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

May 30 2014

Thunderbolts 26

thunderbolts 26

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Thunderbolts 26, originally released May 28th, 2014.

Patrick: Every time you meet an enemy of the Hulk, you gotta ask yourself: this guy’s not really a bad guy, right? Thaddeus Ross — in his platonic, Hulk-huntin’ phase — is a totally rational individual. Who wouldn’t want to find a way to stomp out the big green guy? Oh sure, he’s more or less learned to control himself now, but Ross’ goal is fundamentally noble. That’s part of the reason the anti-hero label never stuck to him all that well in Thunderbolts. He’s not like the rest of these guys – they’re all amoral killers only looking out for their own selfish ends. But should that make them any more expendable than anyone else? With his final issue on Thunderbolts, Charles Soule reinforces that Ross’ view of his teammates, past and present, is precisely what makes him worthy of their company. But like most of the darker revelations in this series, its tinged with eventual sweetness, and we’re allowed to love these monsters all the same. Continue reading →

May 29 2014

Batman 31

Alternating Currents: Batman 31, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing Batman 31, originally released May 28th, 2014.

Drew: Between comics, movies, tv shows, video games, radio serials, and children’s imaginations, Batman is arguably the most prolific fictional character in history. With that long, multi-media history comes a secondary history of reinvention. I’ve seen it said that each generation redefines Batman, but in my mind, he’s revamped far more often than once a generation. Each new iteration brings changes, some more superficial than others, but what is it that actually defines Batman? What is his immutable core? The thing that would actually make him a different character if it was absent? With Zero Year, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have already given lie to what many people would assume were givens — grimness chief amongst them — but issue 31 finds them asserting an essential element I hadn’t expected: masochism. Continue reading →

May 28 2014

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 3/21/14

round upLook, there are a lot of comics out there. Too many. We can never hope to have in-depth conversations about all of them. But, we sure can round up some of the more noteworthy titles we didn’t get around to from the week. Today, Drew and Patrick discuss Justice League 30, Batman and Frankenstein 31, Uncanny X-Men 21, Batman Eternal 7, The Unwritten Apocalypse 5, Batman / Superman 11, Hulk 3, and Thor: God of Thunder 22.

slim-banner4Patrick: It seems like no matter what kinds of nuanced stories are being told in the DCU, we all just wanna talk about the conclusion to Forever Evil. Well, let it never be said that Retcon Punch is impervious to the will of everyone. Justice League 30 sees the team back in action for the first time since September (believe it). The issue opens with the least necessary flashforward I’ve ever seen in my life: a Secret Society meeting busted up by the Justice League. The big shocker — presumably — is that Lex, Shazam and Captain Cold are among the Leaguers. Big surprise, if you didn’t see the cover of the issue, which you almost certainly did if you have eyes. Continue reading →

May 28 2014

Deadpool Annual 2

Alternating Currents: Deadpool Annual 2, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing Deadpool Annual 2, originally released May 21st, 2014

Drew: Humor — and especially jokes — are defined by our expectations. A set-up literally sets up a framework that the punchline carefully subverts. “Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?” only makes sense if there was ever an expectation that the joke-teller was going to say “banana”. The point is, those expectations are absolutely crucial to the success of a joke, which makes a jokey comic book character like Deadpool a bit of an anomaly. He exists in a world filled with superpowered mutants, aliens, robots, and gods — it’s hard to have a concrete set of expectations when anything is possible, anyway. So, how do you keep Deadpool from disappearing up his own butt? With the Deadpool Annual 2, writer Christopher Hastings chooses to mine the expectations we have for Spider-Man, resulting in a substantive deconstruction of Spidey, but revealing little about Wade himself.

Continue reading →

May 27 2014

Elektra 2

elektra 2 Today, Patrick and Spencer discussing Elektra 2, originally released on May 21st, 2014.

