Tag Archives: Chip Zdarsky

Jul 26 2017

Prioritizing Responsibilities in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man 2

by Drew Baumgartner

Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man 2

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

It’s always easy to score political points against the president by suggesting they’re spending too much time relaxing. Folks of every political persuasion have made this argument at some point or another, and it always sounds reasonable because the President obviously has more important things to be doing. With great power, as the saying goes, must also come great responsibility. But of course, even Presidents are people, and while we should certainly hold them to a high standard in terms of workload (that it’s a stressful job is part of the job description), expecting them to never take a vacation is inhumane. This is a point Peter Parker has always fluctuated on. He obviously respects the responsibilities that come with his powers, but he’d also like to be a human being with a fulfilling professional and personal life. Usually, that means he’s constantly running out on dates or jobs to save the day, but Chip Zdarksy and Adam Kubert find a decidedly different approach in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man 2. Continue reading →

Jun 27 2017

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man 1: Discussion

by Ryan Mogge and Ryan Desaulniers

This article containers SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

Ryan M.: How much background do you need to enjoy a single issue of an on-going serial? There is an argument that the answer is none. Most of us start out by just diving in, checking things out and then heading to Wikipedia or a very knowledgeable friend to help fill in the cracks. The serialized narrative is a moving train, you catch it when you can, and see what it has to offer. This can be one of the format’s strengths, giving the reader a feeling of discovery by entering a rich established world. You may have questions that aren’t answered or relationship dynamics you can’t understand, but you are seeing into a fictional world that is fully realized. It’s one of the reasons that origin stories can feel plodding. They are explaining why things are rather than showing what they become. In Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider Man 1, Chip Zdarsky balances out that sense of history by giving the story a day-in-the-life feel with a few big turns that make it clear that a bigger story is evolving. Continue reading →

Jun 5 2017

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 5/31/17

Look, there are a lot of comics out there. Too many. We can never hope to have in-depth conversations about all of them. But, we sure can round up some of the more noteworthy titles we didn’t get around to from the week. Today, we discuss Hadrian’s Wall 7, Sex Criminals 19 and Star Wars: Doctor Aphra 7. Also, we’ll be discussing Saga 43 on Tuesday and Kill or Be Killed 9  on Wednesday. As always, this article contains SPOILERS. Continue reading →

Apr 26 2017

Sex Criminals 18

Today, Ryan and Drew are discussing Sex Criminals 18, originally released April 19, 2017. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

There is no intimacy without vulnerability.

Brené Brown

Ryan: I try to be a very honest person. I’m essentially George Washington with the cherry tree. Though, of course, I have to caveat that with admitting that I know the cherry tree thing is a myth. Sometimes facts are the enemies of fun. While I am truthful and people in my life find that both helpful and annoying, there is a deeper truth. I started this paragraph intending to say something and we are now at about seventy seven words, so I’ll come out with it. Vulnerability is something I struggle with every day. It’s not enough to refrain from lies, be nice to people, make sure that they are okay and carry on. You aren’t really present in a relationship until you are being truly honest about what you need, sharing your moments of shame, and peeling back the surface to reveal the parts of yourself that you aren’t sure will be accepted. In Sex Criminals 18, Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky explore the struggle to be emotionally honest.

Continue reading →

Mar 20 2017

Weekly Round-Up: Comics Released 3/15/17

Look, there are a lot of comics out there. Too many. We can never hope to have in-depth conversations about all of them. But, we sure can round up some of the more noteworthy titles we didn’t get around to from the week. Today, we discuss Star Wars: Poe Dameron 12, East of West 32, Kill or Be Killed 7, and Sex Criminals 17. Also, we discussed Archie 18 on Monday, and we’ll be discussing American Gods: Shadows 1 on Tuesday, and Injection 11 on Wednesday so come back for those! As always, this article contains SPOILERS. Continue reading →

Feb 20 2017

Sex Criminals 16

sex-criminals-16Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Sex Criminals 16, originally released February 15th, 2017. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

