Category New 52

Nov 19 2012

Superboy 14

Today, Drew and Mikyzptlk are discussing Superboy 14, originally released November 14, 2012. This issue is part of the H’el on Earth crossover event. Click here for complete H’el on Earth coverage.

Drew: We read a lot of comics at Retcon Punch. One of the best thing about reading so many comics (besides, you know, reading so many comics) is that when we do pick up the odd issue of a title we’re not reading — usually for a crossover event — we still kind of know what’s going on. We may not get every reference to what has happened before, but because we’ve seen glimpses of, say, the Red Lanterns in Green Lantern: New Guardians, we kind of know what’s going on with them when we pick up Red Lanterns 13. This works well enough for stories set in Gotham or Oa, where our coverage of related titles is relatively robust, but it breaks down if crossovers are happening in our blind spots. The Superman and Young Justice groups happen to both be blind-spots for me, which makes jumping into a title like Superboy at issue 14 a particularly disorienting experience. Continue reading →

Nov 19 2012

Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E 14

Today, Patrick and Scott are discussing Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E 14, originally released October 10th, 2012. This issue is part of the RotWorld crossover event. Click here for complete RotWorld coverage. 

Patrick: 2003 was supposed to be the year that the Matrix series ruled the world. To follow-up their genre defining 1999 masterpiece, the Wachoskis planned an all-out media blitzkrieg. Over the course of six months, they released two enormous science-fiction action movies, a set of animated shorts that tied directly into those movies and a AAA video game whose narrative wove throughout the movies and the shorts. Naturally, the movies were the flagships of this Matrix armada, so when they weren’t very good, the whole fleet sank. But I played the everloving shit out of that Enter the Matrix video game. It worked because Enter the Matrix had to embrace conventions of a video game directly, instead of stylishly dancing around them (as the films did). It might have seemed strange when Morpheus would tell you to collect three keys to access the next level, but there’s something refreshing about that objective-based narrative — especially considering that the terms of victory in the Matrix movies were becoming ever more grim and convoluted. Frankenstein is the Enter the Matrix of Rotworld: what it lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in clarity of objective.

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Nov 19 2012

Team 7 2

Alternating Currents: Team 7 2, Taylor and Patrick

Today, Taylor and Patrick are discussing Team 7 2, originally released November 14th, 2012.

Taylor: Teams are in. Everywhere we look in today’s society, teamwork is emphasized as being one of the most important skills to develop. When you apply for a job, employers want to know how well you work with others and what your contribution to the team will be. Sports stars are lauded for the ability to swallow their ego and function as a member of a team that functions as one unit. And speaking of teams, we can’t ignore the recent Avengers movie which was one of biggest team love-fests to ever grace the silver screen. Hell, even Batman, the quintessential solitary dark night, learned to work on a team in Christopher Nolan’s latest film. Indeed, it seems that the way of the lone wolf — your Clint Eastwoods and wandering Ronin — is a thing of the past. Given this favorable disposition towards the idea of teamwork, it seems like DC’s Team 7 would be an instant hit. But as the second issue demonstrates both in its plot and it its execution, sometimes getting a team to work together effectively is harder than it would first appear.

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Nov 16 2012

Suicide Squad 14

Today, Mikyzptlk and Shelby are discussing Suicide Squad 14 originally released November 14th, 2012. This issue is part of the Death of the Family crossover event. Click here for complete DotF coverage.

Mikyzptlk: Suicide Squad is FAR from one of my favorite books. While I don’t think it’s the worst on DC’s shelves these days, it definitely falls in the “needs improvement” category. I consider this a real shame too considering that two of DC’s more popular female characters, Harley Quinn and Amanda Waller, are the main protagonists (along with Deadshot, who is both dead and shot at this point).  Continue reading →

Nov 16 2012

Batman 14

Alternating Currents: Batman 14, Drew and Michael DFToday, Drew and Michael are discussing Batman 14 originally released November 14th, 2012. This issue is part of the Death of the Family crossover event. Click here for complete DotF coverage.

