Category Spencer Irwin

May 6 2015

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 4/27/15

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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, Patrick, Drew, Michael, and Spencer discuss Justice League 40, Superman 40, All-New Captain America 6, Nova 30, Secret Avengers 15, S.H.I.E.L.D. 5, Silk 3, X-Men 26, Princess Leia 3 and Outcast 8.

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Patrick: If you thought you were going to stay up on all the juiciest DC mythology this past week by simply reading Convergence, you’d be dead wrong! And, just theoretically here, if you thought you were going to provide comprehensive coverage of DC’s mythology on, say, your website or something, you’d want to discuss more than just Convergence! We’ve got some bombshells to unpack, but don’t worry: there’s plenty of honest character work and nuanced storytelling happening in other corners of the comic industry this week. Plus, where else are you going to read stories about Krakoa and M.O.D.O.K.?  Continue reading →

May 6 2015

Avengers 44/New Avengers 33

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Today, Spencer and Ryan are discussing Avengers 44 and New Avengers 33, originally released April 29th, 2015. 

Spencer: Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers saga has gone through three different phases. The first, which lasted from the series’ debut through the end of Infinity, found Avengers exploring the forced evolution of the planet Earth via Ex Nihilo’s Origin Bombs while New Avengers established the threat of the Incursions and the drastic measures the Illuminati would have to take to combat them. The second phase found Avengers essentially spinning its wheels, waiting for the Illuminati in New Avengers to reach their limit and, ultimately, fail. Then the books skipped ahead in time eight months, and both lost a bit of their former identities as they became swallowed up in the Incursions storyline. New Avengers has spent most of phase three explaining the mechanics of everything that came before, while Avengers explored the personal fall-out between the members of all these various teams. While the Incursion storyline is continuing into Hickman’s upcoming Secret Wars, the final issues of Avengers and New Avengers focus on wrapping up the ideas they’ve been exploring since phase three began. One is decidedly more engaging than the other. Continue reading →

May 4 2015

Chat Cave: Avengers – Age of Ultron

Marvel’s flagship film franchise landed its second installment this weekend, assembling the Avengers to take on Ultron. Secrets were revealed! Tears were shed! Scenery was chewed! Spoilers for sure after the break: welcome to the Chat Cave. Continue reading →

May 1 2015

Convergence Round-Up: Week Four

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Today, Patrick leads a discussion about Convergence 4, Action Comics 1, Blue Beetle 1, Booster Gold 1, Detective Comics 1, Infinity, Inc. 1, Justice Society 1, Plastic Man and the Freedom Fighters 1, and World’s Finest 1.

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“Can we please, for just one night, not talk about the damned dome?”

Lois Lane, Convergence: Action Comics 1

Patrick: As we head into the fourth week of convergence tie-ins, two things are becoming clear. The first is that everyone is sick of dealing with this dome — artists, writers, characters, LETTERERS PROBABLY. Previous weeks have gone into the inconvenience the dome represents, but this week seems united by a theme of dome-fatigue. Part of that may come from the fact that many of this week’s heroes hail from universes and continuities that are either far from classic or have been rebooted so many times as to make their timelessness a little dubious. There’s a freedom in that less-strict reliance on legacy, and many of this weeks tie-ins generate totally satisfying catharsis all on their own. They just always also have to deal with “the damned dome.” Continue reading →

May 1 2015

Silver Surfer 11

Alternating Currents: Silver Surfer 11, Drew and Spencer

Today, Drew and Spencer are discussing Silver Surfer 11, originally released April 29th, 2015.

Drew: I both love and hate that Birdman was shot the way it was. I love that it uses the single-shot effect to such awe-inspiring ends, but hate that it feels so gimmicky. I want to be clear there: it’s not that I think it is gimmicky, just that it feels gimmicky. The conversation is so often about how Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Emmanuel Lubezki achieved those effects (or even just that they achieved them at all), that reason why they did it often goes unaddressed. That this kind of formal affectation might have an unnoticed thematic justification speaks to the low regard we have for form — we only notice it when its weird, and then only to comment on how weird it is. That low regard makes formal outliers all the more daring — will they be known for their reasoned narrative choices, or will they be dismissed as a vehicle for the most unusual of those choices? With Silver Surfer 11, Dan Slott and Michael Allred attempt an even more convoluted formal trick, but its rewards are well worth the challenges it poses to the reader. Continue reading →

Apr 30 2015

Batman 40

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Today, Spencer and Patrick are discussing Batman 40, originally released April 29th, 2015.

