Look, 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, we discuss Star Wars Doctor Aphra 2, Black Hood Season 2 2, Jem and the Misfits 1, Slam 2, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe 5. Also, we’ll be discussing The Fix 7 Tuesday and Archie 15 on Wednesday, so come back for those! As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Category Ryan Mogge
Hawkeye 1
Today, Ryan M. and Taylor are discussing Hawkeye 1, originally released December 14th, 2016. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Ryan M.: Los Angeles is a mainstay of detective fiction. There is something about the contrast between the sunshine and the darkness within the worst of humanity. Modern noir is rife with the stories of private investigators getting entangled in what starts as a simple case but turns into a much bigger problem, all the while surrounded by the superficial beauty of the city. In Hawkeye 1, Kelly Thompson and Leonardo Romero not only establish the series’ specific version of Los Angeles but also give us a spin on Kate Bishop that feels fresh, while still acknowledging her history.
Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 12/14/16
Look, 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, we discuss Black 3, Captain Kid 3, Green Valley 3, Reborn 3, Star Wars: Poe Dameron 9, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 65. We’ll be discussing Moonshine 3 on Tuesday and Hadrian’s Wall 4 on Wednesday, so come back for those! As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Motor Crush 1
Today, Drew and Ryan M. are discussing Motor Crush 1, originally released December 7th, 2016. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Drew: I’ve been thinking a lot recently about story structure, and particularly Dan Harmon’s distillation of the hero’s journey. Joseph Campbell’s monomyth was designed to be as general as possible, so that it might be applied universally, but Harmon takes it a step further, stripping away specifics like “the belly of the beast” and “death and resurrection” to land on an ordered set of eight words: You, Need, Go, Search, Find, Take, Return, and CHANGE. Harmon explains all of those in greater depth, but for the purposes of this discussion, I’m interested in the first two: you (establishing a protagonist in a zone of comfort) and need (establishing a need for the character that might draw them outside of that zone of comfort). I’m used to that opening quadrant of the “story circle” — the quadrant that ends when the character leaves their zone of comfort — being relatively small, moving on to the meat of the journey quickly. That’s definitely the case with Motor Crush 1, which pushes its protagonist out of her comfort zone so quickly, I’m honestly not sure what “normal” looks like for her. Continue reading
Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 12/7/16
Look, 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, we discuss The Woods 28, Glitterbomb 4, The Wicked + The Divine 24, and Faith 6. Today we also discussed Star Wars: Doctor Aphra 1, so check that out, and we’ll be discussing Motor Crush 1 on Tuesday and Cannibal 3 on Wednesday, so come back for those! As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
DC New Talent Showcase
It’s the 2016 DC Comics New Talent Showcase! To cover it, Retcon Punch has assembled out finest old talent to say something about each of these stories. There are a lot of promising starts in here, along with a handful that don’t start so well, but very few full-fledged stories. Still, every series has a beginning, so let’s get in to how these new creators would kick off their own story arcs. (There’s no DC Round Up this week, but we did write about the Batman Annual 1 on Thursday, and we will be discussing the Superman Annual 1 on Tuesday, so come back for that!)
Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 11/23/16
Look, 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, we discuss Jem and the Holograms 21, Outcast 23, Snotgirl 4, Star Wars 25, and Star Wars: Han Solo 5. We discussed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 64 on Monday and A.D.: After Death Volume 1 on Tuesday, so check those out! As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Slam 1
Today, Shelby and Ryan are discussing Slam 1, originally released November 16th, 2016. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Shelby: I’ve always been fascinated by roller derby. I’ve loved quad skating ever since I was a kid; I’ve thought about trying out for roller derby, but the Chicago groups meet pretty far south of me, and without a car it isn’t really feasible. Plus, I’ll be perfectly frank, it would take a LOT of work to get my cheeseburger-loving self into shape; derby girls do NOT mess around — they are serious athletes. It’s why I have such a crush on the sport as a whole. These women are strong and tough, relying on their own personal strength and the strength of the bond they have with their teammates. Writer Pamela Ribon and artist Veronica Fish channel that strength perfectly in issue one of Slam! Continue reading
Marvel Round-Up: Comics Released 11/16/16
We try to stay up on what’s going on at Marvel, but we can’t always dig deep into every issue. The solution? Our weekly round-up of titles coming out of Marvel Comics. Today, we’re discussing All-New Wolverine 14, Amazing Spider-Man 21, Black Panther 8, Captain America Sam Wilson 15, Deadpool 22, Doctor Strange 14, Jessica Jones 2, Old Man Logan 13, Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat 12, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 14 and Uncanny Inhumans 15. And come back on Tuesday for our discussion of Silk 14, and on Wednesday for our discussion of Thanos 1! As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
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Avengers 1.1
Today, Spencer and Ryan M. are discussing Avengers 1.1, originally released November 9th, 2016. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Spencer: Take 2014’s Amazing Spider-Man 1.1-1.6 (which told a previously untold story set in Peter Parker’s first few months as a hero) and mix it together with Mark Waid and Barry Kitson’s JLA Year One (which retold the Justice League’s post-Crisis origin in a modern setting) and you’ll get something resembling The Avengers 1.1. Waid and Kitson take their trademark stylistic combination of classic storytelling set in the modern day (which Waid has also been employing in his modern-day Avengers stories) and use it to tell an “untold” tale of the Avengers’ past. If you have any experience with the aforementioned stories or creative teams, then the result is probably exactly what you were expecting. Continue reading
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