Patrick: Last time, we discussed the lengths Elektra goes through to not be defined by the actions taken against her (or even those taken on her behalf). The obvious point of comparison is the bounty hunter Bloody Lips, introduced to us in that issue, but left off our heroine’s radar. Bloody Lips gains skills and perspectives by eating the flesh of his enemies. Rather than having traits forced upon him, his borrowed abilities are elective. It’s hard to distinguish between the morality of these two characters: both are mercenaries willing to kill in order to get closer to their goal. The second issue starts to delineate hero from villain as Bloody Lips is propelled forward by instinct and Elektra is held back by compassion. Continue reading →

May 27 2014

Daredevil 3

daredevil 3Today, Patrick and Scott are discussing Daredevil 3, originally released May 21st, 2014. 

Patrick: Shortly after I moved to Chicago, I was looking for jobs and had landed an interview for a secretarial job at an accounting firm. Or… maybe it was an accounting firm, maybe it was a bank? Something with money and finances, that much I knew for sure. I practiced answering questions about myself, I wore my best suit, and walked into the interview wholly unprepared to ask for a job at an institution I knew next-to-nothing about. I had underestimated just how hard it was going to be to get this job, and my confidence proved to be my undoing, as I was heading back to my car 15 minutes later. That’s the danger of moving to a new city and looking for a new job: you simply don’t know what you don’t know, and all of your previous assumptions get thrown out the window. Daredevil 3 finds Matt Murdock overestimating his likelihood of success over and over again. How do you think that works out for him? Continue reading →

May 23 2014

Chat Cave: Amazing Spider-Man 2

Editor’s Note: Sorry this is coming out so late, gang!

Following only five years after the conclusion of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films, the first Amazing Spider-Man struggled to justify its own existence. Amazing Spider-Man 2 suffers from a different proximity effect garnering early comparisons to the similarly overstuffed and tonally inconsistent Spider-Man 3. Are those comparisons fair? You can bet we have thoughts on that. Welcome to the Chat Cave.
Continue reading →

May 23 2014

Zero 8

Today, Taylor and Patrick are discussing Zero 8, originally released May 21st, 2014.

Taylor: I, an unmarried 29-year-old male, just bought two picture books and I couldn’t be more pleased with my purchase. The books, entitled Mr. Wuffles and Journey were brought to my attention by an NPR article and — due in large part to being able to preview the books in this piece — I snatched them up as soon as they came to my attention. Now, I’m not normally one for picture books. Or rather, I should say, I haven’t been one in the past. “They’re made for kids right?” — went my line of thinking. When I bought the books, though, I realized that picture books and comics have a lot in common. The most obvious commonality between the two mediums is that they both tell stories in large part through pictures. With this in mind, I have a new fascination not only in picture books, but in stories that can be told without words. Zero 8 is one of these stories, showing us just how powerful pictures can be and how, sometimes, the most powerful words are those which go unsaid.

Continue reading →

May 23 2014

The New 52: Futures End 3

 

futures end 3

Today, Shelby leads a discussion on The New 52: Futures End 2, originally released May 21st, 2014.

Shelby: A future ending we already know, which has already been put into play in the present: that’s the set-up we’ve got for Futures End. With that hopeless scenario, one wonders how the myriad of writers on this book can make us care about what happens. They’ve definitely got their work cut out for them; in addition to the inevitable situation the heroes are dealing with, the heroes themselves come from some of the more obscure corners of the DCU. Don’t get me wrong, I love Frankenstein as much as the next gal, but he’s not exactly a staple in the New 52. So, how are Brian Azzarello, Keith Griffin, Jeff Lemire, and Dan Jurgens making me care about these characters in this scene? Turns out, they aren’t, really.

Continue reading →

May 22 2014

Forever Evil 7

forever evil 7Today, Spencer and Patrick are discussing Forever Evil 7, originally released May 21st, 2014. 

villain div

Spencer: I often find myself thinking of Geoff Johns as “the comic-bookiest writer in all of comics”, in the sense that so much of his work revolves around the history and mythology of the characters he’s writing, and enjoying his work often depends on having a history with the characters yourself. That’s not necessarily good or bad on its own; Johns’ style has its strong points and its weak ones, and while examples of both pop up in Forever Evil 7, it fortunately falls mostly on the “strong” side. Continue reading →