Patrick: Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarksy’s Sex Criminals plays with some very big, very difficult ideas. The thematic engine of this series spits out hard questions about identity, sexuality, morality and mental health, but it runs on moment-to-moment action. I’m talking about “action” in the basest sense — Jon and Suzie may have the power to stop time and rob banks, but no one is tuning in for that spectacle. I mean “action” like how we follow one statement from the speaker to its audience, tracking the psychological cause and effect in every second of the interaction. That’s what allows Fraction and Zdarksy to find the drama in Jon repeating “I don’t know how to do this.” His is a prison of inaction, of apathy. In highlighting the action that doesn’t really seem like action, Fraction and Zdarsky drastically alter the speed and intimacy of the story they’re telling. Continue reading →

Jan 20 2017

Marvel Round-Up: Comics Released 1/18/17

marvel-roundup66

We try to stay up on what’s going on at Marvel, but we can’t always dig deep into every issue. The solution? Our weekly round-up of titles coming out of Marvel Comics. Today, we’re discussing Amazing Spider-Man 23, Cage 4, Captain America: Sam Wilson 18, Clone Conspiracy 4, Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat 14, Star-Lord 2, Ultimates 2 3, Unbelievable Gwenpool 10 and Uncanny Inhumans 18. Also, we will be discussing Invincible Iron Man 3 on Monday, Deadpool the Duck 2 on Tuesday, and Black Widow 10 on Wednesday, so come back for those! As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

slim-banner4 Continue reading →

Jan 6 2017

Best of 2016: Best Writers

best-writer-2016

In such a collaborative medium as comics, it can be difficult to say where a writer’s influence on the story ends, but there’s no question on where it begins: words on the page. Whether they thrill, elate, chill, or deflate, the best writers create characters, settings, and situations we want to return to, again and again. These are our top 10 writers of 2016. Continue reading →

Oct 19 2016

Howard the Duck 11

howard-the-duck-11

Today, Spencer and Taylor are discussing Howard the Duck 11, originally released October 12th, 2016. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

Spencer: On her twitter, Gail Simone recently discussed something she calls the “Batmobile Effect.” In short, it’s the exhilarating feeling a creator gets when they realize they’re working on a comic icon, on a character they grew up adoring and now, all of a sudden, are in charge of. That feeling right there describes much of the appeal of writing for Marvel or DC — the downside, of course, is that you never truly “own” a character. At the Big Two there’s only so much a writer can change a character because, when their run is over, it has to go right back into the “toy box” for another creator to use.

Howard the Duck 11 brings Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones’ run to an end, and the two show an exquisite understanding of how to handle a work-for-hire ending. Zdarsky and Quinones have truly made Howard their own, yet leave the character in better condition than when they found him, leaving the door open for future creators to try their hand at Howard as well. It’s a skill their in-story counterparts, Chipp and Jho, never quite grasp. Continue reading →

Apr 26 2016

Howard the Duck 6

howard the duck 6

Today, Patrick and Taylor are discussing Howard the Duck 6, originally released April 20th, 2016.

“Chip, it was fun to help you out and write some little words beneath your comic about a talking duck who is mad at things.”

-Ryan North, alt text

Patrick: Even though I end up reading an awful lot of them, I tend to balk at the idea of superhero crossovers. Like, I kind of resent the idea that I’d be more attracted to a story if it has both Daredevil and Spider-Man in it. Superheroes, or any combination thereof, do not make a comic book special – the creators do. Rare is the crossover event that successfully melds the stories the creators tell as well as the worlds those stories take place in. Howard the Duck 6, a.k.a. The 2016 Squirrel Girl / Howard the Duck “Animal House” Crossover Part Two: Fight or Fight or Flightfight!, finds a way to do just that, finding a happy home at the intersection Ryan North’s goofy optimism and Chip Zdarsky’s even-goofier pessimism. Continue reading →