Jun 23 2014

Silver Surfer 3

silver surfer 3Today, Greg and Suzanne are discussing Silver Surfer 3, originally released June 18th, 2014.

Greg: I’m just gonna be blunt and cheesy up-top: the human imagination is a goddamn beautiful thing. It’s a place where everything and nothing exists and doesn’t exist. A breeding ground for active creation and idle daydreaming. It’s arguably the most fun thing about being a human, and by combining heady intellectual concepts of quantum physics with a simple yet emotionally grounded narrative drive (combined with a healthy amount of “call the unusual thing out” humor), Silver Surfer 3 is one of the purest encapsulations of imagination I have seen in recent memory.

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Jun 23 2014

Thunderbolts 27

thunderbolts 27Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Thunderbolts 26, originally released May 28th, 2014.

Shelby: It’s really hard to write about a new creative team on a title; how do you manage to discuss the book as a stand-alone piece without comparing it to the previous issues? It’s even harder when you liked the title before the change, because now you have to make sure you stay objective. If there are things I dislike about the new team, is it because I genuinely dislike it, or is it just because it’s different from how it used to be? I’m faced with this dilemma now as I consider the first issue of Thunderbolts without Charles Soule at the helm, and some of the decisions Ben Acker and Ben Blacker have made with this book definitely have me scratching my head.

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Jun 23 2014

Fables 141

Alternating Currents: Fables 141, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing Fables 141, originally released June 18th, 2014.

Drew: Long before I ever read a page of Fables, I remember thinking that populating a story with only folktale characters would be incredibly limiting. I had dismissed it as a total gimmick, doomed to occupy a very closed-off little world. Turns out, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. Indeed, the massive world-building that Bill Willingham seems to toss off in every single issue has quickly become my favorite aspect of the series. Every detail can support its own myth, creating a nested, telescoping world that seems virtually infinite. Those myths-within-myths can lend even the more mundane “putting the pieces in place” issues a great deal of action — though with Willingham crafting the dialogue, even the talking heads sequences in this issue are thrilling. Continue reading →

Jun 22 2014

Wizard World Philadelphia 2014 Day 3

comic con punch-wwpSpencer: Nothing could have prepared me for day three of Wizard World. Since it was Saturday, it was the busiest day of the con, and since it was the busiest day of the con, it was the day all the big name celebrities were there. I’ve spent the last two days mostly concerned with comic books, but today I tried something new, and the combination of literally suffocating crowds, my own ignorance, and Wizard World’s poor explanation of their policies as well as their outrageous prices derailed my entire morning. Fortunately, today’s session was so long that it felt like two days, and the afternoon proved to be much more successful.

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Jun 21 2014

Wizard World Philadelphia 2014 Day 2

comic con punch-wwpSpencer: My whole con experience is colored by the fact that I’m spending a portion of each day working at Artist’s Alley. There are some downsides — both of us can’t be away from the table at the same time, none of us like to be left alone for too long, etc. — but I feel like the upsides more than make up for it. Beyond saving a bundle on food so far, I also enjoy having a home base I can return to to sort out the increasingly growing contents of my backpack, but the greatest advantage of all is having access to the floor an hour before it opens. By the time guests started rolling in, I was already talking to the first artist I wanted to meet, and I ended up meeting all four of the creators on my wish list before lines could even form. It was an auspicious start to a fantastic day at Wizard World. Continue reading →

Jun 20 2014

Wizard World Philadelphia 2014 Day 1

comic con punch-wwpSpencer: Thursday was a weird day at Philadelphia Comic Con. It was really only a half day — open from 3-8 — and none of the celebrities and hardly any of the more recognizable creators were there yet. While there was a fair amount of people in attendance, it was a far cry from the jam-packed crowds I’m used to seeing in pictures. A part of me almost wonders what the point of having a four-day con is at all, but as a first-time convention goer, I was grateful for the chance to acclimate. When things get busy tomorrow, I’ll be prepared.

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Jun 20 2014

Batman Eternal 11

batman eternal 11Today, Drew leads a discussion on Batman Eternal 11, originally released June 18th, 2014.

Drew: Happy belated Fathers’ Day, everyone! I know I’m close to a week late, but hey, it’s not like your my dad, right? Okay, I may have missed the moment there, but Batman Eternal 11 actually hits a bit closer to the mark, landing only four days after the actual holiday. Still seem a little late? Consider how non-topical other comics tend to be. It makes sense; a six-issue arc may span a matter of days of narrative time, but would cover six months in real time — how do you sync that up to fixed holidays? It’s still done from time to time, but it’s usually relegated to one-off anthologies, or even commemorating events a few months after the fact. There are a few notable exceptions, which manage the feat largely by synching their narrative rate to their release schedule, like The Long Halloween or 52, two series to which Batman Eternal obviously owes a great debt. The weekly format truly gives the writers an opportunity to line events up on the calendar, giving us just a bit more to relate to in the pages. Far from hackneyed or forced, this issue reveals one of the primary perks of such a large ensemble cast: it’s easy to find occasion-appropriate themes when so many plates are spinning at once. Continue reading →

Jun 20 2014

Daredevil 4

Alternating Currents: Daredevil 4, Drew and ScottToday, Drew and Scott are discussing Daredevil 4, originally released June 18th, 2014. 

Not everyone is you.

Kirsten McDuffie

Drew: The realization that there are other people with feelings and motivations separate from our own is a key moment in child brain development. As early (and often) as that lesson comes, we’re still pretty bad at understanding that people have different perspectives. We want different things, value different things, and believe in different methods for how to achieve our goals, yet it’s still hard to understand why someone would disagree with you. It’s obvious they’re wrong! Why can’t they see it? Those differences of perspective tend to correlate to differences of experience — middle aged Russians are likely going to agree with each other more than either would with a teenaged Australian — but it’s the differences within those groups that can lead to the biggest failures of understanding. That’s exactly the kind of failure Matt is confronted with in Daredevil 4, where Kirsten needs to remind him that not everyone is quite as resilient (or noble) as ol’ horn-head. Continue reading →

Jun 20 2014

Wonder Woman 32

wonder woman 32Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Wonder Woman 32, originally released June 18th, 2014.

Shelby: Often times for me, the hardest part about writing any of these posts is this very intro. I always want to find some overarching theme in the issue, or one relevant anecdote from my past to broadly introduce the issue. I used to write the intro last on a regular basis, so I could find that one theme as I was writing. I couldn’t possibly use that approach with this post, however. Brian Azzarello has given me so many individual moments to get excited about this issue, the best I can do at coming up with a unifying theme is to marvel at how beautifully the pieces fit together to create the whole.

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Jun 19 2014

Wizard World Philadelphia 2014 Coverage

comic con punch-wwp

Spencer: Hey, all! I’m going to be attending Wizard World Comic-Con in Philadelphia from Thursday, June 19 (that’s today!) through Sunday, June 22nd. There’s a lot of exciting celebrity guests and comic creators and it’s also my first official Comic-Con, so I’m super psyched to be there, and I’m here to pass that excitement down to you! Continue reading →