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Jan 13 2014

Manifest Destiny 3

Today, Taylor and Patrick are discussing Manifest Destiny 3, originally released January 8th, 2014.

Taylor: I enjoy camping and trips into the wilderness. There’s something refreshing about abandoning the trappings of modern day life and “roughing it” for awhile. Maybe I feel closer to nature and its beauty or maybe it’s just the quiet I can enjoy like nowhere in a populated area. However, this silence isn’t always peaceful and nature isn’t always a thing of beauty. Sometimes the silence — especially late at night — is terrifying as the isolation of my situation sinks in. The sense of peace I once had quickly transmutes to unease. The benign perception of nature is replaced by the more terrifying and accurate realization that, given the chance, nature would just as soon destroy as nurture. All this, and I know for the most part I am safe; I could be rescued if worse came to worse.  When I realize that, I can’t help but wonder how Lewis and Clark felt being absolutely in the middle of nowhere with no one to help them should things go wrong. The sense of terror they must have felt on occasion permeates the third issue of Manifest Destiny, blurring the lines of historical fiction and reality.

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Jan 6 2014

The Manhattan Projects 17

manhattan projects 17

Today, Taylor and Patrick are discussing The Manhattan Projects 17, originally released January 1st, 2014.

Taylor:  One of the more amazing things about evolution is its ability to create creatures that are perfectly adapted to their environment. For example, take the Great White Shark. It can smell a single drop of blood in Olympic sized swimming pool. It re-grows a tooth whenever one falls out.  And it can also propel its massive body above water in order to capture cute little seals. The animal is basically a killing machine that can’t be stopped by any natural force.  By comparison, you have to wonder if humans have been given the same treatment by nature. We make a lot of mistakes, we fart, and even though our brains are amazing, you have to wonder sometimes if they couldn’t be better. In Manhattan Projects 17, Einstein asks these same questions and the result is a creation made not by evolution, but science. The question is, is it as perfect as its creators hoped it would be? Continue reading →

Dec 31 2013

Best of 2013: Best Series

Best of 2013: Best Series

We all love a good one-off or anthology, but it’s the thrill of a series that keeps us coming back to our comic shop week-in, week-out. Whether it’s a decades-spanning ongoing or a short-run miniseries, serialized storytelling allows for bigger casts, bigger worlds, and bigger adventures. We were lucky to read a lot of great series over the past year, but it’s those that pushed the boundaries that we wanted to sing special praises of. These are our top 13 series of 2013.
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Dec 23 2013

Saga 17

saga 17

Today, Shelby and Spencer are discussing Saga 17, originally released December 18th, 2013.

Shelby: There’s a little snippet of folk lore that always gets tossed around when things are looking grim: the darkest hour is just before dawn. Meteorologically, I can’t speak to the accuracy of that statement, but anecdotally it means that things always look their worst just before they begin to get better. It’s meant to inspire hope; life may be dark now, but it just means that soon the sun will come up and things will be better. In the penultimate chapter of Saga’s latest arc, I would say things are definitely at their darkest hour, but since we’re reading a Brian K. Vaughan story, the old saying should probably read, “the point at which everything goes to hell in a hand-basket just before the arc is resolved, but probably someone will die.”

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Dec 20 2013

East of West 8

east of west 8

Today, Shelby and Taylor are discussing East of West 8, originally released December18th, 2013.

Shelby: The occasionally tempestuous relationship between the church and the state has a longer relationship than one might realize. In ancient times, being a ruler often came with the title of deity; your word was law because it was divine. Martin Luther was one of the first to begin to call for a separation of the two, and by the time the First Amendment of the United States was drawn up, Thomas Jefferson was speaking of “a wall of separation between the church and state,” in order to guarantee religious freedom. Personally, I believe very strongly in the idea of the separation of the two, namely because there are many religions in the world, and I see no point in a government forcing someone to follow a set of beliefs. That is not genuine worship. In East of West, however, Jonathan Hickman presents a trickier situation; there is no religion, there is no government, there is only The Message, and if the Message demands political leaders keep the populace dumb and under control to prep them for the four horseman of the apocalypse, the politicians hasten to obey.

