Category Weekly Round-Up

Jul 1 2015

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 6/24/15

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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, Spencer, Patrick, Drew, Shane, and Michael discuss Kaptara 3, Southern Cross 4, Sons of the Devil 2, Jem and the Holograms 4, Effigy 6, Gotham by Midnight 6, We Are Robin 1, Flash 41, Superman 41, Howard the Duck 4, and The Black Hood 5.

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Spencer: The sheer variety you’ll find among comic books today is just staggering. Just in this week’s offerings alone we’ve got sci-fi, horror and supernatural, gritty crime noir, superheroes, and a talking duck, just to name a few. Moreover, we’ve got new stories being launched, beloved stories wrapping up, stories taking off in surprising new directions, and stories sticking to what they’ve always done best. No matter who you are, I think you’ll find a book you’ll love being discussed in today’s Round-Up. Continue reading →

Jun 26 2015

Secret Wars Round-Up: Issues released 6/24/15

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Today, Patrick, Spencer and Drew discuss E is for Extinction 1, Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies 1, Infinity Gauntlet 2, Planet Hulk 2, M.O.D.O.K. Assassin 2, X-Men ’92 Infinite Comics 3, Black Widow 18 and Loki: Agent of Asgard 15

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Patrick: How do you tell an alternate-reality version of a story? What elements of the original do you need to keep and which do you need to invert? How different is too different? How samey is too samey? Secret Wars is starting to show the full depth of its commitment playing with concepts that we’ve become so comfortable with over the years. Maybe now it’s cool to be a mutant. Maybe now M.O.D.O.K. stands for Mental Organism Designed Only for Kissing. More than simple re-imaginings, Secret Wars gets to explore some truly re-invented and re-conceptualized worlds. Continue reading →

Jun 24 2015

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 6/17/15

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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, Spencer, and Ryan discuss Doctor Fate 1, Martian Manhunter 1, Robin: Son of Batman 1, Secret Six 3, Prez 1, Archie vs. Predator 3, Mad Max Fury Road Furiosa 1, The Kitchen 8, and Secret Identities 5.

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Patrick: DC Comics continues to roll out it’s new universe this week, and that means a lot of new series that look like new series, a lot of new series that look like old series, and a lot of old series that… still look old. It’s a mixed bag that reveals that there may not be any single underlying philosophy to DC’s new approach to publishing.  Continue reading →

Jun 19 2015

Secret Wars Round-Up: Issues released 6/17/15

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Today, Drew, Patrick, and Spencer discuss Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars 2, Thors 1, Runaways 1, and Old Man Logan 2.

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This is an imaginary story…aren’t they all?

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Drew: Comics continuity is a funny thing. We generally understand characters in their broad strokes, but those broad strokes can change from time to time. Alan Moore’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” was written at one such juncture, saying goodbye to one era of Superman before Crisis on Infinite Earths ushered in a new one. But that goodbye doesn’t have to be permanent; events can be revisited, recontextualized, altered, or even undone. All of those approaches are fair game during Secret Wars, which affords us more time with characters, settings, and situations we might have thought were gone forever. Continue reading →

Jun 17 2015

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 6/10/15

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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, Drew, Patrick, Michael and Spencer discuss Catwoman 41, Detective Comics 41, Batman Superman 21, Earth 2: Society 1, Constantine the Hellblazer 1, Starfire 1, The Fox 3, Kanan: The Last Padawan 3, Spider-Gwen 5, Descender 4, and Chrononauts 4.

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Drew: What could be more optimistic than a new beginning? Comics culture has long embraced reboots of all kinds — in-continuity, out-of-continuity, soft, hard — but I think they all stem from the necessity to make stories accessible to new readers. The end of DC’s New 52 may seem like the conclusions of one such attempt, but this week finds DC publishing several first issues, and offering logical jumping-on points for virtually everything else. But DC doesn’t have a monopoly on new beginnings, as the rest of the comics we picked up this week put characters in ever more pressing (and character-defining) situations. Continue reading →

Jun 12 2015

Secret Wars Round-Up: Issues released 6/10/15

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Today, Patrick, Drew, Spencer and Michael discuss Ms. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos 1, Ghost Racers 1, Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps 1, Weirdworld 1, Inhumans: Atillan Rising 2, Spider-Verse 2, Secret Wars 2099 2, Ultimate End 2, and X-Men ’92 Infinite Comic.

