Category New 52

Aug 21 2013

Batgirl 23

batgirl 23

Today, Drew and guest writer Chuck Maa are discussing Batgirl 23, originally released August 14th, 2013.

Drew: Superheroes lead miserable lives. The demands of serialized storytelling require that they are regularly beset by life-altering tragedies, are perpetually unlucky in love, and maybe die once or twice in their career. Month-to-month, it’s exciting, but when you total it all up, the life of your average superhero is unspeakably depressing. Take, for example, Barbara Gordon. Her mother abandoned her when she was a child because of her psychotic brother; her fledgling vigilante career was violently ended when she was shot in the spine; after regaining the ability to walk, she suffered from rather severe PTSD. Oh, and remember her psychotic brother? He grows up to be a serial killer who she now feels guilty of killing. Also, her dad also holds her responsible for killing her brother. Things seemed to be finally looking up for her last month, as she forgot her troubles and went on her first date with a new squeeze, but we all knew it couldn’t last. Continue reading →

Aug 20 2013

Villain Month Guide: Part 1 – Batman

villains month batman

In September, DC’s entire line is going to be highjacked by the villains of the universe. The creative teams frankenstiened together from DC’s regular stable of writers and artists, but — with a few exceptions — none of titles look like logical continuations of any of the current series. How’s a body supposed to know what they’re supposed to read? That’s where our four-part guide comes in.

Batman’s basically the most bankable superhero of all-time, due in no small part to his impressive rogues gallery. It’s no surprise, then, that over a quarter of the issues coming out next month hail from Gotham City. In part one of our guide, we’ll be going over the issues from Batman, Batman and Robin, Batman: The Dark Knight, and Detective Comics. Be sure to check out Part 2 – Superman and Earth-2 and Part 3 – Justice Leagues and Teen Titans. Continue reading →

Aug 20 2013

Constantine 6

constantine 6

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Constantine 6, originally released August 14th, 2013.

Patrick: As comic book fans, we’ve grown used to the idea that death is but a temporary obstacle. You can kill anyone you want really – DC’s five biggest (Clark, Bruce, Hal, Barry and Diana) have all been dead at least once. So we can be forgiven for speculating just how a hero could come back from the dead within minutes of their passing. We totally do that too – don’t believe me? Check out our 90+ comments on Batman Incorporated 9: many of which address the permanence of Damian’s death. We’re jaded assholes, and we know that at the end of the day, this magical storytelling aparratus is a business. I’m happy to report that DC’s resident asshole — Mr. John Constantine — takes much the same attitude, even when it comes to his own untimely end.

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Aug 19 2013

Green Lantern Corps 23

Alternating Currents: Green Lantern Corps 23, Drew and Spencer

Today, Drew and Spencer are discussing Green Lantern Corps 23, originally released August 14th, 2013.

Drew: When Scott (my younger brother) was in college, he inherited hosting duties for an event called “Wine Wednesdays,” where friends would get together to drink wine on (you guessed it) Wednesday evenings. Due to scheduling conflicts, the event had to move its regular meeting time to Tuesdays, and in the interests of alliteration, became known as “Taco Tuesdays” in spite of really just featuring the wine. That same year, he was living in an apartment his friends all called “Bear Snake.” Anyway, in a message to his friends informing him that this week’s Taco Tuesday would be held at Bear Snake, Scott thought it would be funny to replace all of the vowels with the letter “a,” such that the message read, simply: TACA BAAR SNAKA. The fact that that message could possibly convey that his friends should come to his apartment for wine on Tuesday amuses me to this day, but it’s actually quite common for shared knowledge and jargon to pile up in similar ways. Green Lantern Corps 23 achieves something approaching “TACA BAAR SNAKA” impenetrability, digging DEEP into recent Green Lantern history, delivering an issue that may be difficult for all but the most hardcore fans to follow. Continue reading →

Aug 16 2013

Justice League of America 7

Alternating Currents: Justice League of America 7, Drew and Taylor

Today, Drew and Taylor are discussing Justice League of America 7 originally released August 14th, 2013. This issue is part of the Trinity War crossover event. Click here for our complete Trinity War coverage.

trinity war divDrew: Determining a level of focus is perhaps the most important step in evaluating a work of art. These foci are specific to the style at hand — harmonic analysis is likely going to tell you very little about a rap song, just as an examination of brush strokes wouldn’t add much to a discussion of da Vinci. Intriguingly, these styles often begin to resemble each other as you zoom in and out — abstract paintings may share concepts of form, color, or composition with those of the Rennaisance masters, for example — further increasing the importance focus in an analysis. Geoff Johns has always written “big” — he’s been at the helm (or at least sharing the helm) of some of DC’s most important events over the past decade — and his writing has often chafed at the analyses of his critics. Justice League of America 7 actually avoids many of the pitfalls Johns is often cited for (a lot of stuff actually happens here), but it still has me wondering if we’re simply using the wrong tool for the job of evaluating a giant, Geoff Johns-penned event. Continue reading →

Aug 16 2013

Suicide Squad 23

suicide squad 23

Today, Shelby and Mikyzptlk are discussing Suicide Squad 23, originally released August 14th, 2013.

