Category Weekly Round-Up

Feb 26 2014

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 2/19/14

round upLook, 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, and Drew discuss New Warriors 1, Avengers World 3, A+X 17, Amazing X-Men 4, Batwoman 28, Batman and Two-Face 28, and Justice League 28. 

slim-banner4Spencer: Due to my fondness for young superheroes, a rapidly growing appreciation for Nova, and a long-standing love of Marcus To’s art, I decided to check out this week’s New Warriors 1 by Christopher Yost and Marcus To. The issue introduces us to all but one of the members portrayed on the cover — Nova, Speedball, Justice, Scarlet Spider, Hummingbird, Sun Girl, and Faira Sar Namora — as each group faces down the forces of the High Evolutionary. While it didn’t necessarily blow me away, this is still a solid issue. Continue reading →

Feb 19 2014

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 2/12/14

round upLook, 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 and Shelby discuss Red Sonja: Berzerker, Winter Soldier: Bitter March 1, Nightwing 28, Legenderry: A Steam Punk Adventure 2, and Green Lantern Corps 28. 

slim-banner4Patrick: Written by Nancy Collins and drawn by Fritz Casas, Red Sonja: Berzerker bears very little resemblance to the Gail Simone and Walter Geovanni series to which I subscribed. The story follows the unlikely friendship between Sonja and a polar bear that she rescued from some viking hunters. After years of living and hunting together in the woods, Sonja leaves her friend and returns to “civilized” society, only to discover that every man wants to degrade, fuck and enslave her. There’s an unnerving amount of sexual harassment and female oppression in this issue — Sonja’s always able to defend herself agains her oppressors, but every single interaction is colored by sexual threats, assumptions that she’s a prostitute and/or liberal use of the word “bitch.” And these shitty dudes keep bringing up the “if you don’t want this attention, why are you dressed like that?” argument, which mirrors the victim-blaming pervasive in our current culture. Collins seems so hell-bent on expressing this idea, which is odd as the whole point of the issue is the relationship between Sonja and this bear, which shows up in the final act to help her escape like the 10 billionth gladiatorial arena scenario Sonja’s found herself trapped in. It’s a muddled story, that tries to make too many points, many gracelessly. But hey, Casas draws a damn cute polar bear cub, so maybe it’s worth it for that. Continue reading →

Feb 5 2014

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 1/29/14

round upLook, 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 and Patrick discuss Avengers Assemble 23.INH, Thor: God of Thunder 18, Aquaman 27, Fables 127, Black Science 3, All-Star Western 27, and Green Lantern Corps Annual 2.

slim-banner4Drew: There are lots of decent marketing reasons for saddling an adult hero with a kid sidekick — it gives the hero someone to talk to, and younger readers someone to relate to — but few comics manage to justify that decision narratively. When Kelly Sue DeConnick and Warren Ellis decided to task the Avengers with wrangling the not-ready-for-prime-time Spider-Girl, they tapped into one of the most relatable reasons a hero would keep an eye on a teenager while Avenging: somebody has to. They add a bullet to that begrudging sense of duty in Avengers Assemble 23.INH by making that put-upon Avenger the surly old man Wolverine — the perfect foil for teenage enthusiasm. It’s hard not to read a bit of Ellis and DeConnick into these characters — he’s the time-tested sage, she’s the young hot-shot — but whatever the reason, the chemistry on the page is electric. That goes a long way to covering this issue’s shortcomings (in spite of several cool scenes, nothing much seems to happen here), but I’m such a softie when it comes to stories where kid heroes are schooled by their elders, I’m willing to give the whole thing a pass. Continue reading →

Jan 29 2014

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 1/22/14

round upLook, 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 and Patrick discuss Batwoman 27, Batman and Two-Face 27, Justice League 27, Avengers 25, Indestructible Hulk 18.INH, George Romero’s Empire of the Dead Act One 1, and All-New Invaders 1.

slim-banner4Drew: History is complicated. That’s not exactly the message of Mark Andreyko’s Batwoman 27, but it might as well be. His run, with it’s abrupt start after an aborted arc by the previous writers, was always going to have a complex relationship with the series, which he sets to address directly in this issue. Only, he addresses it in a dream sequence, so not only is it not clear what is memory and what is dream, but he doesn’t do much besides show it to us. We see Bane reciting lines from that previous arc, but it comes alongside talking rabbit skeletons. More distressingly, we see Colonel Kane expressing profound shame in Kate (“I wish it had been you who was killed”), which flies in direct opposition to Greg Rucka’s version of her coming out story. Is that a nightmare fantasy, or an accurate memory (or somewhere in between)? This series has never truly addressed its pre-New 52 history (which we might have assumed meant it hadn’t changed), but this at least suggests that we might not actually know anything about Kate’s past. Continue reading →

Jan 15 2014

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 1/8/13

round upLook, 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 and Drew discuss Earth 2 19, Batman Black and White 5, Green Lantern 27, Batman/Superman 7, Forever Evil: Arkham War 4, Avengers World 1, and All-New Marvel Now! Point One 1.

slim-banner4Spencer: Earth 2 has been in a strange place over the last few months, as a veritable flood of new characters, led by the mysterious new Batman, have seemingly taken over the book, leaving little room for old favorites such as Flash, Hawkgirl, and the Green Lantern. Fortunately, Earth 2 19 seems poised to bring them back into the fold, but it also starts successfully fleshing out its new additions, such as the kind, innocent alien prisoner of Terry Sloane’s — who might just be Kryptonian — or the tough-as-nails Queen Marella of Atlantis. The most pleasant surprise from this issue was the scene where Batman blindfolds Jimmy Olsen — who has a photographic memory and perfect recall — so that he won’t be forever traumatized by the carnage taking place. It’s a surprisingly tender moment, especially from Batman of all people, but it’s also a welcome comment on — and respite from — the constant gore of this book’s last few issues.

