Mar 14 2016

Doctor Strange 6

Today, Spencer and Drew are discussing Doctor Strange 6, originally released March 9th, 2016.

Spencer: I’ve never really been able to get into stories about magic. Part of that is just my upbringing — they were strictly forbidden in my household growing up — but I also have trouble getting invested in the stakes. So many characters who use magic are capable of doing anything, of solving any problem effortlessly, and so many stories about magic are obsessed with defining the rules of magic while never establishing why those rules are worth caring about in the first place. Thankfully, Doctor Strange has managed to avoid both of these problems, and issue 6 especially stands out in this regard. Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo have crafted a story about the “End of Magic” that actually shows us why the loss of magic would be a tragic blow to the Marvel Universe. Continue reading →

Jan 7 2016

All-New Wolverine 3

Today, Michael and Patrick are discussing All-New Wolverine 3, originally released December 30th, 2015.

Michael: Tom Taylor and Laura Kinney’s first Wolverine adventures continue in All-New Wolverine 3. The story begins with the Wolverine/Taskmaster fight promised at the end of last issue. After Wolverine bests Taskmaster with a surprise foot SNIKT, she regroups with her clone sisters who survived Taskmaster’s attack via body armor. Moving from one action piece to another, the sisters cruise around New York and get into a tank battle with the soldier boys from Alchemax. Laura discovers that her clone sisters Gabby, Zelda and Bellona are prematurely dying and trying to take Alchemax with them on their way out. Laura doesn’t want to accept this however and offers to help the sisters by visiting the Sanctum Sanctorum and enlisting Doctor Stephen Strange. Continue reading →

Nov 19 2015

The Mighty Thor 1

Today, Taylor and Drew are discussing The Mighty Thor 1, originally released November 18th, 2015.

Taylor: By now we all know the premise of Breaking Bad: a chemistry teacher diagnosed with lung cancer turns his skills to dealing meth and things spiral out of control from there. While this is an interesting premise, it’s not what makes the show great. What makes it great is the colossal character study it became. The show ponders why Walter White does the things he does and what drives him to do it. Naturally, his cancer diagnosis is a catalyst for much of the action Walter takes. And while his disease spurs him on to nefarious pursuits, others react to the disease more nobly. Case in point: Dr. Jane Foster aka Thor. Rather than let cancer eat away at her body and her sole like Walter, Jane uses it to motivate ever greater and more altruistic deeds. Continue reading →

Nov 11 2015

Doctor Strange 2

Today, Mark and Spencer are discussing Doctor Strange 2, originally released November 4th, 2015.

Mark: Do comic books—straight up comic books—make money? Like, remove the merchandise licensing, remove the blockbuster movies and animated releases, are comic books a profitable business? Both DC and Marvel operate under the umbrella of their corporate parents (Warner Bros. and the Walt Disney Company respectively), and while the publishing of comic books probably continues to bring in a tidy sum, these books are really just generating intellectual property that the real money makers (the aforementioned merchandise and blockbusters) can continue to exploit. It’s with that lightly cynical viewpoint that I approach the relaunch of Doctor Strange. Like Ant-Man earlier this year, Jason Aaron’s Doctor Strange feels like a timely relaunch intended to bring Stephen Strange to a more prominent role in the cultural landscape after years of languishing on Marvel’s bench. Continue reading →

May 12 2015

Secret Wars 1

Today, Ryan and Patrick are discussing Secret Wars 1, originally released May 6th, 2015.

“Oh, best war ever…”

-General Nick Fury, Secret Wars 1

Ryan: Secret Wars grabs the baton from Jon Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers beloved/despised/confusing “Time Runs Out” saga chronicling the futile struggle of Earth-616 against the collapse of the multiverse. Hickman dives in by tipping his hat to the concluding plot thread of Doom vs. The Beyonders, the significance of which — aside from helping to shrink the amount of surviving universes down to a baker’s dozen minus a bunch — is still a bit lost on me. The narration of the issue is provided by Reed Richards, and the first installment of this event belongs to him.

Continue reading →

May 6 2015

Avengers 44/New Avengers 33

Today, Spencer and Ryan are discussing Avengers 44 and New Avengers 33, originally released April 29th, 2015.

