Category Contributors

Sep 16 2013

Batman 23.2: The Riddler

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Today, Shelby and guest writer Lindsey are discussing Batman 23.2: The Riddler, originally released September 11th, 2013. This issue is part of the Villain’s Month event. Click here for our Villains Month coverage.

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Shelby: The Riddler and the Joker. Two clowns, of a sort, with very different reputations. To the Joker, the world is a gag, a cheap joke that doesn’t make sense. That’s why he’s so scary; you literally have no idea what he’ll do next. The Riddler has always been different to me. Riddles are silly, true, but they’re clever. There’s a perverted sense of logic to them. That’s how I’ve always thought of Edward Nygma: clever, but ultimately rather silly and harmless. Ray Fawkes and Scott Snyder show us a different, more dangerous Riddler, and I am liking what I see.
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Sep 16 2013

Fearless Defenders 9

Alternating Currents: Fearless Defenders 9, Taylor and Drew

Today, Taylor and Drew are discussing Fearless Defenders 9, originally released September 11th, 2013.

Taylor: Men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Bros before hoes, sisters before misters. Men and women are two different species. Such platitudes have been woven into the fabric of society since the dawn of civilization. Given their age, you might find yourself uttering such phrases during awkward conversations in the lunch room at work because you know they will be accepted with little umbrage. However, that doesn’t make these seemingly innocuous phrases any less offensive or misinformed. While men and women are different in many respects, the truth is they share far more similarities than differences. Some might call this a progressive view, but in reality it’s just a logical one. With that being said, you would think Fearless Defenders, a title which seemingly strives to show that female superheroes are just the same as male superheroes, would champion the similarities between the sexes rather than exaggerate them. But is issue nine, which examines this idea, up to the task?

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Sep 13 2013

Red Sonja 3

red sonja 3

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Red Sonja 3, originally released September 11th, 2013.

Shelby: Last month things were looking pretty bad for our gal Sonja. The man who was like a father to her was dead at the hands Dark Annisia, the ultimate frenemy. The people she came to defend were dead in battle or dying of the plague. Also, she was actually dying of the plague herself, and sent into exile to die alone. At least she had the promise of fever dreams of her loved ones, dead and gone; there’s always that to look forward to, I suppose.
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Sep 13 2013

X-Men 5

Alternating Currents: X-Men 5, Ethan and TaylorToday,  Ethan and Taylor are discussing X-Men 5 originally released September 11th, 2013. This issue is part of the Battle of the Atom event. Click here for our complete coverage of Battle of the Atom.

atom dividerEthan: If you’ve ever run away from home, or snuck out in the middle of the night to dodge your curfew, or even just stormed off in the middle of a fight, you know the feeling. The conviction that you’d rather be ANYWHERE but where you just left; an undirected need to get away; but the nagging little awareness that your escape is only temporary. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to turn around and confront whatever it is that pushed you away — finish the conversation with your parents, make amends with a friend or significant other — in short, come home. In X-Men #5, we find Jean and Scott on the outbound leg of this sort of journey, and contrary to their fears, they might not have to go home quite as soon as they think.

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Sep 12 2013

Avengers 19

avengers 19 infinityToday, Spencer and Patrick are discussing Avengers 19, originally released September 11th, 2013. This issue is part of the Infinity crossover event. Click here for complete Infinity coverage.

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Spencer: What’s so special about Earth? It’s funny; in comics, human beings are usually portrayed as a weak, technologically backwards race, yet Earth is constantly under attack for some reason, constantly finding itself in the center of some of the most significant events the Universe will ever experience. So why is the Earth so darn special? Jonathan Hickman hasn’t given us any answers yet, but in Avengers 19 he does show us just how surprisingly significant the planet Earth has become in the grand scheme of things; for better or worse, the Builders have taken notice of Earth and want it gone. Good thing it’s an Avengers World.

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Sep 12 2013

Batman: The Dark Knight 23.2: Mr. Freeze

mr freeze 23.2

Today, Patrick and guest writer Sarah are discussing Batman: The Dark Knight 23.2: Mr. Freeze, originally released September 11th, 2013. This issue is part of the Villain’s Month event. Click here for our Villains Month coverage.

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Patrick: A buddy of mine just had his car stolen. He lives in Los Angeles, and it’s not like that kind of thing is common place, but… well, you expect to encounter a certain amount of shit living in a big city. Cost of doing business, I suppose. His folks don’t live in the area, so he reached out to his friends for help, advice and rides — they were happy to oblige him with all three. It became clear that my friend had found a “family,” which is a concept just abstract enough to really mean something. It didn’t much matter that not everyone could help him in tangible ways, love and emotional support were exactly what he needed in that moment, and this “family” was able to provide it. They were a comfort, a safety net and a reason to push past the tragedy and on to better things. Victor Fries longs for that connection so much it that drove him to project nonexistent feelings on to a perpetually frozen wife. Now that he’s discovered he has real family out there, it’s becoming increasingly clear: it wasn’t the “wife” part of the “frozen wife” of which he was so enamored.
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Sep 12 2013

The Flash 23.2: Reverse Flash

Alternating Currents: Flash 23.2 Reverse Flash, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing The Flash 23.2: Reverse Flash, originally released September 11th, 2013. This issue is part of DC’s Villain Month. Click here for our coverage of Villain Month.

