Category Contributors

Oct 2 2012

Teen Titans 0

Today, Shelby and (guest writer) Zach Kastner are discussing Teen Titans 0, originally released September 27th, 2012. Teen Titans 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Shelby: We’ve all done dumb things to try to impress someone. Whether it’s a boss, friend, or member of whatever sex you prefer, everyone has at one point thrown common sense out the window and acted like an ass to earn their favor. Usually, though, the average cry for attention doesn’t involve stealing millions of dollars from a mob boss psychopath to simultaneously make your parents proud and to get a masked vigilante to take notice. Tim Drake is obviously far from average.

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Oct 2 2012

Justice League Dark 0

Today, Shelby and (guest writer) Dave Werner are discussing Justice League Dark 0, originally released September 26th, 2012. Justice League Dark 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Shelby: John Constantine is an enigma. He can wander in and out of any magic-based title with no problem. He has a power-set which basically consists of “do whatever you need to do at the time you need to do it.” He’s a perpetual loner, mostly because everyone close to him tends to die, but also because he likes to be a loner. He has the loosest morals of any “hero” I’m reading, which is what I find most intriguing about him. I’ve always just assumed he’s your standard “bastard with a heart of gold;” he does what he wants, when he wants to, but deep down he’s a good guy, and will do the right thing in a pinch. The zero issue for Justice League Dark, however, focuses on a part of Constantine’s past that makes me think he’s ultimately not such a good guy after all.

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Oct 2 2012

I, Vampire 0

Alternating Currents: I, Vampire 0, Drew and JennieToday, Drew and (guest writer) Jennie Seidewand are discussing I, Vampire 0, originally released September 26th, 2012. I, Vampire 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Drew: Vampires, for some reason, are considered sexy. Is it the paleness? The eternal youth? The element of danger? I’ve never really been sure. Frankly, I think the bizarre relationship modern vampires have to the Victorian society that created them — specifically notions of patriarchy and fears of disease — make vampires among the least sexy things I can imagine. It doesn’t really matter; I’m not the target audience for modern vampire stories. Exactly who is is still a bit of a mystery to me — True Blood seems a little adult for the teenybopper audience that’s made Twilight such a phenomenon — but I can’t deny that vampires are incredibly popular at the moment. The success of Twilight and True Blood have inspired a lot of slapdash imitators, a description which woefully fits I, Vampire. Continue reading →

Oct 2 2012

The Fury of Firestorm 0

Alternating Currents: Fury of Firestorm 0, Drew and ScottToday, Drew and (guest writer) Scott Baumgartner are discussing The Fury of Firestorm 0, originally released September 26th, 2012. The Fury of Firestorm 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Drew: When I was in middle school, we didn’t have book reports. Instead, we were periodically asked to have conversations with parent volunteers about books we just read. You’d get called out into the hall, summarize the plot, and say what you liked and didn’t like about it. These conversations often fell far short of the twenty minutes prescribed by the school, prompting the volunteer to pad it out with some leading questions about still-vague notions of “mood” and “voice.” They were a pleasant alternative to writing the same information, but the conversation that stands out the most in my mind is when I attempted to summarize Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for a parent who had inexplicably never read it. Every detail needed to be explained, so I basically spent the entirety of the twenty minutes vomiting exposition. My goal was to convince this poor volunteer that they had been missing out, but I’m sure my rambling, stream-of-consciousness summary only served to confuse and intimidate. I couldn’t help but think of that volunteer as I read The Fury of Firestorm 0. Continue reading →

Oct 1 2012

All-Star Western 0

Today, Patrick and (special guest writer) Edmond Johnson are discussing All-Star Western 0, originally released September 26th, 2012. All-Star Western 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Patrick: Most comic books are named for their heroes. And that makes sense – the particular personality and superpowers ascribed to that hero (or group thereof) essentially is the identity of that series. All-Star Western is the rare title that breaks that mold: while the character of Jonah Hex has been a near-constant presence in this series, he’s supported by a cast of colorful Western characters. What’s fascinating about Jonah Hex is that he’s a normal guy – like Batman, Hex has no superpowers, but unlike Batman, he doesn’t wear a costume. He also doesn’t have his resources or discipline. So that leads to the question: what’s a Jonah Hex origin story? What does that even look like? Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti answer that question with shapeless narrative that resists easy character arcs, sentimentality, even clearly drawn line of cause and effect.