Jan 8 2014

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 12/31/13

round upLook, 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 and Drew discuss Superior Foes of Spider-Man 7, Talon 14, Batwoman 27 and Aquaman 27.

slim-banner4Patrick: For my money, Superior Foes of Spider-Man has been the best supporting leg of the whole ‘Superior’ movement, but not because it does anything to prop up the overarching plot in any way. Superior Foes embraces the villains-as-protagonists conceit with fearless abandon, usually relying on humor to make the medicine go down a little easier, and sometimes delivering genuine pathos. Issue 7 is a Beetle origin story — the rest of our Sinister Six don’t feature in the issue at all. Unlike most origins, this is not one of unfortunate circumstances or loss or anything like that. Janice grew up the daughter of an organized crime goon, and aspired to be something greater than her father: a supervillain. The American Dream, right? It’s a shockingly relatable journey, and while the issue mines some laughs out of the absurdity of her earliest heists (like stealing all of her friend’s birthday presents), the rubber really meet the road when Nick Spencer and artist Rich Ellis show how damn driven she is. I love this splash of her day-planner (it reminded me of Charles Soule’s ‘How I do it’ post on his blog last week). Continue reading →

Dec 18 2013

Weekly Round-Up: DC Comics Released 12/11/13

round upLook, 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 Batman Black and White 4, Green Lantern Corps 26, Justice League 3000 1, Justice League 25, Nightwing 26, Li’l Gotham 9, and Forever Evil: Arkham War 3.

slim-banner4Drew: We tend to talk a lot about auteurism around here — it’s a fascinating subject as far as working with company-owned characters goes — but anyone who still needs convincing on the power a given creative team can have over a character need look no further than Batman Black and White 4. DC has once again put together a stellar (and eclectic) lineup of creators, all seemingly defined by their distinctive styles. The result is a very diverse collection of Batman stories, touching on everything from the nature of heroism to the routine of fighting crime every single night. Continue reading →

Dec 18 2013

Weekly Round-Up: Amazing Spider-Man 700.1-700.3

round upLook, 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 and Drew are discussing Amazing Spider-Man 700.1-700.3

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HE’S DEAD!

Dan Slott, writer of Amazing Spider-Man, Superior Spider-Man

Patrick: I loves me some Superior Spider-Man. For my money, it’s the most dangerous and courageous thing Marvel could do with their most popular franchise. It’s un-fucking-precedented and it explores amazingly complex themes and concepts. Morality, immorality and amorality, and the relativism of all three, are forefront without making the audience feel like they’re somehow culpable for some heinous crimes. We are allowed a certain distance from Otto because he’s Otto, but we’re also invited to empathize with him because he’s Spider-Man. I know that balance has caused a lot of people to tap out, and others to demand Peter Parker’s return. With no Parker in the Ultimate Universe either, Marvel’s trotting out these Amazing Spider-Man 700.whatever issues, as if to say “you want your Peter Parker stories? Here are your fucking Peter Parker stories.” Continue reading →

Dec 11 2013

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 12/4/13

round upLook, 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 and Patrick are discussing Batman / Superman 6, Green Arrow 26, Earth-2 18, Superior Spider-Man 23, Amazing X-Men 2, Indestructible Hulk Annual 1, and Guardians of the Galaxy 9.slim-banner4

Drew: Greg Pak’s Batman/Superman charged out of the gate with a fascinating study of Bruce and Clark, using the funhouse mirror of Earth-2 to show us who they are — and importantly, who they aren’t. Batman/Superman 6 manages to continue to demonstrate who the characters aren’t, which unfortunately means an issue full of super-powered Batman and rage-fuelled Superman. Aptly titled “Boss Fight,” this issue casts aside all of the hard-earned emotional intelligence of the first arc, favoring an insanely overpowered punch-em-up. This may read better for those with a fondness for the tropes being sent-up, but for the rest of us, this issue largely approximates the experience of watching your friend play video games. Continue reading →

Dec 4 2013

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 11/27/13

round upLook, 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, Taylor and Spencer are discussing All New X-Men 19, Talon 13, Superior Spider-Man 22, All-Star Western 25, Wolverine and the X-Men Annual 1, Aquaman 25, and Indestructible Hulk 16.

slim-banner4Taylor: It’s always a little jarring when you pop open one of your favorite monthlies and are suddenly confronted with the work of a new artist. Even though you may have already known about the artist change from reading the cover or by giving the cover more than a simple glance, it’s strange to see the characters in a new light. The thing is, even if the new artist is just as good as the previous, sometimes we find ourselves rejecting the new. Humans just aren’t good with change I guess. So when I read All New X-Men 19 this past week it took me a bit to cope with the change of artist on this title. Making things more difficult is my love of Stuart Immonen’s work on this title. I feel like his art the perfect balance of photo realism and cartoonism for this title as it reflects the tone Brian Michael Bendis’ writing quite well. Continue reading →