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 18 2013

Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E 16 (Final Issue)

frankenstein 16

Today, Shelby and Scott are discussing Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E., originally released January 16, 2013.

Shelby: I’m going to be honest: I just finished the last issue of Frankenstein, and I have no idea what just happened. I’m not sure what I was expecting; the last issue wrapped up so conveniently with the formation of the nigh-unstoppable undead army we’ve seen in Animal Man. Even though this issue isn’t a part of Rotworld, and even though it is the last issue of the title, I guess I thought there would be some sort of connectivity between issues 15 and 16, that we would see some kind of closure for these characters we’ve come to (briefly) know. Instead of having Frank go out in a blaze of glory, Rotworld style, or having Frank and Nina live happily ever after, Matt Kindt has returned these two to “same old, same old” and the effect is…rather hollow.
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Jan 17 2013

Batman 16

Alternating Currents: Batman 16, Drew and ShelbyToday, Drew and Shelby are discussing Batman 16 originally released January 16th, 2013. This issue is part of the Death of the Family crossover event. Click here for complete DotF coverage.

Drew: One of the most thrilling things about Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight was the surprisingly strong case it made for Joker’s way of thinking. Obviously, we aren’t meant to agree with his murderous methods, but any time he’s given a chance to explain his worldview, he actually makes a pretty compelling argument. The effect was a surprisingly nuanced take on the nature of freedom, drawing our attention to just how untenable Batman’s outlook is, as well. Scott Snyder manages a similar trick in Batman 16, making Joker’s argument alluring, even as his methods are utterly horrifying. Continue reading →

Jan 16 2013

Chat Cave: Crossover Events

Crisis on Infinite Earths was a significant event for DC’s universe, but its more enduring legacy might just be the very concept of an expansive, line-wide event. Not all crossover events need to be quite so large — DC has recently seemed more fond of events crossing into small handfuls of titles, and only for a few months at a time. Some of DC’s Vice Presidents may balk at the notion that they seem to like events, but with over a third of their titles recently involved in one of their five ongoing events (with more announced), they’ve become all but unavoidable for fans. We here at Retcon Punch are no exception, but are these events welcome? Welcome to the Chat Cave.
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Jan 15 2013

Fantastic Four 1-3

fantastic four 1-3

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Fantastic Four 1-3, originally released November 14th, 2012, December 12th, 2012, and January 9th, 2013.

Shelby: Family stuff is hard. There’s something about the family dynamic, this group of people you’re stuck with, for better or for worse, for the rest of your life, that makes everything a thousand times more difficult than it would be otherwise. The Fantastic Four has the perfect storm (no pun intended) of layered family dynamics: husband and wife, children, an actual uncle, and the family friend you can call uncle, all going on a little trip. On top of all that, you’ve got the fact that all the adults are super-powered saviors of the universe, and the little trip involves traveling the very folds of time and space. Will Matt Fraction be able to balance the mundane family dynamic with the crazy space adventures? More importantly, is Reed Richards always such a dick?

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Jan 11 2013

Swamp Thing 16

swamp thing 16 ROT

Today, Shelby and Michael are discussing Swamp Thing 16, originally released January 9th, 2013. This issue is part of the RotWorld crossover event. Click here for complete RotWorld coverage. 

Shelby: Enough “Poor Alec.” Last month, we talked about Alec’s lonely road and his single shining star, Abby. Well, that’s all over! He’s got the resources of Batman in the hands of Barbara Gordon, one of the smartest people in the DCU. He can feel his lady love leading him on, and now that he’s got the backup he needs, he’s going to put an end to this Rot shit once and for all! It’s Swamp Thing’s rallying call! He’s gonna kick some ass in the greenest way imagined! No more pity, it’s time for action! Just as we start to get really pumped, though, Scott Snyder reminds us that it might actually be too late after all.

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Jan 11 2013

Animal Man 16

animal man 16 ROT

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Animal Man 16, originally released January 9th, 2013. This issue is part of the RotWorld crossover event. Click here for complete RotWorld coverage. 