Spencer: Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers saga has gone through three different phases. The first, which lasted from the series’ debut through the end of Infinity, found Avengers exploring the forced evolution of the planet Earth via Ex Nihilo’s Origin Bombs while New Avengers established the threat of the Incursions and the drastic measures the Illuminati would have to take to combat them. The second phase found Avengers essentially spinning its wheels, waiting for the Illuminati in New Avengers to reach their limit and, ultimately, fail. Then the books skipped ahead in time eight months, and both lost a bit of their former identities as they became swallowed up in the Incursions storyline. New Avengers has spent most of phase three explaining the mechanics of everything that came before, while Avengers explored the personal fall-out between the members of all these various teams. While the Incursion storyline is continuing into Hickman’s upcoming Secret Wars, the final issues of Avengers and New Avengers focus on wrapping up the ideas they’ve been exploring since phase three began. One is decidedly more engaging than the other. Continue reading →

Sep 4 2014

Original Sin 8

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Original Sin 8, originally released September 3rd, 2014.

Drew: As the final chapter of a summer crossover event, Original Sin 8 has significantly more baggage than the average comic issue. In addition to wrapping up its own 8-issue maxi-series (9 if you count that zero issue), this issue is essentially charting of the trajectory of the Marvel Universe in the short term, setting up an array of new series and new volumes of old series that seem to fall out of the aftermath of this event. All that is to say that it’s easy for this conversation to turn into a discussion of Original Sin as a whole, or even how we feel about some of the lasting changes this issue presents. There’s certainly value in those conversations (and believe me, I’m going to talk about them a bit), but first, I want to examine whether or not this issue manages to be entertaining in its own right. Continue reading →

Jul 3 2014

Original Sin 5

Today, Drew and Spencer are discussing Original Sin 5, originally released July 2nd, 2014.

The Butler did it!

Traditional

Drew: As far as board game adaptations go, Clue actually does a pretty fantastic job of mimicking the experience of playing the game (it’s certainly closer than Battleship, and don’t even get me started on Twister). By the end of the movie, it really could be anyone, and the multiple endings play with that idea brilliantly. Of course, what’s truly clever is the way that those endings play with our expectations of parlor murder mysteries in general. Of course it could be anyone — that’s the whole point. Ultimately, the who, where, and what of the murder doesn’t matter so much as the why and how, which tend to be pulled out at the very last minute, anyway. Original Sin 5 subverts those explanations by showing us why Nick Fury killed all of those monsters and planets, but stopping just short of telling us who killed the Watcher. But hey, maybe it doesn’t matter! Continue reading →

Jun 19 2014

Original Sin 4

Today, Spencer and Patrick are discussing Original Sin 4, originally released June 18th, 2014.

Spencer: Original Sin is the funniest murder mystery I’ve ever experienced.

Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration (Clue certainly gives it a run for its money), but the fact remains that, in a genre not exactly known for being a laugh riot, Original Sin stands out as something strange and unique (and hilarious). Despite the deadly secrets, overwhelming paranoia, and occasional gore, Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato somehow manage to give us an issue with a laugh on pretty much every page, an issue that treats its subject matter with the utmost seriousness but that also has no problem embracing the sheer ridiculousness inherent to the medium. It’s a difficult balance to achieve, but Aaron and Deodato walk that tightrope masterfully. Continue reading →

Jun 16 2014

New Avengers 19

Today, Spencer and Patrick are discussing New Avengers 19, originally released June 11th, 2014.

Spencer: The more I look at the following panels, the more I realize how succinctly they sum up the primary conflict of Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti’s New Avengers 19.

The Illuminati are no longer concerned about whether they can stop the Incursions without destroying inhabited worlds (spoiler alert: they can’t), nor are they any longer concerned about their mission turning them into monsters (they seem to have realized that it’s all but inevitable, and the title of this issue is even “We Are All Monsters Now,” as if to dissuade the reader of any hope otherwise); instead, the million dollar question now seems to be whether it’s better to die with one’s morality intact or to save the universe, but at the cost of one’s own soul.