Category Marvel

Mar 29 2013

Age of Ultron 3

age of ultron 3 AU

Today, Mikyzptlk and Drew are discussing Age of Ultron 3, originally released March 27th, 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.

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Mikyzptlk: In any post-apocalyptic scenario, you can either give in to the destruction that surrounds you or you can find that one last sliver of hope to hang on to. The first two issues of this event have mostly centered on a group of defeated heroes who are on the verge of giving up hope. The resistance, if you could even call it that, was rudderless and quickly losing its steam. It was all quite depressing, if not in a fascinating kind of way. The latest issue of Age of Ultron reveals that perhaps not all hope is lost and, armed with a shiny new plan, our heroes start on a path that can hopefully lead them to victory.

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Mar 27 2013

Daredevil 24

Alternating Currents: Daredevil 24, Drew and DavidToday, Drew and guest writer David “The Mast” Masters are discussing Daredevil 24, originally released March 20th, 2013.

Drew: Superhero comics are great at exaggeration. Everything is a matter of life and death, good vs. evil. It makes for exciting stories, but it also has the power to make anything less extreme seem dull by comparison. Many titles deal with this issue by avoiding it altogether, minimizing any time the heroes spend outside of their costume to brief interruptions in the otherwise endless stream of fights and explosions. Mark Waid’s run on Daredevil has always found a much more even balance between his life in and out of the costume, but issue 24 goes a step further, presenting the superhero action as brief interruptions in an otherwise normal life. Continue reading →

Mar 27 2013

Indestructible Hulk 5

hulk 5

Today, Ethan and Drew are discussing Indestructible Hulk 5, originally released March 20th, 2013.

Ethan: How do you handle a dangerous idea? When the structure of the atom began to unfold, when the concept of converting mass to energy began to surface, what went through the minds of those in the know? Looking at the far edge of the equations, where the numbers start to get really dramatic, what was it like to be one of the people who stopped and superimposed the idea of a fission reaction onto reality — the machines that might be built, the weapons that might be forged? The history of nuclear power and the tragedy of nuclear weapons is all around us now, but it wasn’t so long ago that all of these ideas were just scrawls on chalkboards and napkins. In fiction — and specifically the Marvel universe — big and dangerous ideas are molded into reality all the time, and whether the result is a marvelous new tool or a terrible doomsday device is entirely dependent on the person who controls that “a-ha” moment. In Indestructible Hulk #6, Mark Waid plays with his own microcosm of an arms race and drops the Hulk straight into the middle of it. Continue reading →

Mar 26 2013

All-New X-Men 9

all new x-men 9

Today, Patrick and (guest writer) Michael D. are discussing All-New X-Men 9, originally released March 20th, 2013.

Patrick: ­”What are we doing here?” It’s a practical question, but it’s also often a petulant one. The question is so charged, packed with implications about the many other ways the asker would rather be spending their time. In my experience, the next thought after “what are we doing here?” is usually “I’m leaving.” When you’re young and unattached, it’s a dangerous question because it can lead you to take almost any course of action. So when a time-displaced mutant that feels alienated from his only friends asks “What are we doing here?” it’s cause for alarm.

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Mar 26 2013

Deadpool 6

deadpool 6

Today, Michael and Ethan are discussing Deadpool 6, originally released March 20th, 2013.

Michael: Do you prefer read something that’s hit-or-miss but bold? Or something that’s consistently at the high-end of mediocre. I’ve always preferred the former – The Kids in the Hall is one of my favorite shows of all time, but I’ll readily admit to roughly forty percent of the series being unwatchable. If you work too tightly or literally within the genre, everyone’s bored and everything you’ve said been’s said a million times and we hate you. If you play too loosely the structure or assume to much about our shared context, everyone get’s uncomfortable and the word “why” tends to get thrown around. Deadpool #6, the final issue in the arc, mostly hits the sweet spot for an irreverent comedic comic. Brian Posehn falters only when he veers to far into the hyper-referential discombobu-zone, but considering that so many “funny” comics just are criminally lame, even Deadpool’s missteps are a treat!
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Mar 25 2013

The Superior Spider-Man 6

Alternating Currents: Superior Spider-Man 6, Drew and Freakin' Animal Man

Today, Drew and guest writer The Freakin’ Animal Man are discussing Superior Spider-Man 6, originally released March 20th, 2013.