Drew: Batman and the Joker are timeless. That is, they shift and adjust to the times. It gives them longevity, but it also makes pinning down the true nature of their conflict difficult. The Joker has been everything from a harmless prankster to a genociding psychopath, and Batman can range from avenging creature of the night to kid-friendly crime-stopper, so the fundamental nature of their relationship must lie deeper than superficial proclamations about color scheme, or even “seriousness.” The Dark Knight tilted at the deeper levels, but left them as overtones to the physical conflict. In Batman 14, Scott Snyder takes that subtext and makes it the text, delivering a surprising rumination on the nature of both detective stories and humor in general. Continue reading →

Nov 15 2012

Batman and Robin 14

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Batman and Robin 14, originally released November 14th, 2012. This issue is part of the Death of the Family crossover event. Click here for complete DotF coverage.

Patrick: A few summers ago, Drew and I went to a screening of Rise of the Dead at the Winnetka theatre in the suburbs of Chicago. The event was hosted by Dan Tefler — a comedian who had stumbled upon the movie earlier that year with his wife. Tefler invited the film’s director, Will Wedig, and the AV Club’s Keith Phipps to talk about the extreme disappointment that Tefler experienced on his first viewing. Rise of the Dead sounds like it’s going to be a zombie movie, right? It’s advertised that way, and it has all the trappings thereof. But it’s really about the ghost of an aborted baby possessing bitches. When pressed, Wedig simply offered that he hadn’t set out to make a zombie movie, and Tefler very graciously owned his disappointment. Last month, Batman and Robin started to show us a sorta-zombie story, and I’m going to place the onus of my disappointment in the hands of the books creators.

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Nov 15 2012

Batgirl 14

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Batgirl 14 originally released November 14th, 2012. This issue is part of the Death of the Family crossover event. Click here for complete DotF coverage.

Shelby:  There are two stories I’m most looking forward to with Death of the Family: Jason Todd’s, and Barbara Gordon’s. Their connection to the Joker is the most violent, both physically and psychologically. Obviously, the Joker is in Gotham to destroy the entire Bat-family, physically and psychologically, but those two have a little more heart invested in the situation. We have spent the last year watching Babs grow and recover; she’s back to her strong, confident, compassionate self. With the Joker’s return, she’s changing again, but instead of reverting to frightened and powerless, she’s becoming a creature of rage: an even greater victory for the Joker.
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Nov 13 2012

Detective Comics 14

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Detective Comics 14, originally released November 7th, 2012.

Shelby: Scott Snyder has spoiled us with his work on Batman. His take on the Dark Knight is complex and expansive, allowing for a lot of personal growth for the character as well as massive cross-over events. It’s gotten so that is what I expect from Batman; epic, sweeping narratives on a grand scale. It’s easy to forget the fun to be had in a simple Batman vs. bad guys story. That’s exactly what John Layman gives us in Detective Comics; Batman chasing the baddies, being a detective. While the storytelling is a little bit clunky, it’s still a fun little jaunt into an old-school Batman adventure.

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Nov 12 2012

Dial H 6

Today, Patrick and Taylor are discussing Dial H 6, originally released November 7th, 2012.

Patrick: Fall of 2010, I went to a movie at Chicago’s Music Box theatre with Taylor and Shelby. The movie was Gaspar Noe’s Enter the Void. If you haven’t seen Enter the Void, the reason we were attracted to it was because the log-line is aggressively surreal: a single-shot, first-person perspective trip through life and death of an American expatriot in the sleazy underbelly of Tokyo. Sounds promising — and super weird — right? All three of us tolerated the visual and audio assault for the film’s 3-hour run time, but it wasn’t until we stepped out of the theatre and Taylor said “So, that sucked, right?” that I was able to process what the hell just happened. The movie is so relentlessly strange, that I couldn’t even respond to it as I was experiencing it. That’s frequently how I feel about Dial H: especially given the conclusion of the previous story arc – I just couldn’t get a handle on it. But now, China Mieville is kind enough to show us the cold light of day, and seeing them plainly, these characters and this world is boundless and exciting, with a healthy sense of humor about its own absurdities.

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