Category Contributors

Jan 24 2012

Animal Man 1-4

Originally Published December 9, 2011

may nobody question our nerddom againDC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Patrick Ehlers and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Patrick’s Blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Animal Man, while Patrick is hosting the discussion of Action Comics.

Drew:  I do not envy the writers of the New 52. They’ve been tasked with condensing and summarizing (and in some cases, excising large chunks of) impossibly dense and convoluted superhero history in order to appeal to a new audience. DC has incorporated so many universe-wide crossovers over the years that it’s impossible to fully understand any one character’s history without understanding the entire universe, which many prospective fans rightfully daunting. The degree to which the relaunch has hit the reset button varies from title to title, but all of the New 52 share the fact that the knowledge needed to understand what the heck is going on has been slimmed down considerably. This is great for giving newcomers like me and Patrick an entryway into the universe, but ignoring the history too much risks alienating DCs core fan-base, the loyal readers who have followed these titles for years, and who were invested in the story-lines leading up to the relaunch (these are also largely the people who review and sell comics, so it’s doubly important that DC not forget their needs). It’s a very fine line the writers walk here, hoping to reward long-term readers without losing the newbies, and hoping to familiarize the uninitiated without boring the die-hards. Continue reading →

Jan 24 2012

Action Comics 1-4

Originally Published December 9, 2011

DC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Drew Baumgartner and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Drew’s blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Action Comics while Drew is hosting the discussion of Animal Man.

Patrick: Who cares about Superman?

I imagine, actually, that we could ask this question about both titles we’re reading this month.  In the case of Animal Man, it’s a sincere question, but in the case of Action Comics and Superman, the question is rhetorical.  The character is an icon, an institution and yet I feel like it takes an event for anyone to give half a shit about him.  I include myself in that “anyone” by the by.  I liked it when Doomsday killed Superman.  I liked Superman’s tenure fighting for the Soviets in Superman: Red Son.  I liked Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow as it recounted the “last” Superman story.  Those last two examples are the product of exciting new ideas from visionary comic book writers Mark Millar and Alan Moore.  It’s a once-in-a-lifetime idea that makes Superman palatable for me – so why bother picking up Action Comics #1 in the first place? Continue reading →

Jan 24 2012

Aquaman 1-3

Originally Published December 2, 2011

may nobody question our nerddom againDC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Patrick Ehlers and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Patrick’s Blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Aquaman, while Patrick is hosting the discussion of Batman and Robin.

Drew:  Geoff Johns is acutely aware that Aquaman isn’t cool.  Most people are only familiar with him through his associations with the Justice League (or the Super Friends, as the case may be), where the comparison to the likes of Superman and Green Lantern have always been less than flattering.  The problems those super team-ups dealt with never seemed to play to Aquaman’s skill set, so he invariably acted as the third wheel, either just standing around like a normal guy or running off to see what the fish had to say (unless, of course, the writers resorted to some contrived way of putting the action in or near water, which always felt like an act of pity).  Johns wants to address these problems directly, much to the title’s detriment. Continue reading →

Jan 24 2012

Batman and Robin 1-3

Originally Published December 2, 2011

DC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Drew Baumgartner and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Drew’s blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Batman and Robin while Drew is hosting the discussion of Aquaman.

Patrick: We’re reading eight titles for this series.  Three are written by Geoff Johns and two are written by Peter Tomasi.  I think I would be able to pick out Johns’ writing without seeing his name on the cover – there’s a certain amount of aggressive cleverness in the dialogue and also a lot of posturing and inflated egos from his heroes.  But while I think we both agreed that Green Lantern Corps (Tomasi’s other book) is a little overstuffed with meaningless characters and incidents, Batman and Robin feels much more streamlined and deliberate.  As such, I think this is a really successful series and a lot of fun to boot. Continue reading →

Jan 24 2012

Green Lantern Corps 1-3

Originally Published November 25, 2011

may nobody question our nerddom againDC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Patrick Ehlers and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Patrick’s Blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Green Lantern Corps, while Patrick is hosting the discussion of Nightwing.

Drew:  One thing I’m really enjoying about The New 52 is getting to see how comics stories are structured.  Being able to compare the first, second, and third issues of numerous titles side by side has revealed striking similarities. I suppose some of the patterns are true of any serialized storytelling, from Dickens to Breaking Bad — using early chapters to establish the characters and their motivations while teasing the larger plot, ending chapters with cliffhangers, etc. — but some of the titles we’re following seem to follow a much stricter formula.  As we’re only three issues deep, the established formula isn’t complete, but we’ve already seen the same stages come up across a number of the titles we’re following, namely: a cold open, character exposition, and the first, disastrous encounter with the villain.  All of these stages are pretty common to storytelling, but it’s the specific way they’re being treated that makes me call it formulaic, and Green Lantern Corps exemplifies these methods beautifully. Continue reading →

Jan 24 2012

Nightwing 1-3

Originally Published November 25, 2011

DC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Drew Baumgartner and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Drew’s blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Nigtwing while Drew is hosting the discussion of Green Lantern Corps.