Drew: Superheroes wear masks to protect their identities. The notion is that, by covering their faces, they will obscure who they really are. Of course, “who they really are” often has more to do with their actions than their names, which becomes readily apparent when another person steps behind the mask. The cops and villains of Gotham City all noticed a change in Batman when Dick took the reins, suggesting that much of the differences in Bruce and Dick’s personalities weren’t hidden by the cowl at all. At least Bruce and Dick are friends — imagine how apparent those changes might be if they were mortal enemies. That’s exactly the situation Superior Spider-Man finds itself in as the cracks in Otto’s facade continue to grow. Continue reading →

Mar 22 2013

Age of Ultron 6 PREVIEW

age of ultron preview

Age of Ultron 6 comes out on April 17th, 2013 and is written by Brian Michael Bendis with Art by Brandon Peterson and Carlos Pacheco. Click here for our complete Age of Ultron coverage.

The superheroes live up to their end of the foreign exchange program by sending the Avengers to Ultron City. I expect most of the issue will involve Iron Man getting black-out drunk and hooking up with an Australian chick in a hostel and Captain America calling home to ask for more money. Also Hulk smashing, because: obviously.

Preview a couple pages after the jump. Continue reading →

Mar 22 2013

Captain America 5

captain america 5

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Captain America 5, originally released March 20th, 2013.

Patrick: There’s a part in the first Metal Gear Solid game where you have to fight a bad guy called Psycho Mantis. Fans of the series will remember this fight fondly for a couple of reasons — the character “reads your mind” and talks trash about the way you’ve been playing the game. Reportedly he will also make comments about the other games you have saved on your memory card. It’s goofy, but it certainly is weird and fun. At one point in the fight, Mantis is reading your mind to determine your motions, and it’s impossible to land a blow. The solution is that you have to plug the controller into the second controller port — that way he can’t read your mind. No, that doesn’t make sense — it’s a rule the game establishes right then and there for this single-time use. It’s not fair, it’s not fun, and you either know to do it (and you win) or you don’t know to do it (and you lose). Captain America’s latest adventures have a little too much in common with this Psycho Mantis fight, and I’m kinda just waiting for him to plug the controller into the Player Two slot.

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Mar 20 2013

Uncanny X-Men 1-3

uncanny x-men 1-3Today, Patrick and Ethan are discussing Uncanny X-Men 1-3, originally released February 13th, February 27th, and March 13th 2012, respectively.

Patrick: The X-Men are the perpetual outsiders. They’re different — that’s their whole shtick. Sometimes the X-Men don’t even get along with the X-Men. With Uncanny X-Men, Brian Michael Bendis doubles down on this outsiderness, pitting Cyclops’ band of merry mutants against every one — the government, the Avengers, the rest of the X-Men. It’s the rumblings of a truly unnerving mutant revolution.

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Mar 19 2013

Thor: God of Thunder 6

Alternating Currents: Thor 6, Drew and Patrick

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Thor: God of Thunder 6, originally released March 13th, 2013.

Drew:  As a child, it seemed impossibly unfair to me that we’re more or less born into our religious beliefs — if there was one right way, how could so many people be consigned to hell simply by luck of birth? As a precocious skeptic, this just confirmed that religion was nothing more than an arbitrary (but comforting) tradition, practiced differently by everyone — like the way your family prepares stuffing on Thanksgiving, or the particular Monopoly house rules you grew up with. Of course, the wrinkle in that attitude comes when somebody does reject their parents’ religious beliefs (or stuffing recipes, house rules, political practices, etc), actively replacing them with something they deem superior. That wrinkle gets even wrinklier when that generation has their own kids — do the parents teach their beliefs as gospel, or foster the sense of skepticism that led to them changing their beliefs in the first place? It’s a daunting, complex subject, but it’s exactly where Jason Aaron sets his sights as he explores Gorr’s origin in Thor 6. Continue reading →