Sep 18 2012

Grifter 0

Today, Peter and (guest writer) The Freakin’ Animal Man are discussing Grifter 0, originally released September 12, 2012. Grifter 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Peter: Grifter is an enigma. He’s like a the less-cool version of Boba Fett in the DC Universe. He wears a mask, but I don’t know why. He’s got some powers, but I can’t tell what they are. All I know at this point is that he was a member of Team 7. Really, I was just never a Wildstorm person. I have NEVER read an issue published under that imprint. So the origin of the character is really lost on me. Hell, the overall appeal of the character is lost on me. I just don’t get it, and Rob Liefeld doesn’t do much for me in this scintillating zero issue.

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Sep 17 2012

Superboy 0

Alternating Currents: Superboy 0, Drew and NickToday, Drew and (special guest writer) Nick Idell are discussing Superboy 0, originally released September 12, 2012. Superboy 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Drew: I’ve never been a big fan of origin stories. They tend to be overly plotty, displacing more telling character moments in favor of unwieldy exposition. In short, I see them as a necessary evil we often need to get out of the way before the real story can begin. It’s unfortunate, then, that I live in an age where superhero origin stories are so ubiquitous, every third Spider-Man movie needs to revisit that well. We’ve fetishized origins, pushing them to ever-increasing complexity, straining the very limits of pre-title copy that attempts to explain it all. “The Supergirl and Robin of Earth-2 are trapped on Earth-1” sounds relatively snappy, but likely requires an explanation of what the fuck Earth-2 is, and how exactly they get trapped in the first place. These baroque origins relay details, which requires more space to properly explore, resulting even more bloated exposition. “Scientists clone Superman” is such a clean, self-contained idea, but Superboy 0 finds writer Tom DeFalco ladling on the details, buddying the message into an inexplicable hash.

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Sep 17 2012

Demon Knights 0

Today, Shelby and Tristan are discussing Demon Knights 0, originally released September 12, 2012. Demon Knights 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Shelby: One of the many things I was confused by in Stormwatch 0 was seeing that the team used to be called Demon Knights. “Wait just a minute!” I cried out indignantly. “Demon Knights is already a title, are you telling me the same team has two different names AND each one gets its own title?” The answer is: I don’t really know. This issue mainly deals with Etrigan, the demon of Demon Knights, and Jason Blood, and doesn’t really address the team as a whole. And you know what? I think that’s okay.

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Sep 17 2012

Resurrection Man 0

Today, Patrick and Peter are discussing Resurrection Man 0, originally released September 12, 2012. Resurrection Man 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Patrick: Clones are a tricky business. Whenever there’s an exact double of an individual, there’s always a question of which one is “real.” The thought being that the original was there first, and therefore its survival is more morally important than that of the duplicate. But that’s bad news for Mitch Shelley, hero of the Resurrection Man series. Y’see, he’s an amnesiac clone, and the only way to keep resurrecting and cycling through superpowers is to offer up the soul of the original to pay off a debt to Heaven/Hell. No, I don’t know what I’m talking about.

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Sep 17 2012

Ravagers 0

Today, Patrick and (guest writer) Zach Kastner are discussing Ravagers 0, originally released September 12, 2012. Ravagers 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Patrick: There are some story types that are fundamentally more compelling than others. Storytellers know these tropes well and trot them out whenever a) they’re also trying something new or b) they don’t have any better ideas. This is why most cop and detective shows put a child in danger in the first episode. We can all get on board with that: save the child – there’s no way not engage with that story. The trope on display in Ravagers 0 (and I suspect through most of the Culling story line) is a newer one: teenagers forced to fight each other to the death. Oh Hunger Games/Battle Royale/Ravagers, you do have one hell of an interesting concept. But while something like Hunger Games really finds itself in the details, Ravagers couldn’t be bothered with anything other than the broadest possible strokes.

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Sep 14 2012

Team 7 0

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Team 7 0, originally released September 12, 2012. Team 7 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Patrick: There comes a point in every heist movie where they assemble the team. Usually it’s done in a montage, featuring short (but implicitly characteristic) misadventures of various tech experts, combat experts, stealth experts — any kind of expert, really. And at the end of each little vigniette, George Clooney shows up and offers them a job.  Oh, and the whole this is scored by a poppy drum and bass loop with occasional horn accents. These sequences are always about as much fun as the heist itself and doesn’t suffer from the complexity and double-back-false logic applied to the climax of most of these stories. Team 7‘s zero issue gets us off to a breezy start, with enough action, humor and built-in mystery to prepare its audience for what promises to be dazzling run.

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Sep 14 2012

Batman and Robin 0

Alternating Currents: Batman and Robin 0, Shelby and Peter

Today, Shelby and Peter are discussing Batman and Robin 0, originally released September 12, 2012. Batman and Robin 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Shelby: Damian Wayne is a new character for me, and I don’t like him. I’d call him a brat, but he would probably kill me; he’s cold, ruthless, and not even a teenager yet. He’s like no character I’ve encountered before. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Peter Tomasi and Pat Gleason on this my third Batman zero feature. What I didn’t expect was … no Batman ’til the last page. It worked out better than I thought it would; Tomasi gave me a chance to get to know Damian a little more, and after seeing what kind of childhood he’s coming from, I’m impressed he hasn’t just killed everyone else in this title simply because he can.

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Sep 13 2012

Before Watchmen – Comedian 3

Today, Peter and Patrick are discussing Comedian 3, originally released September 12th, 2012. Comedian is part of DC’s Before Watchmen prequel series. Click here for complete Before Watchmen coverage (including release dates).

Peter: I guess it’s never really occurred to me to ask who the main character of Watchmen is. Is there one? What do you think? I guess, based on the overall narration and beginning and then end, most people would probably say Rorschach. I mean he’s constantly working on his journal and is the in the background of tons of the cells. Even though he is rather absent from the majority of the main story, could you see The Comedian in that role? So far he’s appeared in almost every Before Watchmen  story in some capacity. Could Edward Blake be the true glue that holds this franchise together?

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Sep 13 2012

Batman 0

Alternating Currents: Batman 0, Drew and ShelbyToday, Drew and Shelby are discussing Batman 0, originally released September 12, 2012. Batman 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Drew: If I may, I’d like to offer a bit of my own zero issue: One year ago, I had never purchased a monthly comic. Comics culture struck me as insular and impenetrable, and I saw fans as hyper-vigilant of petty continuity issues. Today, I’m a regular Wednesday warrior, and — more surprisingly — have become a nascent continuity-phile. That tendency has reared its head most fiercely in our coverage of the Before Watchmen prequel series, where I’ve argued that strict observance of continuity is an important means to observe the source material. It’s an opinion that has lead to a few clashes with Shelby, who would much rather enjoy a comic than obsess over details — an opinion I can totally respect, and am striving towards. What better test, then, when another creative team I respect immensely revisits beloved, seminal works?

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Sep 12 2012

Green Arrow 0

Alternating Currents: Green Arrow 0, Patrick and Peter

Today, Patrick and Peter are discussing Green Arrow 0, originally released September 5, 2012. Green Arrow 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Patrick: What do you get when you tell a story about the greatest superhero archer in the world, and set it before he was either a superhero OR an archer? Let’s add another layer to riddle: what happens when that character is an entitled asshole with inconsistent morality, no sense of humor and imperceptible motivations? Why, Green Arrow 0, of course!

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