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Patrick: I’m not reading all of Secret Wars, but I am reading an awful lot of it. What’s impressing me the most about the world building is how patiently and deliberately various kingdoms are established and how they intersect. These aren’t simply re-imaginings of classic Marvel stories for the sake of re-imagining the classics, but a complex world wherein the conflict frequently comes from so many stories being forced to co-exist. In many ways, it’s an indictment of continuity: how can you possibly expect everything from 75 years of storytelling to all jive together? For the same reason, we don’t have peace in Battleworld, even with the editorial oversight of God Doom. But — and this is the important part — that doesn’t mean we can’t tell fun stories amid the conflicting continuities. Continue reading →

Jun 10 2015

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 6/3/15

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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, Spencer, Patrick, Drew and Michael discuss Spider-Woman 8, The Amazing Spider-Man 18.1, Groot 1, Archie 666, Jupiter’s Circle 3, The Autumnlands: Tooth and Claw 6, Action Comics 41, Batman Beyond 1, Bat-Mite 1, Bizarro 1, Green Lantern 41, Omega Men 1, Dead Drop 2, and The Woods 13.

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Spencer: Convergence is over — as is the New 52, technically — and DC is eager to trot out their new, more diverse roster of titles. Do these books succeed at being a breath of fresh air for DC? We’ll give you our takes soon enough, but first, we’re catching up with some of the last remaining Marvel titles that have yet to get tied up in Secret Wars, celebrating the end of an era over at Archie, and, believe it or not, even discussing a few books that aren’t somehow affected by line-wide changes! We’ve got a lot on our plate this week, so let’s dive right in, shall we? Continue reading →

Jun 5 2015

Secret Wars Round-Up: Issues released 6/3/15

secret wars roundup3Today, Drew, Patrick and Spencer discuss Secret Wars 3, Giant-Sized Little Marvel AvX 1, Future Imperfect 1, Years of Future Past 1, and Secret Wars Battleworld 2.

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Drew: There’s nothing like comics continuity — and I mean that quite literally. Virtually no other narratives feature the same kinds of questions about whether something happened, how so and so exists if that didn’t happen, whether or not characters remember events that did happen before they didn’t, or if all of the events we’re reading will somehow be undone in the future. I’ve never been particularly interested in what is and isn’t canon (as far as I’m concerned, the only stories that “count” in comics are the ones that I’ve read), but it’s certainly interesting to see how the Big Two twist themselves up in knots to explain things. Marvel has long touted its continuity as being unbroken (a few retcons notwithstanding), in contrast to DC’s system of periodically “resetting” their universe with a massive crisis, but Secret Wars began with proudly proclaiming the death of the Marvel Universe as we know it. Indeed, this week finds writers not just defending that break, but reveling in it. Continue reading →

Jun 5 2015

Star Wars Round-Up: Star Wars 6, Princess Leia 4 and Darth Vader 6

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Today, Patrick, Michael and Taylor discuss Star Wars 6, Princess Leia 4 and Darth Vader 6.
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Patrick: This week’s crop of Star Wars comics is unique in that it’s the first time we’re seeing multiple Marvel Star Wars comics released all on one day. All three find our characters struggling to understand and assert their place in the universe. Sometimes that struggle is literal, as in Darth Vader’s duel to claim his right as Palpatine’s protege. Sometimes the struggle is more abstract, as in Leia’s coming to terms with what it means to be the princess of a planet that no longer exists. And sometimes, it’s just blasters and lightsabers! So, let’s gather ’round and dig in to some stories from A Long Time Ago.

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Jun 3 2015

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 5/27/15

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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, Drew, Patrick, and Spencer discuss The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 3, Infinite Loop 2, Effigy 5, Providence 1, Nova 31, S.H.I.E.L.D. 6, Sons of the Devil 1 and Outcast 9.

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Drew: Expectations are a funny thing. They can predispose us to liking or disliking an undeserving work of art, but they can also be exploited by a savvy artist. Exploiting our own expectations to surprise us is one of the most common tricks in genre fiction, but also one of the most satisfying. For evidence, we need look no further than the comics out this week, which play with our expectations in fun, sometimes even shocking ways. Continue reading →