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Oct 1 2012

Batman: The Dark Knight 0

Today, Patrick and (guest writer) Joe Picek are discussing Batman: The Dark Knight 0, originally released September 26, 2012. Batman: The Dark Knight 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Patrick: Batman’s origin is well known. So well known, in fact, that at this point, writers, artists and filmmakers should be able to assume their audience has a passing familiarity with the story. Even the details come readily to anyone that’s seen an action movie in the last couple decades. The string of pearls, the Monarch Theatre, Joe Chill – all pieces in a story we know by heart. Why, then, retell this story? Hm? I’ve seen this story more times than I can count; as evidenced by this review, I just read it again this week. And I suspect that this won’t be the last time, either.

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Oct 1 2012

Savage Hawkman 0

Alternating Currents: Savage Hawkman 0, Drew and MikeToday, Drew and (guest writer) Mike Logsdon are discussing Savage Hawkman 0, originally released September 26th, 2012. Savage Hawkman 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Drew: Patrick has mentioned recently (a couple of times, actually), that he has no patience for Kryptonian history. It’s a fair criticism — it has relatively limited dramatic potential in that we have no emotional investment in anyone on the planet, and that there don’t seem to be any rules governing what can and cannot happen there — so what happens when a story is set on a planet I care even less about? Hawkman 0 unintentionally answers that question by being so damn boring. Continue reading →

Oct 1 2012

Red Lanterns 0

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Red Lanterns 0, originally released September 26th, 2012. Red Lanterns 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Shelby: The worst thing about grief is not the pain, not the loss, not the sadness; it’s how easy it is to hold on to. Grief is the gateway drug of emotions; it leads you to harder stuff, like sorry, despair, or rage. Grief is a passive, wallowing place, but rage is an emotion of action. A man who’s rage is so intense it burns away the grief which spawned it (as well as all other emotion) is a man who can accomplish terrible things.

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Sep 28 2012

The Flash 0

Today,  Patrick and Drew are discussing The Flash 0, originally released September 26, 2012. The Flash 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Patrick: This issue is essentially the two discrete pieces of Barry Allen origin story that you might already be familiar with. DISCRETE PORTION A: Barry’s mother was murdered when he was a child. His father was arrested for the crime and Barry became a forensic scientist in the hope of catching the real killer and clearing his father’s name. DISCRETE PORTION B: Barry is struck with lightning and doused with chemicals, transforming him into the Fastest Man Alive. Previously, Geoff Johns’ The Flash: Rebirth attempted to dovetail these discrete story points mythologically — and that’s the best tool in his tool box, so I can’t fault him for using it. Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, revisit these moments and connect them emotionally. It is a story at once more sensible, more compact and more powerful. Continue reading →

Sep 28 2012

Before Watchmen – Ozymandias 3

Alternating Currents: Ozymandias 3, Drew and Shelby B4WToday, Drew and Shelby are discussing Ozymandias 3, originally released September 26th, 2012. Ozymandias is part of DC’s Before Watchmen prequel series. Click here for complete Before Watchmen coverage (including release dates).

Drew: Part of what made me so resistant to the idea of a Watchmen prequel series is my immense respect for the  original series. Not that it was a sacred cow — though, arguably, it is — but that anything that failed to meet that very high level of respect for the material would feel inherently disrespectful. I understood that maintaining that level of respect would be incredibly burdensome to creators, narrowing narrative possibilities to a knife’s edge. To my surprise, many titles have not only matched my respect for Watchmen, but have exceeded what I thought would be possible while doing so. Other titles have not fared as well, failing to justify their own existence, or — worse yet — failing to hold the source material in the proper esteem. Ozymandias has managed two issues without falling firmly into either category, and while issue 3 falters a bit, I’m still unsure if it is a success or a failure. Continue reading →