Aug 7 2013

Uncanny X-Men 9

Alternating Currents: Uncanny X-Men 9, Drew and Patrick

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Uncanny X-Men 9, originally released July 31st, 2013.

Drew: Earlier this year, I became addicted to Radiolab, NPR’s quirky show about science and the philosophical repercussions of that science. The show is fascinating, but is also maddeningly self-referential — the hosts will often refer to massive concepts and conclusions from episodes that aired years before. The one that has come up the most often is the idea that your sense of self — the thing that makes you you — is basically the story you tell yourself about your life. That is to say, it isn’t how you look, how you spend your time, what you value, or even the company you keep — what you are is the narrative you believe about your life. Uncanny X-Men 9 finds Brian Michael Bendis examining every single one of his theories, as our new mutants (and a few old ones) struggle to get a handle on their own identities. Continue reading →

Aug 7 2013

Animal Man Annual 2

animal man annual 2Today, Scott and Shelby are discussing Animal Man Annual 2, originally released July 31st, 2013. 

Scott: Nothing is more universal than a parent wanting to provide a safe place for his or her children. And I’m sure nothing is more frightening to a parent than the prospect of failing to provide that safety. For many species- let’s say, spiders, for example- that safety comes at a premium, and many who are born fail to make it to adulthood. That fear has become a reality for Buddy Baker, as he has seen his son Cliff die and been forced to wonder how he could have better protected his child. Animal Man Annual 2 thrusts Buddy’s grieving to the forefront, as writer Jeff Lemire explores a particularly touching and incredibly frightening experience Buddy and Cliff once shared.

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Aug 7 2013

X-Men 3

x-men 3

Today, Shelby and Spencer are discussing X-Men 3, originally released July 31st, 2013.

Shelby: I hate a story that drags on too long. As a creator, it’s important to be able to edit yourself; you have to know where you want a story to go and be able to recognize when it gets there. At the same time, it’s just as frustrating as a reader when the story feels rushed. If I’ve settled in to savor a story as it unfolds, a sudden, “…andthenthegoodguyswinordidtheytheend,” is incredibly unsatisfying. A full-stop, wrap-it-up conclusion to a story arc just leaves me feeling confused, like maybe I missed an issue or something. As excited as I have been for Brian Wood’s X-Men, the end of the first arc has me feeling just that: confused and unsatisfied.
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Aug 6 2013

FF 10

ff 10Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing FF 10, originally released July 31st, 2013.

“I’ve written myself into my own script.”

“That’s kinda weird, huh?”

“It’s self-indulgent! It’s narcissistic! It’s solipsistic! It’s pathetic! I’m pathetic and I’m fat and pathetic!”

Nick Cage as Charlie and Donald Kaufman, Adaptation

Patrick: Adaptation is the best narrative I’ve ever encountered that directly confronts the challenges of portraying beauty abstractly. The screenplay works incredibly hard to achieve this, constantly doubling down on both its own cleverness and its disdain for said cleverness. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman does this my making himself a character in his own movie about adapting the book he’s been hired to adapt. If that sentence seemed to loop back on itself — and consequently, not make any sense — that’s because the film really needs to be experienced to be understood. Matt Fraction inserts himself, artist Mike Allred and editor Tom Brevoort into this issue of FF, but the lessons he offers have more to do with history than with expression. Plus, he makes himself say “ginchy,” like he’s Velma from Scooby-Doo, so you know it’s a home run.

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Aug 6 2013

The Flash Annual 2

flash annual 2Today, Spencer and Mikyzptlk are discussing the Flash Annual 2, originally released July 31st, 2013.

Spencer: Way back at the beginning of the New 52 initiative, Justice League turned the clock back five years to show us how DC’s most iconic heroes first met. Yet, even at this early stage, two of these heroes had already met and formed one of DC’s most enduring friendships: The Flash and the Green Lantern. Now, nearly two years later, The Flash Annual 2 has arrived to finally show us their momentous first team-up. It may not be a necessary story or even the most original one, but thanks to Barry Allen and Hal Jordan’s infectiously fun relationship, it’s well worth reading.

