the risk of putting characters in new situations. Or, at least, that’s the cynical attitude I tend to bring to reboots. Archie 1 proves to be surprisingly daring, even as it riffs on characters and situations that have been around for decades. Continue reading →

Jul 9 2015

Secret Wars Round-Up: Issues released 7/8/15

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Today, Patrick, Spencer, Michael and Drew discuss Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows 2, Spider-Verse 3, Spider-Island 1, Civil War 1, 1872 1, Ghost Racers 2, Runaways 2, Secret Wars 2099 3, and X-Men ’92 Infinite Comic 4.

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Patrick: It’s Spider-Day in Battleworld! Not only do we have three books with “Spider” in the title, Civil War prominently features Peter Parker (and the rest of the Parker clan). It’s amazing how malleable the concept of Spider-Man is, and how it can be at home in all four of these discrete story worlds. The rest of the issues on our Round Up today all approach their unique worlds in different ways – some try to cram in every possible piece of relevant lore, others pic and choose; some want to make a point about the source material, others are only interested in telling fun stories with the concepts. I’m continually amazed that no two series have similar approaches to Secret Wars – not even when they’re all named “Spider.”
Continue reading →

Jul 8 2015

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 7/1/15

round up

Look, there are a lot of comics out there. Too many. We can never hope to have in-depth conversations about all of them. But, we sure can round up some of the more noteworthy titles we didn’t get around to from the week. Today, Spencer, Patrick, Drew, and Michael discuss Darth Vader 7, Groot 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Team-Up 7, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 7, Outcast 10, Jupiter’s Circle 4, Onyx 1, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 47, Action Comics 42, Bizarro 2, The Woods 14, and The Spire 1.

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Drew: I used to write questions for a trivia competition, and I was absolutely terrified of questions where you had to say what a list of items (or songs, or people) had in common. Not because they were hard to write, but because it was nearly impossible to make only one answer correct. “Things not in my kitchen” or “people who aren’t me” are obviously wrong, but also technically correct. Trivia players would only put down an answer like this when they couldn’t think of the right answer, but it came up often enough to put me off of writing those kinds of questions. All that is to say, I’m sure there’s a common thread more meaningful to this week’s comics than “comics I didn’t write,” but man, I can’t think of that right answer. Can I still get some points, or what? Continue reading →

Jul 6 2015

Batman Beyond 2

batman beyond 2

Today, Mark and Drew are discussing Batman Beyond 2, originally released July 1st, 2015.

Mark: With the release of Batman: Arkham Knight a few weeks ago I’ve been on quite the Batman kick recently, revisiting favorite catalog comic book issues and re-watching episodes of Batman: The Animated Series that I haven’t thought about for years. As part of this Batman binge, I listened to a podcast with Animated Series co-creator Bruce Timm where he discusses the origin of Terry McGinnis and Batman Beyond. According to Timm, the character was birthed when an executive at Kids WB asked for a show that could appeal more to young kids starring Batman as a teenager. Timm and company were originally repulsed by the idea, but when they started hashing out pitches amongst themselves they hit on the idea of keeping it in continuity with an elderly Bruce Wayne acting as mentor to his chosen successor. From there the character grew and the world of Batman Beyond was established over three seasons of television, a movie, and a handful of comic books. Continue reading →

Jul 3 2015

Secret Wars Round-Up: Issues released 7/1/15

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Today, Spencer, Patrick and Drew discuss Secret Wars 4, Red Skull 1, A-Force 2, Giant-Sized Little Marvel AvX 2, Ultimate End 3, Years of Future Past 2, and Secret Wars Journal 3.

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Spencer: One thing that’s always bothered me about line-wide crossovers is when the tie-ins are forced to incorporate certain elements whether it makes sense or not. I can’t help but think of the earthquake in all 40 of the second issues of Convergence, or that month where every single DC comic released had to feature a fight with an OMAC — besides being creatively stifling, it makes all the books start to feel way too similar. With that in mind, what I’ve appreciated the most about Secret Wars is the sheer variety found in its tie-ins. All these books have in common is that they’re all set on Battleworld — other than that, they’re free to do whatever they please. This week’s offerings feature everything from the inner workings of Doom’s mind and Battleworld’s politics to zany childhood shenanigans — it’s a fun change of pace from the typical crossover, and in fact, the only real disappointments to be found may be the titles that don’t take enough advantage of their setting.
Continue reading →

Jul 2 2015

Zero 18

Alternating Currents: Zero 18, Drew and Patrick

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Zero 18, originally released July 1st, 2015.

Drew: I don’t love fetishizing endings. I resent the idea that the final moments of a work of art are somehow more important than all of the other moments that came before. I do, however, appreciate that it’s not until the end of a work that we can properly understand what it is. It’s not that the last piece of the narrative puzzle is necessarily more important than the rest, it just happens to be the last one added, which makes it the one that completes the image. True to that analogy, most endings are increasingly predictable as they approach — by that late in a narrative, we have a sense of likely conclusions. But then there are those narratives that aren’t so easily tied down. Zero started as a relatively straightforward spy series, but became increasingly postmodern, turning itself into a pointed commentary on the artificial division between “life” and “art.” Even with that trajectory in mind, issue 18 offers a conclusion of such bizarre beauty that nobody could have ever predicted. Continue reading →