Category Contributors

Aug 3 2012

Animal Man 12

Today, Drew and Peter are discussing Animal Man 12, originally released August 1st, 2012. This issue is part of the RotWorld crossover event. Click here for complete RotWorld coverage. Not caught up on Animal Man? No problem! Get up to speed with our video Cram Session. Also, we’re covering Swamp Thing #12, head over to get analysis on the second half of this story. 

Drew: One of my biggest pet peeves in comics is the assumption that “bigger is better” when it comes to threats the hero is facing. I understand the sentiment — if saving one person is good, saving one million must be a million times as cool — but in practice, it often turns the risks into abstract hypotheticals. Such abstractions lose the human connection that is so easily established by a single person in danger. In comics, a single loved-one in danger is just as cliched as when it’s the whole city, but when handled well — as in Animal Man 12 — the payoff is much greater. Continue reading →

Aug 3 2012

Swamp Thing 12

 

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Swamp Thing 12, originally released August 1st, 2012. This issue is part of the RotWorld crossover event. Click here for complete RotWorld coverage. Not caught up on Swamp Thing ? No problem! Get up to speed with our video Cram Session.  Also, we’ve got Animal Man 12 coverage, supplying commentary on the first half of this story.

Shelby: I love seeing heroes working together. I don’t mean like in Justice League, on an established team (also, they aren’t really working  together anyway); I’m talking about the almighty Crossover Event. Swamp Thing and Animal Man’s Rotworld isn’t a traditional comic crossover, with multiple books dealing with the same issue and borrowing characters. Snyder and Lemire have instead told the opposite sides of the same story, and now those two halves have finally come together so seamlessly I had to check the cover multiple times to remember which title I was reading.  

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Aug 2 2012

Cram Session: Animal Man 1-11

It can be hard to keep up with all the comics you love. But it’s damn near impossible to keep up with all the comics you’re interested in.

Retcon Punch got you covered.

A guy that channels animal powers? Yeah, okay, I can dig it. Didn’t expect to love it. Buddy Baker’s whole family gets drawn into a war between the very forces of life and death. PLUS THERE’S A TALKING CAT. Get all caught up so you can read the Rot World crossover with Swamp Thing.

Aug 2 2012

Cram Session: Swamp Thing 1-11

It can be hard to keep up with all the comics you love. But it’s damn near impossible to keep up with all the comics you’re interested in.

Retcon Punch got you covered.

Alec Holland is just about the most reluctant hero of the New 52. Dude didn’t even cape-up until the end of issue 7. But it’s been a great ride, and now all human and plant life hangs in the balance. Catch up here and prepare for the Rot World crossover with Animal Man.

Aug 2 2012

Before Watchmen – Nite Owl 2

Today, Peter and Shelby are discussing Nite Owl 2, originally released August 1st, 2012. Nite Owl is part of DC’s Before Watchmen prequel series. Click here for complete Before Watchmen coverage (including release dates).

Peter: Dan Dreiberg is a likable character. He’s the sympathetic hero, the guy you identify with. There is something about him that makes you go ‘awww’, and something that makes you say ‘that could be me’. Or at least, I say that when I read him. The Before Watchmen version of Dan is anything but that. Combine that with a very uninteresting, or engaging storyline, and issue 2 still fails to meet expectations. There is a glimmer of hope, as things begin to pick up…a little.

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Aug 2 2012

Earth-2 4

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Earth-2 4, originally released August 1st, 2012.

Patrick:  Self-awareness is all the rage these days. You can get away with telling any story – no matter how cliche or inane – by simply having the characters acknowledge the various well-worn tropes they’re engaged in. It’s a safe way for writers and film-makers to assure their audience that they’re in on the joke – yes, we all know how crazy this looks. Joss Whedon is the king of this sort of thing (y’all saw Avengers, right?), but you see it everywhere. There are a couple of draw-backs to this approach, but the biggest danger is that of white-washing your characters’ personalities. If everyone is savvy enough to comment on their genre-adventures, then no one’s really an individual. Another big draw-back is that it makes everyone extremely — and interchangeably — chatty. While Earth-2 manages some neat concepts and fun characters, the cut-and-paste nature of the dialogue is holding it back in a serious way.
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Aug 1 2012

Justice League Dark 9-11

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Justice League Dark 9-11, originally released May 23rd, June, 27th and July 25th, 2012.

Shelby: We’re doing something a little unusual here with Justice League Dark: we are not reviewing issues 1-8. I’ve read all those issues, and there is really no need to do so. Peter Milligan wrote 1-8, and they are not awesome. The story was all over the place and confusing. Even though we’re dealing with magic, the story still needs to be grounded in some sort of established reality, and this story was not. With issue 9, Jeff Lemire has taken over the writing, and there has been a marked improvement. The arc is completely new, even some of the team members have changed. I call it the “reverse Deathstroke” effect, in that a new creative team has made big changes, but for the better instead of for the worst.

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Jul 31 2012

Before Watchmen – Comedian 2

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Comedian 2, originally released July 25th, 2012. Comedian is part of DC’s Before Watchmen prequel series. Click here for complete Before Watchmen coverage (including release dates).

Shelby: History has never been my favorite subject. There’s something about it that just flows through my brain like water, I can’t seem to retain any of it. I have tried so many times to read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, with zero success; I know I should read it, but it just reads too much like a history book for me to enjoy it. Comedian 1 was housed in American history, in a way I thought was a clever subversion of both Watchmen history and American history. I’ve had a lot of trouble getting into the second issue, however, and I think Brian Azzarello may have crossed the line into too much history for me to enjoy.

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Jul 30 2012

All-Star Western 11

Today, Peter and Patrick are discussing the All-Star Western 11, originally released July 25th, 2012.

Peter: All-Star Western has really embraced its role as a historic book. Writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey have taken it upon themselves to not only tell incredible western tales, but to weave them into the greater DC Universe, even if they take place centuries before Bruce Wayne put on the cowl, or Superman strapped on the cape. Two of Gotham’s most notorious criminal organizations are gearing up to collide — of course Jonah Hex finds himself in the middle of it all. Continue reading →

Jul 27 2012

Green Lantern: New Guardians 11

Alternating Currents: New Guardians 11, Drew and PeterToday, Drew and Peter are discussing Green Lantern: New Guardians 11, originally released July 25th, 2012.

Drew: One of the things that keeps me coming back to this title is the diversity of its cast. They aren’t necessarily the most deeply drawn characters, but their personalities rub against each other in interesting ways. More importantly, those conflicts were set as the centerpiece of this title, a rarity in the largely mythology-driven Green Lantern group. After the fracturing of its core team, and a series of half-hearted crossovers, this title was in danger of losing that distinct voice, and becoming another cog in the Green Lantern machine (not that it’s a bad machine, but I think this title is strong enough to stand independently of whatever plotting is tying the rest of the GL universe together). I was heartened, then, to see the team back together in this issue, refocusing on their shared goals. Continue reading →