Category Patrick Ehlers

Patrick Ehlers, Co-Editor-In-Chief
patrick@retcon-punch.com

Location: Los Angeles

History With Comics: Patrick came late to the comics game. After enjoying adaptations of Batman, Superman and the Justice League, he was finally tricked into picking up a set of graphic novels after seeing Robert Rodriguez’ Sin City. Naturally, this lead to further exploration of Frank Miller’s work, specifically with Batman. But it was not until an unexplainable desire to read Blackest Night that Patrick began purchasing the trades of Geoff Johns’ run Green Lantern. With a convenient new entry point and a handful of friends to follow him into the madness, Patrick began reading monthlies with the New 52’s Justice League #1.

New 52 Favorites: The Flash, Swamp Thing, Batwoman

Other Favorite Comics: Usagi Yojimbo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Saga

Nov 28 2012

Blue Beetle 14

Alternating Currents: Blue Beetle 14, Drew and ShelbyToday, Drew and Shelby are discussing Blue Beetle 14, originally released November 21st, 2012.

Drew: Last month, Patrick accused Blue Beetle of pulling a Million Dollar Baby — that is, getting you emotionally invested in the narrative, only to dramatically switch the story it is telling in the final act. I can totally understand being frustrated with Million Dollar Baby for tricking us into watching a heavy-handed morality play, but I actually appreciate that it did something more interesting with its scrappy, up-and-coming boxer (win or lose, Rocky has already been there). It suddenly became much harder to summarize, wading into heady ideas in lieu of simple events, and found something besides simple pride to mine from the relationship formed between Clint Eastwood and Hilary Swank’s characters. With that more specific definition — that Million Dollar Baby switches from a rote, event-driven story to a character-driven meditation on family — I would actually classify Blue Beetle‘s recent tonal change as a reverse-Million Dollar Baby. Continue reading →

Nov 27 2012

Birds of Prey 14

Today, Patrick and Mikyzptlk are discussing Birds of Prey 14, originally released November 21st, 2012.

Patrick: Why do we read comic books? Yes, I’d like to begin this write-up with a question so abstract. I ask because sometimes the answer isn’t readily apparent. Some of the comics we read are revolutionary — expressing incredible themes and concepts in exciting ways. But I’m not a total snob: I’m just as happy with simpler pleasures. Adventures are fun, characters are iconic, art is compelling. It’s a magic spell that’s been successfully cast on me time and time again. Birds of Prey may have dropped a few steps from those early issues we loved, but the spell shouldn’t have worn off entirely. Right?

Continue reading →

Nov 27 2012

Daredevil 20

Today, Patrick and (guest writer) Ray Bari are discussing Daredevil 20, originally released November  21st, 2012.

Patrick: Let’s talk about dramatic reveals. No, no — no spoilers before the jump (but boy-howdy: spoilers after the jump). There’s nothing worse than a botched reveal — the sense that the storytellers just don’t understand the value of their own story is discouraging as hell. But a well-deployed revelation — one that alters the fundamental nature of a character or conflict — should turn your stomach just from sheer excitement. Daredevil 20 drops two such revelations, and with an uncharacteristically graphic imagery, ratchets that stomach turning up to 11.

Continue reading →

Nov 26 2012

Catwoman 14

Alternating Currents: Catwoman 14, Patrick and Drew DFToday, Patrick and Drew are discussing Catwoman 14 originally released November 21st, 2012. This issue is part of the Death of the Family crossover event. Click here for complete DotF coverage.

Patrick: The scenario “Joker plays mind games with Selina Kyle” is ripe with potential for unpacking deep psychological issues. But that would be asking a fundamentally stupid series to try something smart. The result here is disastrous — a pointless diversion through visually incoherent space populated with flat characters playing a no-stakes game of Who Gives A Fuck.
Continue reading →

Nov 26 2012

Red Hood and the Outlaws 14

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Red Hood and the Outlaws 14, originally released November 21st, 2012.

Shelby: I’m in an interesting position reviewing Red Hood and the Outlaws. I didn’t start reading this title until the last arc with Kori and her home planet. I missed out on those first few issues that Drew and Patrick raved about. Even without reading those first issues, I can understand what they liked in this book; these are three very unique characters, and together they form a very unique team. But I feel like all the last handful of issues has done is show me what this book could be instead of just living up to its potential.
Continue reading →

Nov 23 2012

Batwoman 14

Today, Jack and Patrick are discussing Batwoman 14, originally released November 21st, 2012.

