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

Apr 2 2012

Aquaman 7

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Aquaman 7, originally released March 28th, 2012.

Shelby:   I felt hugely relieved after reading this month’s Aquaman. After the less-than-exciting conclusion to the Trench arc, followed up with a TERRIBLE issue about Mera’s trip to town, I was beginning to regret picking up Aquaman. “Maybe I was wrong,” I thought to myself. “Maybe Aquaman can only be the butt of jokes! Maybe the awesomeness he exuded in Blackest Night and Brightest Day was all an elaborate ruse by Geoff Johns to sucker people into reading Aquaman, like a huge practical joke!” Happily, this issue has assuaged my doubts with an exciting introduction to what I’m hoping will be a really fun arc about the mystery of Atlantis. 
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Mar 29 2012

The Flash 7

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing the Flash 7, originally released March 28th, 2012.

Drew: When we wrote about the Flash 6 last month, we couldn’t get over the thematic richness of that issue as it explored concepts of cause and effect through time and space. One of the reasons that issue is so satisfying is because it speaks to our own experience of events — we can arrange them chronologically, but they often have connections to distant moments in time. This is the Flash as the mortals around him (or, perhaps more importantly, comics fans) experience him; sometimes out-of-order chronologically, but never emotionally. With the Flash 7, Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato set out to do something much more ambitious, as they put the burden of cause on our hero without any real understanding of the effect. Continue reading →

Mar 26 2012

Birds of Prey 7

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Birds of Prey 7, originally released March 21st, 2012.

Drew: Issue 2 of Birds of Prey opened with Katana standing over a roomful of Yakuza she had just killed. When we first see her in battle alongside the birds later in the issue, she is running through one of Choke’s henchmen. Dinah comments on how Katana is “everything I’d hoped for. Lethal. Disciplined. Able to watch my back.” Dinah even reminds her that they need “at least one of them alive,” which strikes me as permission to kill all but one of the goons they’re fighting. In fact, they kill a lot of people during that scene, so Dinah’s insistence in issue 7 that “Rule number one” is “We don’t kill people,” is a bit of a stretch. Continue reading →

Mar 23 2012

Nightwing 7

Today, Patrick and Peter are discussing Nightwing 7, originally released March 21st, 2012.

Patrick: Drew and I like identifying themes. Oh the curse of the liberally educated! When we first started this comic-review-practice, we both quickly picked out the theme of “you can never go back” from the pages of Nightwing. It’s a potent concept and one that hits double-hard for recent college grads that insist and transplanting themselves thousands of miles away from their friends an families. Boo hoo, Patrick, we all have problems. Since our initial 3-issue write-up, the thematic and narrative focuses have broadened, usually to the detriment of the storytelling. But Nightwing #7 reclaims the series’ former glory by addressing its central mystery and staying emotionally on-point. Oh and a cameo from the Batman don’t hurt none, either.

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Mar 22 2012

Batman 7

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Batman 6, originally released February 15th, 2012.

Drew: Batman 7 begins in a pivotal moment in Bruce’s history; as he sits, broken and bleeding in his own library, considering the bat that has just broken through the window and lit on his father’s bust. It feels like familiar territory, but as the bat flies off into the night, creating an oh-so-familiar silhouette against the full moon, something…changes. Continue reading →

Mar 21 2012

Captain Atom 1-6

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Captain Atom, originally released September 21st, 2011, October 19th, 2011, November 16th, 2011, December 21st 2011, January 18th 2012, and February 15th, 2012.

Drew: Early in the second issue of Captain Atom, our hero, Nathaniel Adam, is immobilized by an overwhelming barrage of data. Replace “data” with “references,” and you more or less have a description of my experience with this title. This may very well be the most post-modern title of the New 52, which should say a lot to anyone who has read any of Grant Morrison’s run on Action Comics. To be fair, writers J.T. Krul and Freddie Williams II make those allusions largely explicit, so when I describe the book as “Dr. Manhattan by way of Top Gun with a little of John Carpenter’s The Thing and just a hint of Beauty and the Beast,” it’s not meant as a glib dismissal, but a frank (and efficient) summary of the tone it’s going for. Continue reading →

Mar 19 2012

Green Lantern 7


Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Green Lantern 7, originally released March 14, 2012.

Patrick: Remember the incredibly short-lived television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles? I watched the Pilot and maybe the two episodes that followed, but gave up on it pretty quickly thereafter. It just wasn’t especially good television and I don’t really care about the Terminator franchise. Even still, there was this lingering feeling that maybe I gave up on it too early because I resented seeing Summer Glau as anyone but River Tam. But I knew I made the right decision a few weeks later when the promo for the new episode used the the following line to tease a reveal: “You won’t believe what they find in the box.” If I won’t believe it, then just show it to me and let me not believe it – there’s nothing that kills my hard-on for mysteries like saying “OH MY GOD, LOOK HOW MYSTERIOUS THIS IS.” With that little bit of background, let’s dig into “The Secret of the Indigo Tribe (Part 1).” Continue reading →

Mar 15 2012

Batwoman 7

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Batwoman 7, originally released March 14th 2012.

Drew: Last month, Batwoman kicked off its “To Drown the World” arc,  separating the action into six  separate times and perspectives: Batwoman’s, Jacob’s, Kate’s, Maro’s, Maggie’s, and Chase’s. It’s an interesting gambit, but one that makes assessing individual issues quite difficult. Each mini-story only has a few pages devoted to it each issue, which means they don’t have time for more than one or two story beats. I’m not entirely certain why the story is being told this way, but I have faith that writers J.H. Williams and W. Handen Blackman will more than justify breaking the story up in this way. Until that happens, though, these issues are a little frustrating in terms of how little each story moves. Continue reading →

Mar 15 2012

Batgirl 7

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Batgirl 7, originally released March 14th 2012.

Shelby: I am the only ladywriter here at Retcon Punch. I’m certainly not trying to minimize the “ladyness” of some of the other writers; I think Patrick and Drew may be bigger feminists than I am. Feminists or not, I think being the ladywriter gives me a certain empathetic view point when it comes to reading about our lady heroes. Or, it would if I thought I could at all relate to these metahuman women, running around with their tights and boob windows. Enter: Barbara Gordon. She has the same sort of inner monologue that I have; she doubts herself, she’s unsure, she’s conflicted. Of course, she’s got much bigger inner fears and issues than I do, but I can understand her. And that is why I love reading about her.

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Mar 13 2012

Detective Comics 7


Today, Peter and Patrick are discussing Detective Comics 7, originally released March 7th 2012.

Peter: Tony Daniel has a great history with DC Comics. He has written and/or drawn some great books. In fact, he drew one of my favorite books, The Flash: Fastest Man Alive #13. His art couples with a great story, and unfortunately, results with the death of Bart Allen. In his new run of Detective Comics, Daniel does a great job with the art, hands down, giving it that noir, shadow-y feel that I would expect in a detective story. However, Daniel is still leaving something to be desired from a story point of view. I have enjoyed some of his previous writing, such as Battle for the Cowl, or even Detective Comics #1, but as his story progresses and comes to a close in the second story arc, I’m still dazed and confused as to what is going on and why should I care.

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