Jul 18 2013

Avengers 16

Alternating Currents: Avengers 16, Drew and Patrick

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Avengers 16, originally released July 17th, 2013. 

…times infinity!

–Schoolyard Traditional

Drew: Infinity is an incredibly abstract concept. By its very definition, it is beyond comprehension. It is often treated — especially by children — as just a really big number, something you could multiply yesses by or supersede by adding one to. Infinity might simply be the next step in a logical progression, from hundreds to thousands to millions and so on, usually following shortly after “bazillion.” Adults are a little less prone to these misconceptions, but I can’t claim to have any true understanding of what it would mean for something to be infinite. That is, until I started reading the interminable prelude to Marvel’s Infinity event, which doesn’t feel “big” as much as it does “endless.” Continue reading →

Jul 17 2013

Indestructible Hulk 10

hulk 10

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Indestructible Hulk 10, originally released July 10th, 2013.

Shelby: It’s really easy to look back at a situation after the fact, and see the obvious solution to the problem, what with hindsight being 20/20 and all that. I know it sounds like I’m making some sort of mean joke, talking about vision in an issue of Indestructible Hulk that features Matt Murdoch, aka Daredevil, the blindest lawyer/masked vigilante around, but stick with me. For Bruce Banner, great big chunks of his life are lived with only hindsight to guide him. When he turns into the Hulk, he loses his control; all he can do is look back when it’s all over and try to assess what happened, maybe even learn something useful about the Hulk for next time. Banner moves forward as himself by constantly looking back to when he was the Hulk. It’s not ideal, but I guess hindsight is better than no sight, am I right Matt? Ok, one mean joke…
Continue reading →

Jul 17 2013

Green Lantern Corps 22

green lantern corps 22

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern Corps 22, originally released July 10th, 2013.

Patrick: My little sister studied in Ecuador for a semester in college. She spent a couple weeks tromping around the rain forest and camping on a beach on the Galapogos and dropping her new camera into a river – y’know: normal stuff when you’re studying the biodiversity of one of the coolest places on the planet. Naturally, she came back with new perspectives on birds and insects and had a few anecdotes about hilariously adorable seal pups on the beach. But the part of the experience that she ends up talking about — and I trust the part of the experience that stayed with her the most — is just about the friends that she made while hiking the Forest in the Clouds. When I asked her about that, she shrugged and said “It turns out human beings are the most fascinating mega-fauna on Earth.” She was being flippant (as flippant as one can be while still using words like “mega-fauna”), but it’s an oddly profound statement: for all the wonders of the world, people are going to be the most interesting thing you encounter. DC’s galaxies are vast, and jam-packed with strange and wonderful things. Issue 22 of Green Lantern Corps features a lot of these wonders, but all without losing sight of the of the most interesting mega-fauna at the heart of it: John Stewart and Fatality.
Continue reading →

Jul 17 2013

Uncanny X-Men 8

uncanny x-men 8

Today, Patrick and Ethan are discussing Uncanny X-Men 8, originally released June 10th, 2013.

Are there demons? Please no Dormammu please no Dormammu please no Dormammu… Oh, thank God.

-Fabio “Gold Balls” Medina

Patrick: Scott Summers and the New Uncanny X-Men have spent the last three issues stuck in purgatory. I’m being literal, but what the hell – it’s a metaphor too. The fall-out from the Avengers’ battle with the X-Men has left the mutant leadership in ruins, their superpowers in shambles, and even fractured our heroes’ goals. Illyana Rasputina Conquers Purgatory featured some fantastic art; Frazier Irving rendered Dante-level hellscapes marvelously, but the story had started to spiral around obscure minutae of the Marvel world, all personified by Dormammu. Fabio starts the issue basically praying to be done with Dormammu – when he opens his eyes to see a familiar sight, home, his relief is our relief. The X-Men are back where they belong. Continue reading →

Jul 16 2013

Nightwing 22

nightwing 22

Today, Scott and Shelby are discussing Nightwing 22, originally released July 10th, 2013.

Scott: Some things just feel right. Like Dick Grayson, I once moved to Chicago seeking answers. For me, it was during college, and after growing restless at school in my home state of Michigan, I transferred to Northwestern University in northern Chicago. Knowing no one, I was able to shed a lot of the inhibitions that followed through my life and grow in ways I probably couldn’t have if I’d stayed closer to home. It’s a common story- a change of scenery leads to a rejuvenation- and it’s impressive that something so simple could inject such new life into Nightwing. In Nightwing 22, the title feels less restrained than ever. As Dick’s involvement in Chicago expands and the characters around him grow more complex, Kyle Higgins may have to find excuses to keep Dick in Chicago longer. Nightwing feels right at home.
Continue reading →

Jul 16 2013

Hawkeye 12

Alternating Currents: Hawkeye 12, Drew and Spencer

Today, Drew and Spencer are discussing Hawkeye 12, originally released July 10th, 2013.