Jack: When we left off, Batwoman and Wonder Woman had just sought the assistance of Pegasus, who, confusingly, was not a winged horse, but an exceptionally grizzled, disheveled, and unhappy-looking man of purpleish complexion. In this issue, we start to get a grasp on why.  Pegasus is “dying” (or experiencing some not-yet-fully-explained immortal analog for death), and it is not a pleasant picture. Batwoman examines his wounds and mentally outlines a brutal altercation with Falchion, for which Pegasus is distinctly the worse.  He explains Falchion’s complicity in Medusa’s sadistic, misanthropic, world-domination plans. He says that if Wonder Woman will cut off his head so that he can die “a warrior’s death,” he will point them in Medusa’s direction. Batwoman is appalled, but Wonder Woman agrees. Unsurprisingly, he sends them back to Gotham. Wonder Woman kills him, then quietly agonizes over the decision. Continue reading →

Nov 23 2012

Supergirl 14

Alternating Currents: Supergirl 14, Drew and Patrick HelToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing Supergirl 14, originally released November 21, 2012. This issue is part of the H’el on Earth crossover event. Click here for complete H’el on Earth coverage.

Drew: For being a site run by DC fanboys (and girls), we’re not great about covering Superman’s corner of the DC universe. In fact, aside from a few annuals and zero month, we’ve barely covered any titles anchored by DC’s oldest superhero. There’s plenty to not like about the way DC has handled Supes in the New 52, but our two biggest problems hinge around the increasingly strained explanations to superpower villains and the often lazy assumption that Krypton is automatically interesting. With Supergirl 14, the H’el on Earth crossover seems poised to give us an emotionally satisfying exploration of both of those ideas, which could serve as an important turning point for the Superman family.

Continue reading →

Nov 21 2012

Saga 7

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Saga 7, originally released November 14th, 2012.

Patrick: Parents! Amirite? You spend your whole life trying to strike out a path for yourself, establishing your own values and building your own relationships, but parents can always re-enter your world totally ruin everything. They mean well, and they’re not even bad people, but the disconnect between the present and the past is never so pronounced as when someone’s parents are in town. Saga 7 spends a little time getting to know Marko’s parents, both as they were in Marko’s childhood on Wreath and now, when confronted with his half-bred daughter. As the holidays approach, this is an anxiety with which we can all readily identify. Lucky for most of us, that parental baggage doesn’t come with centuries worth of pointless warfare as a side dish.
Continue reading →

Nov 20 2012

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Microseries 8: Fugitoid

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Microseries 8: Fugitoid, originally released September 5th, 2012. 

Drew: Creating compelling characters is hard. Simply conceiving of multi-dimensional, realistic, sympathetic characters is hard enough — driving many writers to make extensive biographical sketches before even attempting to include them in a story — but it’s even more complicated when you want to integrate those characters and their unique motives and traits into your world. For most narratives, the basics of characterization can be handled up-front, as the major players are introduced, but for ongoing serial narratives, introducing new characters often requires clunky exposition that slows the momentum of the story. With the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles microseries, Editor Bobby Curnow and crew have realized a clever work-around, offering a space to explore the motives of the characters without taking time away from the propulsive narrative going on in the main series. It’s a brilliant idea, and Fugitoid is an excellent proof-of-concept. Continue reading →

Nov 19 2012

Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E 14

Today, Patrick and Scott are discussing Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E 14, originally released October 10th, 2012. This issue is part of the RotWorld crossover event. Click here for complete RotWorld coverage. 

Patrick: 2003 was supposed to be the year that the Matrix series ruled the world. To follow-up their genre defining 1999 masterpiece, the Wachoskis planned an all-out media blitzkrieg. Over the course of six months, they released two enormous science-fiction action movies, a set of animated shorts that tied directly into those movies and a AAA video game whose narrative wove throughout the movies and the shorts. Naturally, the movies were the flagships of this Matrix armada, so when they weren’t very good, the whole fleet sank. But I played the everloving shit out of that Enter the Matrix video game. It worked because Enter the Matrix had to embrace conventions of a video game directly, instead of stylishly dancing around them (as the films did). It might have seemed strange when Morpheus would tell you to collect three keys to access the next level, but there’s something refreshing about that objective-based narrative — especially considering that the terms of victory in the Matrix movies were becoming ever more grim and convoluted. Frankenstein is the Enter the Matrix of Rotworld: what it lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in clarity of objective.

Continue reading →