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Aug 6 2013

Daredevil 29

daredevil 29

Today, Patrick and Ethan are discussing Daredevil 29, originally released July 31st, 2013. 

Patrick: White supremacists are the worst. Don’t try arguing otherwise, ETHAN! They’re represented here by the Sons of the Serpent, a group that tempers their problematic world-view with some good old fashioned supervillainy. This way they feel a little more at home in the Marvel Universe. Just like you can’t have too many straight-up gangsters in Batman before one of them starts to affect a Penguin’s quack or whatever. But there’s one detail about this group that I can’t decide whether in lends credence to their real-worldness or their comic-bookiness: they have infiltrated government organizations at high levels of authority. Hey, either way: Daredevil’s going to have to kick ’em in the face. Continue reading →

Aug 5 2013

Trinity of Sin: Pandora 2

pandora 2 trinityToday, Taylor and Mikyzptlk are discussing Trinity of Sin: Pandora 2 originally released July 31st, 2013. This issue is part of the Trinity War crossover event. Click here for our complete Trinity War coverage.

trinity war divTaylor: We like to think of our world as being made up of opposites. There is always a yin to a yang, there is always a cat to a dog. It’s a convenient way of looking at the world and it helps us make sense of a lot of what we see in our everyday lives. But as we grow older we come to realize that maybe the world isn’t so black and white. Maybe there isn’t an absolute good and maybe there isn’t an absolute evil. Despite this, we tend to think of comic book characters as falling in either the spectrum of evil or good. However, when Superman, supposedly a hero of pure heart, opened Pandora’s Box we realized that not even the best of our heroes is totally without a certain darkness in his heart. But if we flip the tables, is it possible we’ll find a super villain who is totally evil of heart? Pandora wants to find out and in the second issue of her stand alone series, we see that the Trinity War is becoming even more complicated than we thought.

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Aug 5 2013

Creator Interview: Scott Snyder

Creator Interview: Scott SnyderIt’s a great time to be a Scott Snyder fan. Between the continued success of his run on Batman, his well-received new series Superman Unchained and The Wake, and the hotly anticipated American Vampire Anthology, there has never been more Snyder on the shelves. Drew caught up with him at the Boston Comic Con to discuss all of his current projects.
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Aug 5 2013

Indestructible Hulk 11

hulk 11

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Indestructible Hulk 11, originally released July 31st, 2013.

Shelby: I recently saw Pacific Rim, and I absolutely loved it. Plot-wise, it was nothing special; case in point, it was the same as every other world-ending, hail-Mary-play sci-fi action flick I’ve ever seen. But that didn’t matter in the least because it was just so much fun to watch. The sheer joy I felt at watching giant robots punch those deep sea monsters is what made the movie so great. It’s simple, well-executed, and a ton of fun. This month’s issue of Indestructible Hulk sets us up for the same sort of situation. It’s probably not going to be quite so simple (time travel never is), but it promises time travel shenanigans in a messed up version of history with a surprising team-up, so I expect a lot of wacky, fun adventure to ensue.
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Aug 5 2013

Fearless Defenders 7

Alternating Currents: Fearless Defenders 7, Drew and Shelby

Today, Drew and Shelby are discussing Fearless Defenders 7, originally released July 31st, 2013.

Drew: Death is hard to relate to. By it’s very nature, nobody alive has ever experienced it, and people are bad at relating to things that aren’t walking, talking people (which is why we anthropomorphize everything from pets to brave little toasters). It’s no wonder, then, that comics are so notoriously bad at dealing with death — or at least treating dead as dead. Everyone from Superman to Captain America has cheated death, and while we’re often told that it’s “against the rules” to come back from the dead, characters that actually stay dead seem to be the exception, rather than the rule. These days, the death of a character is simply the starting point for the saga of the inevitable return of that character. Fearless Defenders 7 leans heavily into those expectations, but ultimately subverts them, compressing the “saga” into a single issue, and forcing some actual consequences for Annabelle’s death (and resurrection). Continue reading →