Patrick: I never read a Nightwing title before the new 52.  Much like my experience with Batgirl, I knew Nightwing from his various appearances in other comics I was reading anyway or other Batman media.  Nightwing – for those that don’t know – is Dick Grayson and was the original Robin.  I may not have known that much about Nightwing, but I know Dick Grayson – he’s sort of been the go-to Robin when depicting the dynamic duo on screen.  Dick’s origin story and Bruce Wayne’s origin story share one huge commonality – that of losing both parents at a young age at the hand of a petty criminal.  But while this loss drives Bruce to obsessively reform the city and take impossible revenge, Dick’s reaction to the loss has always been a bit more mysterious.  Does he fight crime to right some cosmic wrong?  It’s always been hard to nail down what exactly Dick fights for.  By this point in his run, he’s been Robin, Nightwing, Batman, and now he’s Nightwing.  I suspect that he fights crime because that’s basically the only life he knows anymore. Continue reading →

Jan 24 2012

Batman 1-3

Originally Posted November 18, 2011

may nobody question our nerddom againDC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Patrick Ehlers and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Patrick’s Blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Batman, while Patrick is hosting the discussion of Justice Leauge.

Drew:  One of the things I’m enjoying most about DC’s relaunch is seeing how the different titles deal with reintroducing their characters.  For most, this means at least a little awkward exposition, but once the writers get past the basics of who the characters are and why they do what they do, they are able to reintroduce and develop the themes that make the characters interesting.  It’s how these themes are emphasized and spun that really start to define these characters in the post-Flashpoint universe.  Scott Snyder has set about doing this beautifully with Batman, highlighting subtly and efficiently all of the things that make him who he is. Continue reading →

Jan 24 2012

Justice League 1-3

Originally Posted November 18, 2011

DC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Drew Baumgartner and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Drew’s blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Justice League, while Drew is hosting the discussion of Batman.

Patrick: At the end of the hardbound collection of the Flash: Rebirth mini-series that brought Barry Allen back as the Flash after a 23 year hiatus, there’s a nice little interview with Geoff Johns.  The interviewer tries to probe Johns for information on the story’s crazy science fiction elements and tries to tease out details about where all this is leading, but Johns remains singularly focused on one thing: the character of Barry Allen.  Johns’ preferred method of talking about Barry is describing his relationships Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and on and on.  It’s a singularly pointed fascination.  I wonder if he was already working on rebooting Justice League when he gave that interview, because if the new series is about anything, it’s about the relationships between these superheroes. Continue reading →

Jan 24 2012

Batgirl 1-3

Originally Published November 11, 2011

DC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Drew Baumgartner and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Drew’s blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Batgirl, while Drew is hosting the discussion of Green Lantern.

Patrick: Like any young man that went through puberty in the 90s, my introduction to the DC universe was the Batman animated series.  I saw it before I saw the Tim Burton flicks, I saw it before I even had a concept of who Superman or the Flash or Green Lantern were.  I was following the pair of spiritual successors to Tiny Toon Adventures.  The creative team for Tiny Toons split up after the show’s conclusion and created two discrete shows: one borrowing the fun, educational, goofy fun of Tiny Toons (Animaniacs) and the other borrowing the penchant for emotional stories anchored by rich characters.  This was Batman, The Animated Series.  Much has been made about the importance of that series, both for TV animation in general and for comic fans.  So I won’t belabor the issue.  I liked Batman a lot, and there is a soft spot in my heart for all of the characters the show introduced to me. Continue reading →

Jan 24 2012

Green Lantern 1-3

Originally Published November 11, 2011

may nobody question our nerddom again

DC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Patrick Ehlers and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Patrick’s Blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Green Lantern, while Patrick is hosting the discussion of Batgirl.

Drew:  Disclaimer: I am woefully unfamiliar with Green Lantern.  Different Lanterns have been featured in some media I’m more familiar with (namely the DCAU and occasional appearances in Batman books I’ve read), but I only have the loosest understanding of the character’s mythology.  I think this actually puts me in a good position for assessing the current run of Green Lantern, as DC’s reboot should ostensibly re-introduce all of their heroes.  The first three issues do this ably without going the dreaded “retelling of the origin story” route, which I worried would be all we’d get out of the new 52.  They also do this without pandering too much to newcomers, possibly the best of the titles I’ve been following. Continue reading →