Category Spencer Irwin

Mar 10 2014

Loki: Agent of Asgard 2

loki 2Today, Scott and Spencer are discussing Loki: Agent of Asgard 2, originally released March 5, 2014. 

slim-bannerScott: The world is built on lies. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that anyone who’s achieved great success wouldn’t have gotten there without at least a little bit of dishonesty. We’re encouraged to lie on our resumes. It’s practically a requirement during job interviews. Can you imagine if politicians couldn’t make any false promises while campaigning? They wouldn’t be able to say anything. And it’s not always such a bad thing. We lie to be polite. We tell our waiters that everything tastes great even though we’ve only taken one bite. They smile and life goes on. It’s harmless. In Loki: Agent of Asgard 2, writer Al Ewing and artist Lee Garbett point out just how common lying really is. It may not be possibly for two people to converse for ten minutes without one of them lying. Now what if Loki, the God of Mischief, is put in a situation where he can’t lie? The outcome might surprise you…

Continue reading →

Mar 7 2014

Forever Evil 6

forever evil 6Today, Spencer and Patrick are discussing Forever Evil 6, originally released March 5th, 2014. 

villain div

Spencer: One of the biggest issues I’ve had with Forever Evil has been trying to figure out just how, exactly, its interpretation of Earth-3 works. Before the reboot Earth-3 was a world of opposites, where all evil characters were good guys and all the good guys were villains, and villains always won, but ever since the Crime Syndicate forced their way onto our world at the end of “Trinity War” writer Geoff Johns has largely shown Earth-3 as a world where everybody is evil, which I haven’t quite been able to wrap my head around up to this point. Johns and David Finch’s Forever Evil 6 has finally helped put things in perspective for me, though, by unmasking the Syndicate’s prisoner and showing us exactly what a hero looks like on Earth-3. Continue reading →

Mar 4 2014

Indestructible Hulk 19

hulk 19Today, Spencer and Shelby are discussing Indestructible Hulk 19, originally released February  26th, 2014.

Spencer: Our heroes’ greatest enemies are often their polar opposites: While Batman is a dark, brooding creature fighting for justice, his nemesis is a silly-looking clown obsessed with evil; while Superman is the most human alien around, Lex Luthor has foresaken his humanity to stroke his ego; while the Flash always looks forward, the Reverse Flash is caught up in his own past. In Indestructible Hulk 19 writer Mark Waid and his expansive team of artists provide the Hulk with an opposite of his own: while the Hulk is fueled by his rage, Jessup gains power from stealing other people’s anger. Continue reading →

Mar 3 2014

Hawkeye 15

hawkeye 15Today, Spencer and Drew are discussing Hawkeye 15, originally released February 26th, 2014.

Spencer: Why do we love Clint Barton so much? I could probably devote my entire word count to the reasons, but the one that sticks in my head is that he’s heroic, but still endearingly flawed. Clint screws up a lot, but he’s always trying to do the right thing, no matter how badly he goes about it. Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye 15 reveals that Clint’s attempts to save his building are less than legal and have only pushed the Tracksuits to more desperate measures. But despite it all, I can’t help but like the guy even more; his heart’s in the right place. Continue reading →

Feb 28 2014

Thunderbolts 22

thunderbolts 22Today, Shelby and Spencer are discussing Thunderbolts 22, originally released February 26th, 2014.

Shelby: Kids love “…and they lived happily ever after.” It’s an uncomplicated and rewarding end to a story; the good guys are rewarded, the bad guys punished, the boy gets the girl, and the plucky sidekicks probably got some action as well. It’s not until you get older that the everything-worked-in-the-end approach grows stale. It’s too neat and clean; we want our stories to reflect the complexities of every day life, not tie everything up in a nicely resolved bow. Personally, I find a too-happy ending where everything works out to be insincere and frankly a little boring. It might be surprising, then, that I love Charles Soule’s latest issue of Thunderbolts. Leave it to Soule to deliver an end to the recent Thunderbolts arc that gives the “good” guys exactly what they want and leaves the bad (by comparison) guy with a mess to deal with, without once appearing insincere.

