Category Shelby Peterson

Shelby Peterson, Editor, Designer
shelby@retcon-punch.com

Location: Chicago

History With Comics: While the X-Men will always hold a special place in her heart, Shelby’s first love was Batman. Between Michael Keaton and Kevin Conroy, she fell hard. Like many, her first graphic novel was The Watchmen in college, followed by a handful of the Batman must-reads. Fast forward to last year: Shelby discovered the awesomeness of the DC universe through Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern Rebirth and Blackest Night. She once again fell in love with a comic book character, but this time it was Neil Gaiman’s Morpheus from his Sandman series, and now all her thoughts are translated into 8 or 9 panels per page with the occasional 2-page spread.

New 52 Favorites: Batgirl, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Batman

Other Favorite Comics:

Jan 29 2014

Black Widow 2

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Today, Shelby and Spencer are discussing Black Widow 2, originally released January 22nd, 2014. 

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Shelby: I have lived alone for a little over 3 years. Like anything, living alone has its pros and cons. I love having space that is completely mine, that I can do anything I want with because I don’t have to answer to anyone but myself. I’m a pretty independent person, and living alone is a part of that. On the other hand, sometimes being alone is just really lonely, and at the end of the day I just want someone else to be around. Even with that loneliness, I prefer living alone; having to share my space with someone all the time seems like a weird idea, now. I almost can’t imagine letting someone in to my life and space like that anymore. For Natasha Romanov, being alone is just a part of the job description, which makes it easy enough to carry into her personal life as well.
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Jan 28 2014

All-New X-Men 22

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Today,  Taylor and Shelby are discussing All-New X-Men 22, originally released January 22, 2014. This issue is part of the Trial of Jean Grey event.

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Taylor: Poor Jean Grey, girl just can’t catch break. When you’re one of the world’s most powerful mutants, it’s hard to lead anything resembling a normal, happy life. There’s always going to be someone who wants to harness your power or someone who wants your help for good or for evil. If that weren’t bad enough, when you wield the powers she does maintaining your everyday life and personal relationships becomes a challenge in and of itself. The ability to read people’s thoughts while maybe useful can also be a burden, for the old axiom “ignorance is bliss” sometimes proves too true. All-New X-Men 22 begins The Trial of Jean Grey, a crossover event with Guardians of the Galaxy, and if this issue is a harbinger of things of things to come, it will be a blast. Not only will we get some great “X-Men in Space” action, but the complex of character of Jean Grey will step into the limelight virtually guaranteeing an entering and emotional ride.

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Jan 27 2014

Harley Quinn 2

harley quinn 2Today, Spencer and Shelby are discussing Harley Quinn 2, originally released January 22nd, 2014.

“I think I may have found a project I’d actually enjoy doing: helping these cats and dogs. They should be rewarded for not being people. I hate people.”

April Ludgate, Parks and Recreation

Spencer: So far, both issues of Harley Quinn have featured its heroine rescuing animals from oppressive environments. Harley being an animal lover isn’t really a surprise—she’s basically a big kid, plus she’s canonically owned and raised laughing hyenas in the past—but it still seemed a bit odd to me at first that this book was hitting this point so hard. I suppose it ultimately makes sense, though; when writing a book featuring a villain protagonist you’ve got to make sure the antagonists are even more loathsome, and everybody hates animal abuse—even supervillains—right? Continue reading →

Jan 24 2014

Batman 27

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Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Batman 27, originally released January 22nd, 2014.

Shelby: We all know why Bruce Wayne became Batman: parents killed, city corrupted, a cowardly and superstitious lot, etc. We get it, we get Batman. But that has never been enough for Scott Snyder. Throughout his run on Batman, Snyder has forced Bruce to recognize his allies, and nearly lose them. In Night of the Owls, the very city of Gotham seemed to turn on Batman, and Death of the Family saw Bruce realize how important the Bat-family is to him just in time to nearly lose it (or actually lose it, the family certainly hasn’t been the same since). While on its surface, Zero Year is another retelling of the Batman origin, Snyder actually gives us a much closer look at Bruce’s motivations, and the beginnings of those relationships he grew to value so dearly.
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Jan 22 2014

Thor: God of Thunder 17

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Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Thor: God of Thunder 17, originally released January 15th, 2014.

