How many Batman books is too many Batman books? Depending on who you ask there ain’t no such thing! We try to stay up on what’s going on at DC, but we can’t always dig deep into every issue. The solution? Our weekly round-up of titles coming out of DC Comics. Today, we’re discussing Batman 11, Green Arrow 11, Green Lanterns 11 and Trinity 3. Also, we will be discussing Nightwing 9 on Monday and Superman 11 on Tuesday, so come back for those! As always, this article containers SPOILERS.
Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Moonshine 2, originally released November 16th, 2016. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Patrick: My father grew up in Theresa, Wisconsin. It’s a small, rural town a good 50 miles northwest of Milwaukee. Most of his side of the family is still there, cheering on the Packers and living lives I’m going to charitably call “old fashioned.” My father must have envisioned a better — or at least different — life for himself, and he got out, went to college and become an engineer. He worked in northern Illinois, the greater Chicagoland area, so the physical distance he traversed wasn’t enormous, but the philosophical distance he traveled was. He values education and art and compassion — a departure from what he was raised on. In turn, my siblings and I have all also moved away from our Wisconsin homestead and embraced cultural, societal and philosophical ideas even further from where we were raised. And not even in the same direction — my older sister is in the army, and my little brother is a crusader for homosexual homeless teens in Colorado. And I’m an artsy-fartsy comedian in Los Angeles. We’re allowed this room to grow with relatively little violence or conflict precisely because of the distance we’ve given ourselves from our stomping grounds. Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso’s Moonshine 2 shows just how traumatic that transition from one generation to the next can be when everyone stays in one place. Continue reading
Today, Spencer and Ryan M. are discussing Avengers 1.1, originally released November 9th, 2016. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Spencer: Take 2014’s Amazing Spider-Man 1.1-1.6 (which told a previously untold story set in Peter Parker’s first few months as a hero) and mix it together with Mark Waid and Barry Kitson’s JLA Year One (which retold the Justice League’s post-Crisis origin in a modern setting) and you’ll get something resembling The Avengers 1.1. Waid and Kitson take their trademark stylistic combination of classic storytelling set in the modern day (which Waid has also been employing in his modern-day Avengers stories) and use it to tell an “untold” tale of the Avengers’ past. If you have any experience with the aforementioned stories or creative teams, then the result is probably exactly what you were expecting. Continue reading
Today, Patrick and Taylor are discussing Gotham Academy: Second Semester 3, originally released September 14th, 2016. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Patrick: Contained mystery stories tend to follow fairly predictable patterns. Details are introduced in the first 90% of the story that pay off in the final moments. Sure, there are some red herrings tossed in there, and the rise of noir fiction make the detective’s character as crucial to the story as the mystery itself, but generally, clues lead to pay-off. Being a serialized mystery series, Gotham Academy Second Semester doesn’t have to play by this formula as rigidly as a one-off story would, so even as we’re approaching the end of the first story arc of the semester, the pay-offs are starting to look like clues in their own right. Add to that a whole host of interesting detectives, and this is starting to look like some of the most compelling mysteries on the shelf.
Today, Drew and Michael are discussing Mother Panic 1, originally released November 9th, 2016. As always, this article containers SPOILERS.
Drew: A quarter century after the runaway successes of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, deconstruction remains a thriving mode of superhero storytelling. It makes sense that, in a world that is constantly retelling the same stories in films, television shows, video games, and the comics themselves, there’s little need to reiterate the beats we already know, so Batman’s origin, for example, can be cut down to a few iconic images, and the rest of the narrative can be given over to highlighting themes and ideas baked into that origin. That is, the narrative can be less about the story (since we all know it), and more about the telling. Of course, that approach tends to be reserved for characters whose origins have become common knowledge — heavy-hitters like Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man — but what if that approach was applied to a totally new character? What if their origin was taken as a given, so the emphasis was more on texture than the specific beats of the story? You might end up with something like Mother Panic 1, an issue that blends a familiar presumption of familiarity with a truly unfamiliar character. The effect is disorienting — frustratingly so at times — but nonetheless alluring. Continue reading
Today, Ryan D. and Patrick are discussing Black Panther: World of Wakanda 1, originally released November 9th, 2016. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Ryan D: Max Landis wised me up to “narrative potential” in a video from a while ago, but ever since then I can’t help but notice when a topic just screams with possibilities. This is the gift which is being presented to the collaborators of the new series Black Panther:World of Wakanda. Spinning directly off of Ta’Nehisi Coates’s current, ambitious run with the titular character, this series promises to flesh out the vibrant, complicated African nation in a way that will supplement the overarching story being told. While Wakanda may be the world’s most developed and advanced society — at once reaching forward as a progressive power-house and at the same time sitting comfortably in its heritage — it is also a nation recoiling from siege and tragedy. The opening chapter of World of Wakanda shows us two different glimpses into the prelude which lead to the current Wakanda read in the comics, one of a particular volatility, and thus far I think one of these two narrative paths is a much more gratifying path to follow.
Today, Michael and Spencer are discussing All-Star Batman 4, originally released November 9th, 2016. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Michael: One of the tenets of Batman story is perception: the difference of worldview between Batman, his allies, and his villains. There’s the more popular battling ideologies of vigilantism vs traditional legitimate law enforcement or Joker’s anarchy vs Batman’s order, but All-Star Batman’s battle of ideologies is based on the age-old question of “is man inherently good or inherently evil?” Continue reading
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, we discuss Star Wars: Poe Dameron 8, Cannibal 2, Glitterbomb 3, Green Valley 2, and Shipwreck 2. We also discussed Namesake 1 on Friday, so check that out! As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Today, Drew and Ryan are discussing Mayday 1, originally released November 2nd, 2016. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
Drew: Logic puzzles often include a clause that all actors within the puzzle are perfectly rational and possess infinite intelligence — a fact that those actors must also understand in order to properly interpret the behavior of other actors within the scenario. Like physics problems that ignore friction, those assumptions lead to simple, elegant answers on the page, but break down completely in the real world. Such is the case with Alex de Campi and Tony Parker’s Mayday, which finds a straightforward Cold War espionage story beautifully complicated by some decidedly non-rational actors. The results spiral out of control in magnificent fashion, carrying this spy thriller in unexpected directions. Continue reading
We try to stay up on what’s going on at Marvel, but we can’t always dig deep into every issue. The solution? Our weekly round-up of titles coming out of Marvel Comics. Today, we’re discussing Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows 1, Captain America Steve Rogers 7, Clone Conspiracy 2, Daredevil 13, Gwenpool 8, and Power Man and Iron Fist 10. We discussed Invincible Iron Man 1 on Thursday, so check that out. Also, we’re discussing Black Panther World of Wakanda 1 on Tuesday and Avengers 1.1 on Wednesday, so come back for those! As always, this article contains SPOILERS.
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Retcon Punch 