Category Contributors

Apr 1 2014

Hawkeye 18

hawkeye 18Today, Shelby and Spencer are discussing Hawkeye 18, originally released March 26th, 2014.

Shelby: Everyone needs a reality check every now and again. It’s that moment at the end of a vacation when you first check your work email, when the fantasy you’d been living is revealed to be just that, and it’s time to get back to reality. It’s not a fun feeling, discovering something seemed too good to be true because it was, that the “happily ever after” you thought you had was just a story and now the story’s over. Kate Bishop has been trying to build herself a new reality away from a certain, “needy abusive black hole of crippled emotions,” and it was finally beginning to look like she’d succeeded. Unfortunately, she’s got a massive dose of reality headed her way, and it’s not going to be pretty.

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Apr 1 2014

Guardians of the Galaxy 13

guardians of the galaxy 13 JG

Today, Scott and Taylor are discussing Guardians of the Galaxy 13, originally released March 26th, 2014.

jean gray divI’m not sure this was worth it.

Gamora

Scott: It always amuses me when a character voices my same feelings towards an in-story event. It can be so tragically ironic. In this case, Gamora wondering if the Guardians’ involvement in rescuing Jean Grey is worth the heat it’s going to draw from the Shi-ar echoed the feelings I’ve had towards their role in ‘The Trial of Jean Grey’. The finale to this six-part event hits some emotional beats, but like the previous installments, the personal moments tend to revolve around the X-Men, leaving this series’ protagonists feeling left out. Ultimately, it’s an awkward goodbye to a crossover that never quite gelled and, frankly, probably wasn’t worth three issues the Guardians’ time. Oh, and Groot gets weird with some trees.

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Apr 1 2014

The Wake 7

wake 7Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing The Wake 7, originally released March 26th, 2014.

Anything could happen.

-Traditional

Patrick: Aristotle called it “peripeteia” — the conditions that trigger a fundamental change in what we understand about a narrative. We know it more colloquially these days as a “mindfuck,” and it’s simultaneously the most rewarding and most frustrating thing to experience as an audience member. We’ve all been there: suddenly you have to decide whether the leap has established a reality that you still want to experience. Is it fundamentally the same story once you know that Luke is Darth Vader’s son? No way. Is that new story worth experiencing? Oh, hell yes. Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy are fresh on the heels of one of the biggest shifts in storytelling since Psycho, and they’re already dousing the narrative in shocking new revelations. “Anything” has already happened — how the hell are they still surprising me?

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Mar 31 2014

A + X 18

a+x 18Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing A + X 18, originally released March 28th, 2014.

Patrick: There was always going to be something artificial about the A + X conceit. For as much as it feels like they’re all good guys, so they should have no problem teaming up for a little BAM-POW superhero adventuring, there’s just too much baggage to sustain it for very long. As the series comes to close, it appears that A + X was a promise too heavy to be supported by such a fluffy, carefree experience. The final issue seems split on this opinion, simultaneously expressing how similar the two groups are while stubbornly refusing to find common ground between the two.

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Mar 31 2014

Iron Patriot 1

iron patriot 1Today, Shelby and Greg are discussing Iron Patriot 1, originally released March 26th, 2014.

Shelby: Work-life balance is a hard thing to maintain. You need to work to, you know, live and stuff, but if you can’t have a non-work life then what’s the point? Even if you’re one of the lucky few who happens to love your job, you need a life outside of it to stay sane. I actually have two jobs, and even though I love my weekend gig working at my local comic shop, I still strive to remember to take time for myself. Hard as it is for me to maintain a healthy work-life balance, I have to imagine it’s nearly impossible for someone like James “Rhodey” Rhodes, a.k.a. War Machine, a.k.a. Iron Patriot. When your job consists of being a costumed superhero working for the United States government, is there ever really a point when you’re not working?

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Mar 28 2014

The Sandman Overture 2

sandman 2Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing the The Sandman Overture 2, originally released March 26th, 2014.