Shelby: Sometimes you have to sacrifice what you want for the greater good. If it’s the happiness of just you versus the happiness of many, you just gotta bite the bullet and go for the greater good. It sucks, but it’s the right thing to do, and generally there is some consolation found in that. But if the greater good you’ve sacrificed your happiness for actually leads to even greater suffering, where does that leave you? I can tell you this much; it leaves me with a very unsatisfying end to the latest arc of Thor: God of Thunder.
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Jan 21 2014

Rat Queens 4

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Today, Scott and Shelby are discussing Rat Queens 4, originally released January 15th, 2014.

Scott: Rat Queens is a perfect title for a comic, or for anything really. It’s an awesome dichotomy, one word evoking such filth, the other such poise. It’s repulsive yet powerful. Grotesque yet graceful. It’s also an incredibly apt descriptor for the series’ four main characters. They’re pretty unconventional, even by the standards of female mercenary squads. They’ll go do mushrooms in the woods one day, then unravel a complex murder plot the next. And I appreciate that they’re “Rat Queens” and not “The Rat Queens.” It’s not a title for their team, it’s just who they are. Rat Queens. This is a young series, and writer Kutis J. Wiebe has done an impressive job of building characters who live up to the title.
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Jan 17 2014

Batgirl 27

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Today, Shelby and Mikyzptlk are discussing Batgirl 27, originally released January 15th, 2014. This issue is part of the Gothtopia event. We talked with John Layman about Gothtopia, you can find that interview here.

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Shelby: 

“It was a disaster. No one would accept the program…I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream your primitive cerebrum kept trying to awake from.”

Agent Smith, The Matrix

There’s some truth to ol’ Agent Smith’s theory. Humans do in part define their reality through suffering, because without suffering how would we know joy? In order to recognize and truly appreciate the good in life, you have to know the bad, which is the problem Batgirl is running into as she tries to understand her stay in Gothtopia.
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Jan 14 2014

Green Arrow 27

green arrow 27

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Green Arrow 27, originally released January 8th, 2014.

Patrick: The mystery is an amazingly compelling form of storytelling. It’s also pretty straightforward: there’s a piece of information we don’t have and the author assures us that the reward of experiencing the story will be having the mystery solved before our very eyes. But there’s one big drawback, principally that the subject of a mystery takes places in the past. Sure, a detective might stop a killer from killing a second time, but they’re working to figure out a thing that already happened. The mysteries of the Green Arrow universe are vast, but even the most stunning revelations play out in the past. That might leave us with an interesting present, but it’s hard not to feel like we’re a little late to the party. Continue reading →

Jan 13 2014

Young Avengers 15

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Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Young Avengers 15, originally released January 8th, 2014. 

slim-bannerShelby: New Year’s Eve is a night of…well, generally heavy drinking, but it’s also a night of contemplation and renewal. The last year, with it’s good and bad, is over; whether you liked it or not, it’s over, and it’s time to prepare for a fresh start in the new year. I definitely understood that this year, since I moved to a new apartment December 29th. It was a short move, just a block away, but having lived in my last place for 3 years made it a really big change. There’s the “out with the old” as you throw out a bunch of crap you can’t believe you kept for so long, and the “in with the new” as you figure out a new way to arrange your home. Like New Year’s Eve, it’s a bittersweet thing, and Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie (with a little help from their friends) capture it perfectly at the end of their run on Young Avengers. Nothing but spoilers and revelations ahead, folks.
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Jan 10 2014

Black Widow 1

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Today, Ethan and Shelby are discussing Black Widow 1, originally released January 8th, 2014. 

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Ethan: Adult life teaches you to juggle. Whether it’s as a stay-at-home parent, working a 9-to-5, or holding down more than one job at the same time, everything comes down to how well you can keep it all in the air. There’s the work-life balance, figuring out how to be in a serious relationship, managing different personalities in the office — there’s never a shortage of things to keep you on your toes. Natalia Romonova, aka Natasha, aka Black Widow knows a thing or two about this, though her version of finding balance is a bit more exotic and demanding than most. That is, unless YOUR average day involves infiltration and throwing people out of windows. Continue reading →