Patrick: The End of the World. Pretty bleak subject matter, right? But we can go bleaker. Let’s kill as many superheroes as possible, and then use their grotesquely reanimated corpses to attack our protagonists. Also, no one’s safe, so those protagonists themselves can get picked off at a moment’s notice. Still not grim enough? Then let’s keep flashing back to the putrid death of our hero’s family. These are the principal building blocks of Rotworld. So if I’m using the adjectives “grim,” “grotesque” and “bleak” so much, why is this issue so much fun?

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Jan 9 2013

A + X 3

Alternating Currents: A + X 3, Drew and Shelby

Today, Drew and Shelby are discussing A + X 3, originally released December 19th, 2012.

Drew: Size can dictate a lot about a narrative, to the type of tone it can sustain to the very form it’s hung on. We currently seem to be in an era fetishizing ever longer dramatic narratives, hailing television shows with season-long arcs (or longer), and pouring out in droves to see stories broken into multiple epic-length films (coughTheHobbitcough). At the same time, Adult Swim has found success with very short-form comedies, and youtube clips of cats saying “no” have racked up millions of hits. It seems we’ve decided that very short stories are better at supporting comedy, while very long ones are better for drama. A + X, as a kind of clearing house for extremely short-form stories, has largely borne-out this notion, mining a series of absurd scenarios for their comedic potential. A + X 3 carries on this trend in its latter half, but opens with on much more serious (but still fun) note.

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Jan 8 2013

Teen Titans 15

teen titans 15 DoF

Today, Scott and Shelby are discussing Teen Titans 15, originally released January 2, 2013. This issue is part of the Death of the Family crossover event. Click here for complete DotF coverage.

Scott: “Joker is a psychopath like you’ve never seen before, but he usually likes to talk a lot before acting.” These are Batgirl’s words of encouragement that there’s still time to save Red Robin from the Joker. I’m not sure her inclusion of the word “but” is necessary; if the suspense thriller genre has taught us anything, it’s that being a psychopathic killer and talking for too long go hand in hand. But the Joker really takes it to a new level in Teen Titans 15. The lasting image of this issue is that of the Joker wheeling out a chalkboard to help explain the complexity of his evil plan to Red Robin.

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Jan 4 2013

Justice League Dark 15

justice league dark 15

Today, Shelby and Taylor are discussing Justice League Dark 15, originally released January 2nd, 2013.

Shelby: Science and magic. In the broadest of terms, they are the two sources of meta-humans’ powers in the DCU. Superman? He’s an alien being powered up by the particular wavelength of light from our sun: that’s science. Wonder Woman? She’s a demi-god, pure and simple: that’s magic. Green Lantern? Trick question, it’s will-power harnessed and weaponized: I’m calling it magic refined by science. Lantern Corps aside, there’s usually a pretty clear line between science (far-fetched and ridiculous though it may be) and magic in the comic book universe. Often times the two sides face off, refusing to see that they are kind of two sides of the same coin, but every so often science and magic team up and we get something extra special. Luckily for us, Justice League Dark gives us both options in one action-packed issue.  Continue reading →

Jan 2 2013

Thor: God of Thunder 1-3

thor 1-3

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Thor: God of Thunder 1-3, originally released November 14th, November 28th, and December 19th, 2012.

Shelby: We often praise Brian Azzarello’s Wonder Woman for its creative inclusion of the Greek pantheon in the cast of characters. In that universe, the gods are real, tangible beings who walk among the people, but we don’t see them doing much of anything. As far as I can remember, the only god in Wonder Woman we see actually invoked to do his job is Eros; most of the time, the rest of the gods scheme and plot to get what they want. Thor is different; he fights at the side of the Vikings and answers the prayers of those who need his aid. Writer Jason Aaron takes it one step further; for every weird and wacky universe Marvel has got, Aaron gives us a new set of real, tangible gods for it. He then asks the question, “If the gods are real, why can’t they be killed? What would happen to these civilizations if all their gods were dead?” It’s a heady question to be sure, and one that Thor has to face as he confronts the God Butcher at three distinct points in his life.

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