Continue reading →

Feb 26 2014

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 2/19/14

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, Spencer, Patrick, and Drew discuss New Warriors 1, Avengers World 3, A+X 17, Amazing X-Men 4, Batwoman 28, Batman and Two-Face 28, and Justice League 28. 

slim-banner4Spencer: Due to my fondness for young superheroes, a rapidly growing appreciation for Nova, and a long-standing love of Marcus To’s art, I decided to check out this week’s New Warriors 1 by Christopher Yost and Marcus To. The issue introduces us to all but one of the members portrayed on the cover — Nova, Speedball, Justice, Scarlet Spider, Hummingbird, Sun Girl, and Faira Sar Namora — as each group faces down the forces of the High Evolutionary. While it didn’t necessarily blow me away, this is still a solid issue. Continue reading →

Feb 25 2014

Nova 13

nova 13Today, Spencer and Scott are discussing Nova 13, originally released February 19th, 2014.

Spencer: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: two heroes meet, but a misunderstanding causes them to fight for a while before they inevitably team-up. Wait, why didn’t you stop me? You’ve all heard this one before; TV Tropes calls it “Let’s You and Him Fight”, and it’s easily one of the best-known tropes in comics. Nova 13 is one large “Let’s You and Him Fight” scene between Sam and Beta Ray Bill, and while there’s definitely a lot of fun to be had with the fight, ultimately Gerry Duggan and Paco Medina don’t do anything interesting enough to justify devoting so much time to such a tired concept. Continue reading →

Feb 24 2014

Punisher 2

punisher 2Today, Spencer and Greg are discussing Punisher 2, originally released February 19th, 2014. 

slim-bannerSpencer: As Frank explains in Nathan Edmondson and Mitch Gerads’ The Punisher 2, there’s a strata of villains too big for the cops to handle, but not big enough for the superheroes to take notice of. This is the league of villains the Punisher usually goes up against — the kind that can give him a proper fight — but it looks like all that’s about to change. Not only are the Howling Commandos on Frank’s tail, but the Dos Soles gang also has a powerful new weapon that’s out of Frank’s usual league; this is some definite superhero-level business Punisher’s got himself tangled up in here.

Continue reading →

Feb 20 2014

Harley Quinn 3

Alternating Currents: Harley Quinn 3, Drew and SpencerToday, Drew and Spencer are discussing Harley Quinn 3, originally released February 19th, 2014.

Drew: When someone accuses a joke of “going too far,” they tend to mean that it is offensive — that it has left the concept of good taste behind in the pursuit of a bigger laugh. But offensiveness isn’t the only metric of taste. Indeed, I would argue that even the most family-friendly humor can take its core concepts “too far,” neglecting to cultivate the expectations that jokes are designed to subvert. Taken too far, scenarios become unrecognizable, characters become unrelatable, and irony curdles into nihilism. It’s the reason I can’t really get into Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! — I’m unable to form a frame of reference for why it’s even supposed to be funny, making the experience little more than a parade of one-note awkwardness. I found myself feeling the same things as I read Harley Quinn 3, as the series continues to stretch its own rules to the breaking point. When absolutely anything is possible, it’s hard to be surprised by a punchline. Continue reading →

Feb 18 2014

Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion 5

rogues rebellion 5Today, Patrick and Spencer are discussing Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion 5, originally released February 12th, 2014.

Patrick: Let’s talk a little bit about the need for, and the necessity of, spectacle in superhero comics. At first blush, it seems absolutely crucial, right? If our characters aren’t using their powers and punching each other in the face and teleporting and zapping each other with lightning, then like, what’s the point of making them superheroes in the first place? There’s something about the non-stop, out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire pacing of Rogues’ Rebellion that feels like superhero comics stripped down past the concepts of good and evil and great responsibility all that stuff. It’s pure adrenaline-powered action, with only a modicum of scheming to slow things down. Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that these are Flash’s baddies — and that we even get some time with Johnny Quick — as the plot ramps up to a fever pitch heading to the conclusion. Continue reading →