Sep 16 2015

Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Shattered Empire 1

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Today, Patrick and Andy are discussing Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Shattered Empire 1, originally released September 9th, 2015

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“Star Wars is the saga of good vs. evil, divided into nine parts.”

-George Lucas, 1994

“It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime.”

-George Lucas, 2012

Patrick: George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy is heavily influenced by just about every archetype-establishing institution in the book: westerns, serials, samurai stories, myths. They are clear stories of good vs. evil, strictly adhering to tenants of Joseph Campbell’s Hero With A Thousand Faces. In 1977, that made those films the sum total of popular fiction to that point – a perfect distillation of the hero triumphing over forces of darkness. That’s an over simplification, of course: Taxi Driver came out the year before A New Hope, after all. But what Lucas did so well in his original film was channeling the simple, clear morality of popular fiction. Almost 40 years later and morality in popular fiction isn’t so clear – neither is the morality of war. Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, two different Gulf Wars – today’s storytellers have a different responsibility to their audience than Lucas did. Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto’s Shattered Empire embraces this shift, focusing more on the insane fog of war surrounding the bit-players that supported the main heroes of the original trilogy. Continue reading →

Sep 16 2015

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 9/9/15

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A lot of comics come out every week. Some fall neatly in the the categories “DC” or “Secret Wars” — these comics don’t! Today, we’re discussing Darth Vader 9, Quake S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary 1, Outcast 12, and The Wicked + The Divine 14.

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Sep 15 2015

Injection 5

Alternating Currents: Injection 5, Ryan and Drew

Today, Ryan D. and Drew are discussing Injection 5, originally released September 9th, 2015.

Ryan: Who is the main character in this comic? At first glance, I fancied Maria Kilbride to be our lead. Her character arc seems to be one of the most vivid; every issues’ flashback scenes show her as the bright-eyed genius responsible for tying together the Cultural Cross-Contamination Unit, full of piss and vision. Seeing how cheerful she was in this issue when Brigid suggested they all get matching tattoos stands in stark contrast to the gaunt, hollowed lone-wolf who tackles a Cornish spriggan infestation head-on. Though her foe here be mystical, Kilbride is haunted more closely by the Injection, which finally reveals itself plainly. The fingerprints of the Injection are stamped on every curious happenstance which has taken place over the past five issues, making a compelling case to call this creation the main character. Its character journey has taken place predominately off-page, with the bulk of its exposition in the dialogue of its “parents”, the remnants of the CCCU. It now rears its invisible head to Maria, and in doing so shows that it is responsible for the previously anonymous, seemingly omnipotent yellow narrative text littering each issue. Continue reading →

Sep 15 2015

Gotham Academy 10

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Today, Ryan M. and Taylor are discussing Gotham Academy 10, originally released September 9, 2015.

Ryan: As the daughter of a high school teacher, I grew up seeing a lot of teens preforming Shakespeare. My dad wanted to support his students and I wanted to see people in costumes; it was a win-win. I saw a dozen of these amateur auditorium productions before I ever saw a professional one.  When I was little, I didn’t always understand the language of the scene, and I certainly wasn’t grasping the deeper themes. What I was enthralled by, other than those fun costumes, was wondering about the actors. Were they friends in class? Were there romances? Which ones were nerds or cool kids? Because, while I didn’t always get Shakespeare, I watched a lot of Saved by the Bell. In this issue of Gotham Academy, there is a lot happening behind the scenes, but it is even more spooky than the time Zack and the gang went to the murder mystery house.

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Sep 15 2015

Secret Wars Round-Up: Issues Released 9/9/15

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Secret Wars is a mammoth event — Marvel has populated an entire Battleworld with Wolverines, Captains America and Spider-Men. There’s a lot in here that’s worth reading, but we don’t always have the time to dig deep into all of them. The solution? A quick survey of what we’re reading. Today, we’re discussing A-Force 4, Civil War 4, Red Skull 3, Giant-Sized Little Marvel AvX 4, Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos 4, Planet Hulk 5 and Siege 3.

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Sep 14 2015

DC Round-Up Comics Released 9/9/15

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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/Superman 24, Catwoman 44, Justice League United 13, and Starfire 4.

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Sep 14 2015

Ms. Marvel 18

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Today, Taylor and Spencer are discussing Ms. Marvel 18, originally released September 9th, 2015. This issue is a Secret Wars tie-in. For more Secret Wars coverage from the week, check back Tuesday for our Secret Wars Round-Up.

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Taylor: The old axiom says there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. While I have my doubts that every person experiences grief in the exact same way as this, I do believe that most people go through something akin to this before arriving at the final stage of acceptance. When something truly traumatic happens it takes awhile for our brains to shift to the new reality of things. However, I think given time we all come to accept whatever bad thing it is that’s happened to us. Ms. Marvel 18 delves into this last stage of coping with grief and shows us that for everyone who undergoes it, it looks a little different.

Continue reading →

Sep 11 2015

Batman 44

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Today, Michael and Patrick are discussing Batman 44, originally released September 9th, 2015.

Michael: While Scott Snyder’s current Batman run could fit into the mold of “written for trade paperback collections,” he also likes his standalone issues. Batman 44 takes a reprieve from Jim Gordon’s inaugural Batman arc, “Superheavy,” to tell an all-too-real story about a murdered black teenager. Taking place shortly after Zero Year, the relatively new Batman does some detective work to find out a little more about this murdered teen: Peter Duggio. He discovers that Peter was mixed up with The Penguin, the Four Fives gang and a mysterious man (who readers know to be Mr. Bloom) who gave him some temporary super powers. When his powers ran out (Man-bat wings), Peter fell to his death. But before that he was shot four times by a police officer. Continue reading →

Sep 10 2015

The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows 5

Alternating Currents: The Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows 5, Drew and Spencer

Today, Drew and Spencer are discussing The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows 5, originally released September 2nd, 2015. This issue is a Secret Wars tie-in. For more Secret Wars coverage from the week, check back Tuesday for our Secret Wars Round-Up!

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Drew: It’s rare that we ever put a spoiler warning up on the site. It’s been suggested more than once, but we usually come to the conclusion that it would be redundant — it would be impossible to have the kind of in-depth discussions we have about comics without acknowledging what happened within them. That’s always been enough to end the conversation, but I also tend to think that superhero comics are impossible to spoil — or maybe that it’s they’re impossible not to spoil. That is to say, we don’t come to superhero stories to be surprised at the outcome, but to be inspired by them. I mean, “Spider-Man saves the day” isn’t exactly revelatory, but it describes the majority of Spider-Man stories (though not necessarily each individual issue), and doesn’t make them any less enjoyable. Indeed, that we know Spider-Man will get back up to fight again is exactly what makes him such an enduring character in the first place. So when The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows inevitably lives up to its name, its predictability is a strength, not a weakness. Continue reading →