Tag Archives: Catwoman

May 9 2013

Justice League of America 3

JLA 3

Today, Mikyzptlk and Patrick are discussing Justice League of America 3, originally released May 8th, 2013.

Mikyzptlk: Justice League of America is a series starring the “world’s most dangerous” superheroes. However, since the start of this title, these dangerous heroes have mostly been sitting around, talking to one another. Some, like myself, didn’t mind this all too much, while others didn’t exactly feel the same way. Regardless, the last issue promised us some good old fashioned fisticuffs. This issue delivers on that promise, but it spends the rest of the issue in a virtual standstill as far as the overall plot goes. There have been some developments as far as the team itself is concerned, but is that enough to excuse the lack of significant plot progression? Continue reading →

Mar 26 2013

Saga 11

saga 11

Today, Shelby and guest writer Suzanne are discussing Saga 11, originally released March 20th, 2013.

Shelby: How am I supposed to speak intelligently about this title? In all my write-ups, I strive to find that deeper meaning, that thread of something more that runs through the book. That’s what we do here, and we do it because we believe whole-heartedly that comic books are a form of literature and deserve to be treated as such. But then I get a title like Saga, and I don’t know what to say. Brian K. Vaughn is masterfully juggling broad themes like family, love, and sacrifice, tying it all together with strongly-developed characters and moments of emotional nuance. Fiona Staples work is beyond compare; she animates the men and women (and cats) Vaughn has already breathed life into. To be frank, sometimes this book just leaves me kind of speechless it’s so good. Continue reading →

Mar 22 2013

Justice League of America 2

JLA 2

Today, Mikyzptlk and Michael are discussing Justice League of America 2, originally released March 20th, 2013.

Mikyzptlk: Motivations, we’ve all got them. It’s what drives us to do whatever it is that we do. Geoff Johns is intent on letting us in on what drives his characters in his latest series. Not only that, but it seems that he’s using these motivations to drive the story forward. That leaves us with yet another issue that is mostly a bunch of characters yammering on. Fortunately, what they are yammering on about is fairly interesting, and the story that’s unfolding is getting more intriguing by the page.

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Feb 21 2013

Justice League of America 1

JLA 1

Today, Patrick and Mikyzptlk are discussing Justice League of America 1, originally released February 20, 2012.

Patrick: Are you fucking ready? No, seriously: ARE YOU READY FOR THIS SHIT? Justice League of America has been hyped to high-heaven – apparently our appetite for books called “Justice League” and written by mega-creator Geoff Johns know no bounds (remember how he also wrote the Justice League International annual? You better remember that one; it’s referenced here.) So, okay, we’ve all done our homework as prompted by DC, right? We’ve looked at the line-up and been all like “whoa, Martian Manhunter’s going to make this group really strong” and “Catwoman’s really more of a bad guy” and ‘WTF is Vibe? LOL!” Issue one serves to put your questions into the mouths of Steve Trevor and Amanda Waller – almost perfectly emulating the experience of waiting for this series to come out.

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Feb 13 2013

Young Romance: The New 52 Valentine’s Day Special 1

young romance

Today, Patrick, Mikyzptlk, Shelby, Michael, Drew and Jack are discussing Young Romance: The New 52 Valentine’s Day Special 1, originally released February 6th, 2013.

It’s Valentine’s Day, which means that we here at Retcon Punch are going to do our best to pretend we’re not angry, misanthropic nerds for one day to discuss the six love stories laid out in the oddly titled Young Romance: The New 52 Valentine’s Day Special. As we like to foster as much conversation as possible here, we’ve pulled in six of our sappiest, most sentimental writers to hit these stories one at a time.  Continue reading →

Feb 8 2013

Animal Man 17

animal man 17 ROT

Today, Scott and Shelby are discussing Animal Man 17, originally released February 6th, 2013. This issue is part of the RotWorld crossover event. Click here for complete RotWorld coverage. 

Scott: This comic is called Animal Man, but it’s hardly about Buddy Baker at this point. Sure, Animal Man and Swamp Thing are the focal points of the RotWorld crossover event, but their personal objectives and motivations are overshadowed by RotWorld itself. There are so many characters fighting against the rot that it’s tough to consider Animal Man the main character in this issue, and even more difficult to think of his personal motivation — to save Maxine — as the emotional center of the story. Throw in the fact that this issue truly is a crossover with Swamp Thing, and it’s harder yet to think of this as Animal Man’s story. Not that that’s a bad thing. Animal Man is part of an awesome team fighting against the Rot, and the collective inventiveness they display here makes Animal Man 17 a thoroughly fun and often jaw-droppingly cool experience.

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Feb 7 2013

Cram Session: Death of the Family

It can be hard to keep up with all the comics you love. But it’s damn near impossible to keep up with all the comics you’re interested in.

Retcon Punch got you covered.

Sure, you’re reading Batman. Did you realize there are like 20 other issues that contain Death of the Family stories? How can you possibly understand the mind-bending reveal in Batman 17 without those volumes of additional content? Here’s how: we collected every single issue of the Death of the Family — all but the very last — so you can be totally, 100% caught up. (All of our coverage of individual issues can be found here.)

Nov 26 2012

Catwoman 14

Alternating Currents: Catwoman 14, Patrick and Drew DFToday, Patrick and Drew are discussing Catwoman 14 originally released November 21st, 2012. This issue is part of the Death of the Family crossover event. Click here for complete DotF coverage.

Patrick: The scenario “Joker plays mind games with Selina Kyle” is ripe with potential for unpacking deep psychological issues. But that would be asking a fundamentally stupid series to try something smart. The result here is disastrous — a pointless diversion through visually incoherent space populated with flat characters playing a no-stakes game of Who Gives A Fuck.
Continue reading →

Nov 2 2012

Batgirl Annual 1

Today, Shelby and Mikzyptlk are discussing the Batgirl Annual, originally released October 31st, 2012.

Shelby:  “The Bat, The Cat, and the Owl.” It sounds like some sort of nursery rhyme, but it’s actually the cast of the Batgirl Annual. Gail Simone has teamed up Batgirl with Catwoman and recently sprung lady-talon Mary. The result is a touching look at three very unique ladies: one unequivocally good, one (seemingly) unequivocally bad, and one who toes the line between the two. “But Shelby!” you cry, “Where’s the Joker? What about James, Jr. and Babs, Sr.?” It’s true, we don’t get any of that in this issue. While that does make the timing of this issue a little tricky, Simone delivers such a strong character piece with these three gals that I don’t mind in the least.
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Oct 24 2012

Catwoman 13

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Catwoman 13 originally released October 17th, 2012. This issue is part of the Death of the Family crossover event. Click here for complete DotF coverage.

Shelby: Last week, we talked about the overuse of darker tropes as a means to make a story excessively dark and gritty in our Chat Cave discussion of Sword of Sorcery 0. The particular example we were discussing was an attempted rape scene which many viewed as a way to make the comic edgier and sell more copies. Drew made the point that the same argument can be made of any emotion; character’s emotions and their reactions to the emotions of those around them help propel the story forward, and they can easily be twisted to sell comics first, and develop plot second. The same can be said of madness. It can be used to effectively display a character’s unraveling, or it can be included in a story merely to push the envelope and be unique. The big problem with madness is it is, by nature, very confusing. So, when we’ve got a story that pushes madness to the extreme with very little reason behind it, we’ve got a disorienting mess on our hands.
Continue reading →