Spencer: Batman 40 is a dense issue. I’ve lingered over this issue in a way I haven’t lingered over a comic in quite a while. Every page is rich with meaning, both in the writing and the art, and it would take far more space than Patrick and I have allotted here to fully unpack it. Let me assure you all, though, that doing so is more than worth the time and effort. Batman 40 is a masterpiece that can be enjoyed on numerous levels, and I think it’s an issue we’re going to be dissecting for a long time to come. So let’s get to it. Continue reading →

Apr 29 2015

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 4/22/15

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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, Patrick, Drew and Spencer discuss Inhuman Special 1, Guardians of the Galaxy 26, Spider-Man 17.1, Black Widow 17, Divinity 3, Infinite Loop 1, Effigy 4, Suiciders 4 and Black Hood 3.

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Patrick: This week’s Round-Up has us contemplating a lot of impossible questions: how does legacy determine identity? What does god want? What is love? Is this real? What can we hope for from the future? I mean, don’t worry: we also get to see Spider-Man crack some terrible jokes. Wouldn’t be a week in comics without some blindingly stupid Parkerisms, right? Continue reading →

Apr 27 2015

Convergence: The New Teen Titans 1

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Today, Spencer and Shane are discussing Convergence: The New Teen Titans 1, originally released April 22th, 2015. This issue is part of Convergence. For our conversations about the rest of Convergence last week, click here.

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Spencer: I think most of us take on certain comfortable roles when we’re among our friends. Sometimes, though, things change, and those roles no longer suit us, but they’re so firmly entrenched among the group dynamic that they can be impossible to escape. Marv Wolfman and Nicola Scott’s Convergence: The New Teen Titans finds this happening to the Teen Titans. After a year spent under the dome, the Titans are attempting to take their relationships to new places, but find themselves caught up in the same old roles and conflicts that have always defined them. Continue reading →

Apr 24 2015

Convergence Round-Up: Week Three

convergence roundup3Today, Spencer leads a discussion about Convergence 3, Adventure of Superman 1, Batman & the Outsiders 1, Flash 1, Green Lantern Corps 1, Hawkman 1, Justice League of America 1, Superboy & The Legion 1, and Wonder Woman 1.

convergence divSpencer: With over 30 issues of Convergence under our belts, the formula’s become pretty clear — every issue covers the same beats, including the effects of living under a dome for a year and Telos’ infuriating speech when the dome finally drops (although to be honest, I stopped reading the speech sometime in the middle of Week 2). While Week 3 can’t help but to follow these same patterns, it’s also by far the most experimental week of Convergence yet. Several issues focus on stories that could have easily been told with these characters outside of the dome, while others are more interested in exploring the Crisis on Infinite Earths backdrop. Whatever the case, this week’s batch of tie-ins is a refreshing change of pace from a pattern that was already starting to grow old.

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Apr 24 2015

Velvet 10

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Today, Patrick and Spencer are discussing Velvet 10, originally released April 22nd, 2015.

Patrick: Aren’t spies just the coolest? They’re up there with ninjas as some of the most fascinating types of heroes. Part of what makes them both so damn irresistible is their impossible levels of competency. It’s the same reason we love Sherlock Holmes – we can’t fathom a scenario that he can’t clever his way out of. That makes their day-to-day lives the stuff of fascinating stories, even if we have every confidence going in that they’re going to come out victorious. But then, why’s it so satisfying to watch these infallible heroes scramble? There are few moments as narratively disarming as the odd beats when James Bond or Sherlock Holmes or Ethan Hunt are caught off guard. It’s like a violation, seeing the most capable people out-matched. Velvet 10 shows our already on-the-run hero set even further back, and the scope of the story broadens rapidly, mutating so quickly that we barely have time to understand one development before the next steamrolls everything that came before. It’s dizzying, disorienting, and leaves the breathless reader just as lost as our hero. Continue reading →