Aug 13 2015

Mad Max: Fury Road: Mad Max 2

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Today, Mark and Drew are discussing Mad Max: Fury Road: Mad Max 2, originally released August 5th, 2015.

Mark: One of my favorite things about Max Rockatanksy is that despite being crazy he’s an incredibly pure hero. There’s a trend in pop culture that seems to be sunsetting where every hero was an anti-hero. Yes we were rooting for them, but in the context of the real world we wouldn’t have been. But as interesting as anti-heroes can be, it’s hard to beat a straight-up hero. Indiana Jones is a scoundrel, yes, but he only wants to do the right thing. Ethan Hunt is blowing up in movie theaters right now in a fifth Mission: Impossible film. Max is the same way: yes, he has flaws but his motives are incredibly true. There’s something fundamentally appealing about these characters in a way anti-heroes can’t compete. Continue reading →

Aug 12 2015

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 8/4/15

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Retcon Punch is on Summer Hours, which means we’re going to be writing fewer in-depth pieces for the month of August. But we’re addicts at this point, so we need a place for our thoughts on all those comics we can’t stop reading. Some comics fall neatly in the the categories “DC” or “Secret Wars” — these comics don’t! Today, we’re discussing We Stand On Guard 2, Groot 3, The Fade Out 8, The Wicked + The Divine 13, and Outcast 11.

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Aug 12 2015

Secret Wars Round-Up: Issues released 8/4/15

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Retcon Punch is on Summer Hours, which means we’re going to be writing fewer in-depth pieces for the month of August. But we’re addicts at this point, so we need a place for our thoughts on all those comics we can’t stop reading. Today, we’re discussing Ms. Marvel 17, Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows 3, Civil War 2, Infinity Gauntlet 3, Giant Sized Little Marvel AvX 3, and Red Skull 2

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Aug 11 2015

Darth Vader 8

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Today, Michael and Patrick are discussing Darth Vader, originally released August 5th, 2015.

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Michael: At my old age of 27, I must admit that I have gotten a little curmudgeonly – especially where pop culture is concerned. I’ve seen so many different iterations of ideas and tropes that sometimes it’s hard to tell if something is cliché or if I’ve just put myself in a position to see the same story 10 billion times. Darth Vader 8 took all of my predictions and suppositions and knocked them flat on their ass. And this pleases me. Continue reading →

Aug 10 2015

DC Round-Up Comics Released 8/4/15

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Retcon Punch is on Summer Hours, which means we’re going to be writing fewer in-depth pieces for the month of August. But we’re addicts at this point, so we need a place for our thoughts on all those comics we can’t stop reading. Today, we’re discussing Midnighter 3, Detective Comics 43, Batman Beyond 3 and Green Lantern 43.

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Aug 10 2015

Summer Hours 2015

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Howdy everyone! Your old pals at Retcon Punch are going to seek a little R&R for the month of August. Some of us have travel on the calendar, some of us are taking on new projects, and some of us need time to reflect on how the waning of the summer sun reminds us of our slow inevitable descent to a slow, cold, meaningless death.

But hey! That doesn’t mean we’re going away entirely! In fact, I still hope to publish 2-3 Alternating Currents a week and we’ll still be weighing in on the new direction of the DCU (please, don’t make me use “DCYou”) and Secret Wars in the form of our now-familiar Round Ups. Beyond that, there will also always be a sort of catch-all Round Up to discuss indie books, Vertigo, Star Wars, or whatever Marvel stuff doesn’t yet fall under the banner of “Secret Wars.”

So I hope you’ll stick with us and put your own two cents in the comments. I expect we’ll still be expressing quite a few contestable opinions, and nothing brings me more joy that watching those contests play out on the site. Plus, we’ll be back in the Fall, and all of this will look a little bit fresher. On behalf of Drew, Spencer, Michael, Taylor, Ryan, Mark, Shane, Shelby and myself, have a great Summer y’all!

Patrick, Co-Editor-In-Chief

Aug 5 2015

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 7/29/15

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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, Spencer, and Patrick discuss Daredevil 17, Jem and the Holograms 5, Universe! 3, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 4, and Material 3.

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Drew: What do people think of when you tell them you read comics? Do they assume you’re reading about Spider-Man and his friends? Do they think you mean “serious” graphic novels? Do they ever ask about newspaper strips? The point is, in spite of what genres we may chose to pigeonhole them in, comics are insanely diverse right now. Case in point: this week’s round-up. We’ve got superhero action, for sure, but we also have everything from irreverent comedy to twisted horror. More importantly, this week finds all of these series at different points in their narrative lives, from beginnings to ends to everything rolled up in one. That may mean that not everything on this list will appeal to everyone, but it also makes it likely that everyone will find at least one thing to like in this week’s comics. Continue reading →

Aug 5 2015

Sex Criminals 11

Alternating Currents: Sex Criminals 11, Drew and Michael

Today, Drew and Michael are discussing Sex Criminals 11, originally released June 29th, 2015.

Drew: I’ve played the “what superpower would you want” game enough to know that most people will settle for “flight” or “invisibility.” Does that predictability speak to the overwhelming awesomeness of those powers, or some failure of those individuals to be creative? I think it might actually speak to how we think about superpowers: they’re so arbitrary as to be kind of meaningless. Indeed, there are relatively few characters whose powersets are actually limited to just “flight” or “invisibility,” giving even those most popular choices the air of not quite being enough. Which is why Sex Criminals is such a revelation. “A series about a couple with the ability to stop time” doesn’t get nearly the reaction as “A series about a couple with the ability to stop time when they orgasm.” Part of the charm is the novelty, sure, but the premise requires that sexuality play a central role in the series. That makes it unique beyond its superpowers, as issue 11 takes us into the private lives of virtually every character via their sex lives. Continue reading →

Aug 5 2015

Lazarus 18

lazarus 18Today, Spencer and Ryan are discussing Lazarus 18, originally released July 29th, 2015.

Spencer: There’s a certain rush that comes with new stories, with watching a whole world full of new characters and relationships being established right before your eyes, but it’s a rush that by definition can’t last forever, and late-series attempts to keep things fresh often misfire. The answer isn’t continually adding new characters and concepts, which can often leave a story feeling bloated and distract from its core themes; the best storytellers know the power that comes from mixing up established relationships, throwing together characters who have never really interacted before, and finding new perspectives to view their cast through. Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s Lazarus is well into its second year and fourth storyline, and it’s exactly these kind of techniques that keeps issue 18 feeling as compelling as ever. Continue reading →

Aug 4 2015

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 48

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Today, Taylor and Spencer are discussing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 48, originally released July 29th, 2015.

Taylor: Time is hard concept to understand. On the one hand, it’s totally an invention of humankind and wouldn’t exist without us. On the other hand, it does seem like things more or less move temporally in some fashion independent of human thought. That’s basically the second law of thermodynamics. The point is, time is a complicated concept. It should be no surprise then that time can be difficult to illustrate in comics. It’s such an abstract concept that it’s not always easy to show readers. However, one of the things comic book artists are experts at is showing the movement of time in and between panels. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 48, artist Cory Smith puts on a clinic on how to show the passage of time. Subsequently, this issue is beautiful to read.

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