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Oh, if I had just lived right up to that moment… and not one second more. That would have been perfect.

Walter White, Breaking Bad

Drew: Regrets are the worst. We make hundreds of decisions every day, but our minds seem only to fixate on the mistakes and missed opportunities. We fetishize how things might have been different if only we had made that one small change, creating entire life paths that never have been, never could be, never will be walked. If the regrets are small enough (I wish I had ordered the fajitas), we usually forget about them and move on, but larger regrets can consume us, creating a vivid fantasy world of “if only.” In “Fly,” a brilliantly mediative episode from Breaking Bad‘s third season, Walt pinpoints the exact moment where his life should have ended, with every moment since steeped in regret that it didn’t. It’s a surprisingly unguarded moment for the character, revealing that, for all his machinations, he may suffer from the same uncertainties — and be driven by the same simple motivators — as the rest of us. Daniel West finds a similarly specific final moment of happiness in this issue, but of course, he locates it with the hope of going back and undoing everything that follows. Continue reading →

Sep 11 2013

Justice League 23.1: Darkseid

darkseid 23.1

Today, Patrick and Spencer are discussing Justice League 23.1: Darkseid, originally released September 4th, 2013. This issue is part of the Villain’s Month event. Click here for our Villains Month coverage.

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Patrick: Any time I write about Darkseid, I’m worried that I’m going to misspell the character’s name. This is a fairly unique problem for me — outside of my unfortunate “Kitty Pride” habit (which I kicked after reading like a dozen issues of All-New X-Men), I’ve got a pretty good handle on how everyone’s name is spelled. I put the dash between Spider and Man and I know to double the R at the end of Dex Starr. But when I get to Darkseid, not only to I need to wrestle with internal pronunciation (‘darkSEED’ vs. ‘darkSIDE’), but I have to fight all of my elementary school spelling-training. “I before E, except after C and when sounding as ‘ay’ such as in ‘neighbor’ and ‘weigh.'” My mnemonic rhyme fails and I’m left with what’s in front of me. There’s an odd parallel to the presence of the New Gods in the New 52 – there’s a lot that we could know about them going in, but none of it is going to do you any good when you try to understand the character that’s in front of you. Ladies and gentlemen: Darksied Darkseid.
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Sep 11 2013

Superman 23.1: Bizarro

Alternating Currents: Superman 23.1: Bizarro, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing Superman 23.1: Bizarro, originally released September 4th, 2013. This issue is part of the Villain’s Month event. Click here for our Villains Month coverage.

villain divDrew: Why do we like Bizarro Superman? Is it his goofiness? The absurdity of the premise? For me, I think part of the appeal of Bizarro stories has always been the way they reveal Superman’s compassion for even his exact opposite. Then again, I also just love a good backwards-joke and sentences that begin with “me am.” Whatever it is that draws us to Bizarro — and might make us pick up an issue with his name on the cover — Sholly Fisch willfully avoids in Superman 23.1. We may have expected a story about a goofy, unintentionally dangerous oaf, but instead, Fisch seems content to offer us one about a hyper-serious, willfully antagonistic genius. What we get is so perfectly the opposite of what a Bizarro story should be, it almost achieves a kind of fevered meta-genius — a Bizarro story of Bizarro stories — but it’s simply not good enough to deserve any kind of benefit of the doubt. At least, not beyond how fitting it is that it features a totally senseless monster exploding into a pile of messy goo. Continue reading →

Sep 11 2013

Batman: The Dark Knight 23.1: The Ventriloquist

ventriloquist 23.1

Today, Shelby and guest writer Mike are discussing Batman: The Dark Night 23.1: The Ventriloquist, originally released September 4th, 2013. This issue is part of the Villain’s Month event. Click here for our Villains Month coverage.

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Shelby: It’s a well-documented fact around the non-existent Retcon Punch offices that I love morally ambiguous anti-heroes. That character who walks the dividing line between good guy and bad guy makes for such an interesting and exciting read. My love of the gray area between good and bad extends to the various shades of good and bad; some good guys are more good than others, some bad guys are more bad than others. With the Justice League dead, this month is going to feature a lot of bad guys encountering bad guys, and as is the case in this issue, no one really wins. Not even the reader, sadly.
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