Category Contributors

Jul 20 2012

Justice League 11

Today, Shelby and Peter are discussing Justice League 11, originally released July 18th 2012.

Shelby: Losing a loved one is beyond difficult. It can be the most trying, emotional, painful experience we’ll ever know. Whether it’s a sudden death or a prolonged illness, the grief of loss is a heavy burden to bear. It’s one thing to forever carry the memory of a loved one with you, but something else entirely to carry that burden of grief, never letting go, never moving on. Justice League features a villain literally doing just that; Graves constantly carries with him the souls of his family, and his grief will not abate until he exacts his revenge. You would think with such a heavy and universally relatable idea, this issue would garner something stronger than “meh.”
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Jul 20 2012

Wonder Woman 11

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Wonder Woman 11, originally released July 18th, 2012.

Patrick: Drew! It has been ages since you and I wrote about this series together. Last month, we had help from guest-writer (and voice of our Cram Sessions), Siri Hellerman. Otherwise, Shelby usually gets in on writing about Wonder Woman, and we’re thrilled to get that female perspective. It’s by pure random chance that you and I selected the butchest issue of Wonder Woman yet to review. Thankfully, the more action-heavy tone didn’t overpower the series’ usual style, cleverness and depth.
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Jul 19 2012

Nightwing 11

Today, Peter and Patrick are discussing Nightwing 11, originally released July 18th, 2012.

Peter: Sometimes all the right pieces just fall into place, just as they have here, weaving an incredibly compelling story. In Nightwing, Kyle Higgins treats us to not only a standard superhero book, but a carefully crafted mystery/thriller story. It almost reads like a police procedural. Dick continues to try to clear his name, and reasserts his place as one of Gotham’s premiere crime fighters in the process. Continue reading →

Jul 19 2012

Before Watchmen – Silk Spectre 2

Alternating Currents: Silk Spectre 2, Drew and Shelby-B4WToday, Drew and Shelby are discussing Silk Spectre 2, originally released July 18th, 2012. Silk Spectre is part of DC’s Before Watchmen prequel series. Click here for complete Before Watchmen coverage (including release dates).

Drew: This Before Watchmen thing must have been a hard sell to creators. Sure, they’d have the opportunity to work with some of comicdom’s most interesting characters, but they’d also be competing with some incredibly beloved source material, written by one of the greatest comic writers of all time. Hoping to improve on Watchmen would be beyond unreasonable, so the best anyone could really hope for is a competent expansion of that universe. That’s not exactly the world’s most rewarding job. Writer Darwyn Cooke and artist Amanda Conner have the additionally arduous task of being saddled with everybody’s least favorite character from Watchmen, which they handled dazzlingly in last month’s debut, managing to take Silk Spectre in a totally unexpected direction. This month’s issue subverts our expectations yet again, taking a step that can’t so much be described as forward or backwards, but sideways. Continue reading →

Jul 18 2012

Chat Cave: Nemeses

In October, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman series will be reintroducing the Joker to the New 52 continuity, reigniting one of the greatest rivalries in comics history. But what does it mean for a hero to have a nemesis? Are nemeses important to the identity of a superhero? Who are the best nemeses? Welcome to the Chat Cave.

Shelby: A nemesis is an important character in a comic book. It’s an opportunity for stories to explore the dark side of our heroes. Very often, the nemesis represents the “flip side of the coin” of the hero; they are what the hero would be without the sense of morality and justice. The nemesis tests the hero to find his limits, and tries to push the hero past them. Also, the nemesis is an easy trick to pull out of the bag when you’re stuck for a plot.

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Jul 17 2012

The Vault – The Flash Tie Clip

The Retcon Punchers spend an awful lot of time looking for ways to celebrate our nerdy obsessions. This means a lot of time sunk into scouring Etsy, Deviant Art, Think Geek or whatever. Sometimes we see things so great we just have to share them… and then clutch them fiercely to our collective chest. Throw it in The Vault.