Shelby: How do you say good-bye? If you’re a regular person saying good-bye to another regular person, you would probably do it with a wave, or maybe a handshake or a hug. Tonight the 4-year-old daughter of the owners of my LCS said good-bye to me by jumping up and down and shouting; come to think of it, I think Patrick has said good-bye to me the same way. Like I said, these are all perfectly legitimate, regular person ways to bid someone adieu. If you’re comic book writer Ales Kot saying good-bye to Suicide Squad, however, the best way to do it seems to be with sociopath’s musings on the meaning of love, followed by a battalion of missile-wielding drones and some pie. Not a bad way to go.

Continue reading →

Aug 15 2013

Batman 23

Alternating Currents: Batman 23, Drew and Patrick

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Batman 23, originally released August 14th, 2013.

Drew: Origin stories are a fact of life for comic book fans. Love them or hate them, they’ve become an obligate part of superhero storytelling. Every movie franchise, every hard reset, every soft relaunch, needs to retell the origin story with a new spin (you know, to justify the retelling), folding new elements into those of previous iterations. The result is a strange, multi-generational chimera, cannibalized from every version of the story that’s come before. The results can range from beautiful to grotesque but the best manage to pay homage to the past while pointing a way forwards. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo tackle a seminal moment of Batman’s history in Batman 23, perfectly balancing the admiration and innovation, building to a climax perfectly designed to excite Batman fans. Continue reading →

Aug 14 2013

Green Lantern 23

green lantern 23

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Green Lantern 23, originally released August 7th, 2013.

Patrick: I moved out to Los Angeles because I wanted to be a television writer. If you want to be a lumberjack, you move to the forest, right? I don’t have much in the way of family on the West Coast, and I knew that distance from those that I loved was just going to be part of this bargain I was striking. The idea of giving up family for my art was romantic — I could live an idealized life of creativity and yeah I’d suffer for it, but I’d be suffering for a reason. When my older sister had her second kid, however, I was on a plane to Atlanta: I wasn’t going to miss out on meeting my nephew. It’s love, and it’s a primal motivator. No matter how much you will it away, love can dictate your actions. It’s the sort of thing that will make Hal Jordan drop the fight that he’s right in the middle of to check on the girlfriend he swore off to defend the corps. Continue reading →

Aug 13 2013

The Movement 4

movement 4

Today, Scott and Drew are discussing The Movement 4, originally released August 7th, 2013.

Scott: Think about your favorite comic book hero. What do you know about their past? Whether it’s every little detail or just the basics, it’s almost impossible to separate that hero from the event (usually a tragedy (possibly the death of a parental figure?)) that set them on the path to become a hero. In The Movement 4, writer Gail Simone makes time to explore the important events in the lives of a few main characters, while also trying to advance the story she’s established over three issues, and the effect raises some questions. It’s certainly important, crucial even, to develop a character’s past, but when is the right time to do it? And how many characters can you look back at at once? Simone overshoots, but not terribly — she’s not biting off more than she can chew so much as taking too many bites too quickly. It’s a climactic issue for this young series, but presented in a way that isn’t as seamless as previous issues.

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Aug 13 2013

Green Arrow 23

Alternating Currents: Green Arrow 23, Drew and Mikyzptlk

Today, Drew and Mikyzptlk are discussing Green Arrow 23, originally released August 7th, 2013.

Drew:  Last month, Count Vertigo articulated exactly why he’s such a perfect match for Green Arrow — Ollie needs to aim, while Vertigo stymies perception of space and motion. Ollie’s life has been such a mess recently, it’s easy to forget that archery is inherently very ordered. Even the quickest shot requires some pre-planning, some careful thought. In this way, the relationship between Green Arrow and Count Vertigo is one between order and chaos, a theme writer Jeff Lemire blows up in issue 23, as just about everyone has their plans upended. Continue reading →