Drew: What is it that excites you most about a narrative? Or, what element of a story is so important to you that you might overlook other issues? Obviously, there’s a baseline for quality, but in a pinch, some of us might excuse weak plotting if the character work is good, or flat characters if the story is exciting enough. For me, that magic element is form. I’m willing to excuse wrote plotting or stiff characters as long as the story is told to me in a new way. Hawkeye has never suffered from either of those problems, but its recent discursive plotting and focus on seemingly every character except Clint has the potential to bore plot- and character-philes. Its form, on the other hand, has been absolute crackerjacks. Issue 8 kicked of a series of issues — each from a different perspective — that have revisited scenes time and again, each offering a different perspective on the events. It’s part Roshomon, part A/B plotting, creating a hybrid form that keeps each episode emotionally satisfying, all while weaving an incredibly dense chain of events. Hawkeye 12 adds Barney Barton to the mix, mining a great deal of pathos from the brothers’ childhood. Continue reading →

Jul 16 2013

Suicide Squad 22

Alternating Currents: Suicide Squad 22, Drew and Mikyzptlk

Today, Drew and Mikyzptlk are discussing Suicide Squad 22, originally released July 10th, 2013.

Drew: Superhero team-ups are weird. Notions like marketability and synergy are taken into account over tactical utility, forcing writers to tie themselves in knots over why the Avengers would want the Hulk anywhere near them, or what value Aquaman adds to a team that already has actual superheroes on it. More importantly, a team-up often involves characters taking on specific roles within the team — which may not always “fit” their characters. Without any huge names on the title, Suicide Squad has a bit more flexibility in making the pieces fit together (and with the entire population of Belle Reve prison up for grabs, plenty of pieces to work with), but writer Ales Kot seems much more interested in how they don’t fit. Continue reading →

Jul 15 2013

Fearless Defenders 6

fearless defenders 6

Today, Patrick and Taylor are discussing Fearless Defenders 6, originally released July 10th, 2013.

Patrick: Hey guys: GENDER IN COMICS! If there’s one thing we get whipped into a frenzy about on a fairly regular basis over here at Retcon Punch, it’s the portrayal of women in superhero comics. And with good cause: not only is there a decades-long tradition of turning female characters into disposable subjects of the leers and catcalls of male readers, but the inequity between male and female characters continues to this day. When DC relaunched it’s line two years ago, the editors found a home for 4 different past male-Robins, but couldn’t be bothered to include Stephanie Brown in their ranks. Why? The same can be said about Earth’s Green Lanterns: Guy, John, Kyle and Hal were all zipping around the universe, but whither Jade? And even a series like Fearless Defenders, which in 6 issues has only featured one named male character, seems to be plagued with gender problems: occasionally-cheesecakey art; a hysterical, flakey lead; and now the ubiquitous woman in a refrigerator. But it is possible that we put too much responsibility on these all-women series to be paragons of gender equality?
Continue reading →

Jul 15 2013

Superman Unchained 2

superman unchained 2

Today, Mikyzptlk and Drew are discussing Superman Unchained 2, originally released July 10th, 2013.

Mikyzptlk: The concept of the superhero is obviously a very compelling one. There are stories of superpowered beings throughout all of recorded history, but the idea of the colorfully clad, modern myths that we know of today have been going strong for 3 quarters of century. There is no question that these heroes and their powers are fun, and hell, who wouldn’t want to have a superpower of their own? As amazing as these powers can be though, they can be equally terrifying. Superman Unchained 2 explores what happens when enemies and allies begin to express their fears of the Man of Steel.  Continue reading →

Jul 15 2013

Young Avengers 7

young avengers 7

Today, Spencer and Patrick are discussing Young Avengers 7, originally released July 10th, 2013. 

slim-banner

Spencer: Teenagers are a tricky bunch to write. They speak, think, and communicate in their own unique ways, and it’s glaringly obvious when adults try to imitate these patterns without knowing what they’re doing. Fortunately, Kieron Gillen isn’t a writer who falls into these traps. Gillen has a remarkable knack for writing teenagers, and this is more apparent than ever in Young Avengers 7, where he uses these kids’ relationships (and social networking accounts) to show us how the team has progressed since we last saw them.

Continue reading →