Shelby: There are a few dreams I’ve had in my life that I remember very clearly. Once I dreamt I had to go to a new job, and in order to get there I had to swim underwater. On my first day, we’re swimming and swimming, and I’m running out of air but I have to stay behind my guide. Then I woke up gasping; I had been holding my breath in my sleep. Not too long ago, I dreamt I was in a dark room that was even darker near the door. I had to pass through the darkest part of the room to leave, and as I did, two hands shot out of the shadows and grabbed my arms. That was one that had me bolt upright in bed, and then turn on every light in my apartment. I think these dreams stuck with me because there was a sense of reality to them; I was actually holding my breath, I could almost feel the stranger’s hands on my arms. Dreams are like bits of reality spun together to resemble a sort of whole, a feeling that Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams have somehow captured in their long-awaited second installment of Sandman Overture.

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Mar 28 2014

Silver Surfer 1


silver surfer 1Today, Taylor and Patrick are discussing Silver Surfer 1, originally released March 26th, 2014.

Taylor: Surfer’s have always had a pretty bogus rap around popular culture. We tend to think of them as west coast bums who have forgone any responsibility in their endless pursuit of the perfect wave. It’s an unfair stereotype and one that fails to acknowledge the deep community and thoughtful demeanor of a lot of surfers out there. Similarly, the Silver Surfer has struggled with his one reputation. Once the harbinger of doom for Galactus, the Silver Surfer now spends his days trying to make up for a past life of wrongdoing. His reputation is poor but maybe with enough good deeds he can change the way others look at him… and perhaps change the universe as well.

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Mar 27 2014

Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion 6

rogues rebellion 6Today, Spencer and Patrick are discussing Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion 6, originally released March 26th, 2014.

Spencer: Villains aren’t exactly known for their teamwork. Sure, they team up all the time, but it rarely lasts and never ends well; egos get wounded, agendas clash, and varying levels of morality get in the way. Just look at the Crime Syndicate over in Forever Evil proper; they’ve been keeping secrets and plotting against each other from the moment they reached our Earth, likely even longer. The only group of villains who have stuck it out for the long haul are the Rogues of Central City. What makes them different? Brian Buccellato and Scott Hepburn’s Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion 6 implies that it may just be because the Rogues understand the way the world works better than most villains.

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Mar 27 2014

The Flash 29

Alternating Currents: Flash 29, Drew and ScottToday, Drew and Scott are discussing The Flash 29, originally released March 26th, 2014.

Drew: I have a friend who used to love Law and Order — er, he liked it as much as a person can really like an episodic primetime drama — the point is, he was happy to tune in every week to see how the team handles the new case. That is, until his son pointed out to him how formulaic the show really is — right down to when in the episode they’ll nab the wrong suspect, find that key clue, or offer a plea bargain. It ruined the show for him — knowing what would happen next robbed every development of any drama, so he just stopped watching it. In some way, we all have this same experience with storytelling in general: the more stories we consume, and the more familiar with common formulas we become, the better we are at predicting what happens next. We recognize foreshadowing, we notice if we’re being intentionally misled — we just become harder to fool. Many of us are willing to put that aside to suspend our disbelief that maybe the hero won’t make it out this time, or maybe the lead couple won’t end up together, after all, but sometimes a writer still wants to surprise us. This often requires going into DEEP left field, which can make the resulting developments feel arbitrary, or even nonsensical. Unfortunately, those are the kinds of final act reveals we get in Flash 29.

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Mar 26 2014

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 3/19/14

round upLook, 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, Drew, Patrick, and Spencer discuss Batwoman 29, Batman and Aquaman 29, Thunderbolts 23, Avengers World 4, New Avengers 15, Nova 15, Uncanny X-Men 19, Wolverine and the X-Men 2, Superior Spider-Man Annual 2, Superior Foes of Spider-Man 10, Harley Quinn 4, Unwritten Apocalypse 3, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Utrom Empire 3.

slim-banner4Drew: I’ve never seen a writing credit on it, but I’ve always been a big fan of this quasi-famous example script from UPenn’s linguistics department. I know I’ve seen the joke used elsewhere, but there’s something so simple and satisfying about seeing a story where the feeling is expressed at the expense of any other meaning. Or, perhaps I should say: it’s funny because it defies all of our expectations of stories. Unfortunately, Batwoman 29 illustrates exactly why that kind of steamrolling of details doesn’t work in practice.

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