Website: Etsy

Who Would Love This: Geeky, well-dressed men, geeky women who love geeky, well-dressed men

Price: $18.00

We’ve kind of fallen off the wagon for The Vault, so I decided to find a special geeky object to bring us back on track. So, what’s so special about a Flash tie clip? Duh, look at it; clearly it’s what you need when your tie is traveling at tremendous speeds. There are a number of clips to choose from, as well as belt buckles, hair bows, and other assorted jewelry. This Etsy store is extra special to me, because the gal who makes this stuff lives in Chicago, and I do love supporting local nerds. On top of that, I already own a piece of jewelry from here; alert reader Taylor got me this awesome Wonder Woman necklace for my birthday. Now, instead of just thinking about comics all the time without anyone else the wiser, I can advertise to the world that even my jewelry is nerdy.

Jul 17 2012

Batman and Robin 11

Today, Peter and Drew are discussing Batman and Robin 11, originally released July 11th 2012.

Peter: In preparation for The Dark Knight Rises, I’ve been watching Batman Begins and The Dark Knight a lot lately. In Batman Begins, Bruce examines what he is afraid of in order to figure out what his enemies will fear. Tomasi and Gleason have taken Bruce’s bat symbol and perverted it for evil means. No longer do just criminals fear the bat, but ordinary citizens of Gotham are being terrorized by the very symbol they have grown to rely on for protection. Continue reading →

Jul 16 2012

Before Watchmen – Minutemen 2

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Minutemen 2, originally released July 11th, 2012. Minutemen is part of DC’s Before Watchmen prequel series. Click here for complete Before Watchmen coverage (including release dates).

Patrick: Darwyn Cooke is going to make the absolute most out of his Minutemen mini-series. The first issue served as an effective mission statement, nodding politely to the series’ legendary origins but striking out boldly with its own voice. But now with all that business out of the way, Minutemen 2 is able to start telling stories. STORIES! Can you believe it?

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Jul 13 2012

Before Watchmen – Curse of the Crimson Corsair 1-6

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Curse of the Crimson Corsair 1-6, originally released June 6th (in Minutemen 1), June 13 (in Silk Spectre 1), June 20th (in Comedian 1), June 27th (in Nite Owl 1), July 4th (in Ozymandias 1) and July 11th 2012 (in Minutemen 2). It is also available for free on DC’s Source Blog. Curse of the Crimson Corsair is part of DC’s Before Watchmen prequel series. Click here for complete Before Watchmen coverage (including release dates).

Patrick: If there’s one part of the original Watchmen I never quite got behind, it was the whole “Marooned” story. I’ll concede its many virtues: 1) that Moore envisioned what the comic book industry would look like in a world where actual superheroes were common place; 2) that the darkness of the story provided chilling barometer for the global psychology under the threat of nuclear war; 3) that the artist for the books was conscripted to help design Ozy’s squid monster, thus unifying horrors expressed both within the story and the story-within-the-story; and 4) that the protagonist’s decision to sacrifice the bodies of crew to achieve his goals parallels Adrian Veidt’s decision to murder half of New York City to spare the world from nuclear annihilation (with a similar loss of humanity as a result). I CONCEDE ALL THOSE POINTS. Still, I find those portions of Watchmen remarkably dull. Turns out “Pirate Comic Loosely Related to Watchmen: The Next Generation” inverts that formula. The results aren’t great.

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Jul 12 2012

Batgirl 11

Today, Shelby and Peter are discussing Batgirl 11, originally released July 11th, 2012.

Shelby: I recently finished Frank Herbert’s Dune (highly recommended if you like old-school science fiction), and one of the prevailing ideas is that of plans within plans within plans. The idea is that your enemies, or your allies, are never what they seem: that every plan you see is part of another more intricate plan, and so on and so on. The only way to survive is to think the same way, to create plans upon plans until even your closest allies aren’t sure your motives. I’m beginning to feel the same vibe from Batgirl; enemies and allies are telescoping inward, and every motive revealed is another motive for another plan.

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