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Dec 16 2013

Manifest Destiny 2

manifest destiny 2

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Manifest Destiny 2, originally released December 11th, 2013.

Drew: I love a good creature feature. I could actually take or leave the shock cuts, the gore, even the monster — for me, it’s all about what keeps the victims from simply dispersing at the first sign of trouble. Whether it’s a remote village, arctic research station, or a towing ship in deep space, writers have to get inventive with keeping otherwise relatable characters from simply escaping from the monsters trying to kill them. Or, at least, they should get inventive — I think we’ve all seen the fuel line cut a few too many times to give all writers a pass, and horror movies are notorious for characters whose actions are unrelatably stupid, pressing on to the cabin, haunted house, or foreboding castle in spite of the obvious warning signs. After three readings of Manifest Destiny 2, I’m still not sure if the characters are dumb, or actually stuck. Continue reading →

Dec 12 2013

Lazarus 5

lazarus 5

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Lazarus 5, originally released December 11th, 2013.

Shelby: With family dramas like Lazarus, it seems to always come down to loyalty. With family, a certain amount of loyalty is assumed; they’re your family, you have to be loyal to that. Greg Rucka really tests that with the Carlyles; the first issues are rife with schemes and betrayal. Poor Forever is stuck with the task of not only remaining loyal to the back-stabbingest family, but also not really having a choice as the family’s Lazarus. Despite her unwavering facade, there’s that tiny seed of doubt planted by the anonymous message that she’s not actually a part of the family. If blood ties are the driving force behind her loyalty, what’s she to do if those ties don’t even exist?
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Dec 10 2013

Velvet 2

velvet 2

Today, Shelby and Ethan are discussing Velvet 2, originally released December 4th, 2013.

Shelby: I do so enjoy a good spy thriller. There’s something about the James Bonds, the Jason Bournes, the Ethan Hunts that is just impossibly cool. They’ve got the neatest gadgets and the most impressive skills. The life of a spy is built on lies, no one can really be trusted. The story is intrigue layered on mysteries, usually layered on top of betrayal. That’s why I think the mole-hunt/double agent story is my favorite kind of spy thriller; it transforms the necessity of the secrets and lies into a liability. Who better to hide from spies than another spy? Who could take down a secret agency other than one of its own? How is an agency supposed to find a mole when all its own tricks are being used against it? Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting take on these questions in their spy thriller Velvet, and it is exactly as fun as you would think.
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Dec 4 2013

Saga 16

Alternating Currents: Saga 16, Drew and Shelby

Today, Drew and Shelby are discussing Saga 16, originally released November 27th, 2013.

The best-laid plans of mice and men

Often go awry

Robert Burns, To A Mouse

Drew: I used to get so disappointed when the plans of a protagonist would change. It took me a long time to understand that those changes are the engine of drama, and even longer to appreciate that they reflect reality on a fundamental level. Our plans are always changing, sometimes due to external forces, and other times due to internal chances to our own priorities. Most narratives are loaded with the former type, but that latter type is rare. Rarer still are narratives where every character has their plans upended in both ways. Saga has long been one such rarity, and issue 16 reasserts the fragility of its characters’ plans. Continue reading →

Dec 3 2013

Letter 44 2

Alternating Currents: Letter 44 2, Drew and Scott

Today, Drew and Scott are discussing Letter 44 2, originally released November 27th, 2013.

Drew: I was never a Boy Scout, but their “be prepared” motto captured my young imagination. Growing up in suburbia, “preparation” was simply carrying enough cash in case my friends wanted to get ice cream, but I liked to carry the concept ad absurdum. Do you have a snake bite kit? Are you conversational in Farsi? Could you beat a polygraph test? I’m decidedly unprepared for most eventualities, but the beauty of the human mind is that we can improvise. Ultimately, it’s not how well we prepare for the expected, but how well we react to the unexpected that allows us to survive. That capacity for improvisation is the crux of Letter 44 2, as both President Blade and the crew of the Clarke try to deal with the unknown. Continue reading →