Green Lantern: New Guardians 12

Today, Shelby and Peter are discussing New Guardians 12, originally released August 22nd, 2012.

Shelby: DC Comics has been having a lot of events lately: the entire relaunch, the Night of Owls, Rot World, and now the Third Army, as well as Zero Month. How far out are these sorts of things planned? How much time are the creative teams given to figure out how to tell the story they want to tell while working around and with DC’s event calendar? I’ve been enjoying Tony Bedard’s work on New Guardians quite a bit, but this latest issues feels a bit rushed towards the end, and I can’t help but wonder if he had to hustle to finish his story in time for the Big Events coming up in the Green Lantern universe. 

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Green Lantern Corps 12

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern Corps 11, originally released August 15th, 2012.

Patrick: “Don’t trust the authority.” It’s a theme that runs rich through the Green Lanterns mythos. And it’s not just the Guardians you can’t trust. Your mentors (Sinestro, to a lesser extent Abin Sur), your peace keeping force (the Alphas), even your greatest heroes (“Halallax” – which is what Shelby and I like to call Hal when he was infected with the yellow): everyone’s out to get you. For a series with such anarchist underpinnings, Green Lantern Corps has an unshakable belief in the fundamental goodness of their group. This issue kicks both of these conflicting ideas into high-gear.

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Green Lantern 12

Today, Peter and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern 12, originally released August 15th, 2012.

Peter: Geoff Johns has singlehandedly changed the Green Lantern Universe. Everything we know and love about that particular universe, with it’s own expansive mythology, he created. He has taken Green Lantern books to new heights with stories like Rebirth, Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Night, Brightest Day, and the War of the Green Lanterns. Now he is poised to turn it all on it’s head again. Everything we know about the Green Lanterns, the Guardians, Hal Jordan, Sinestro and everyone else is coming crashing down out of the sky.

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The Vault – Haly’s Circus Print

The Retcon Punchers spend an awful lot of time looking for ways to celebrate our nerdy obsessions. This means a lot of time sunk into scouring Etsy, Deviant Art, Think Geek or whatever. Sometimes we see things so great we just have to share them… and then clutch them fiercely to our collective chest. Throw it in The Vault.

Website: DC Collectibles

Who Would Love This: Fans of vintage posters and signage, lovers of secret nerd art, trapeze aficionados

Price: $19.95-$34.95

I have obviously browsed the DC Comics official store on occasion, and while I’ve always found things I like I have never been blown away by an item that I feel I need to have. They have recently expanded their line of high-quality prints, however, and these change everything. Once again, I have found the kinds of posters that, from afar, don’t look like anything other than faux-vintage hipster wall art. Look again and you’ll see it’s actually faux-vintage hipster nerdy wall art, and I eat that shit up. I think the Flying Graysons poster here might be the best, and would look great with the Beware Crime Alley propaganda poster, but the Kandor, Themyscira, and Coast City travel posters would look pretty sharp together, too.

Earth-2 4

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Earth-2 4, originally released August 1st, 2012.

Patrick:  Self-awareness is all the rage these days. You can get away with telling any story – no matter how cliche or inane – by simply having the characters acknowledge the various well-worn tropes they’re engaged in. It’s a safe way for writers and film-makers to assure their audience that they’re in on the joke – yes, we all know how crazy this looks. Joss Whedon is the king of this sort of thing (y’all saw Avengers, right?), but you see it everywhere. There are a couple of draw-backs to this approach, but the biggest danger is that of white-washing your characters’ personalities. If everyone is savvy enough to comment on their genre-adventures, then no one’s really an individual. Another big draw-back is that it makes everyone extremely — and interchangeably — chatty. While Earth-2 manages some neat concepts and fun characters, the cut-and-paste nature of the dialogue is holding it back in a serious way.
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Green Lantern 11

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern 11, originally released July 25th, 2012.

Patrick: Green Lantern has long been a game of science fiction escalation. You could make the argument that all serial narratives eventually encounter the problem of having to out-do what they’ve previously done, but I think this series – especially under the pen of Geoff Johns – makes a specific point to jack the stakes up to such a fever pitch as to make earlier adventures trivial by comparison. As the guardians stand on the cusp of releasing their Third Army and Black Hand returns to Earth with a hankerin’ for genocide, this series is wound about a tightly as possible.

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Green Lantern Corps 11

Today, Shelby and Peter are discussing Green Lantern Corps 11, originally released July 18th, 2012.

Shelby: The current run of the Green Lantern Corps is largely about dissension. It’s a powerful force that any dissenter will tell you is necessary, usually to achieve freedom from oppressors. But it’s also a tool which can be wielded against the oppressed to scatter their forces and further cement the power of the oppressors. So far, the dissent Guy and John sparked has played into the hands of the Guardians, aiding them in their plans to destroy the Corps to make way for the Third Army. This issue might mark the turning point when things finally spiral out of their controlling, blue hands.
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Justice League 11

Today, Shelby and Peter are discussing Justice League 11, originally released July 18th 2012.

Shelby: Losing a loved one is beyond difficult. It can be the most trying, emotional, painful experience we’ll ever know. Whether it’s a sudden death or a prolonged illness, the grief of loss is a heavy burden to bear. It’s one thing to forever carry the memory of a loved one with you, but something else entirely to carry that burden of grief, never letting go, never moving on. Justice League features a villain literally doing just that; Graves constantly carries with him the souls of his family, and his grief will not abate until he exacts his revenge. You would think with such a heavy and universally relatable idea, this issue would garner something stronger than “meh.”
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Earth-2 3

Today, Peter and Patrick are discussing Earth-2 3, originally released July 4th, 2012.

Peter:  Alan Scott’s sexual orientation has been quite the hot topic lately. But Alan’s transformation into the Green Lantern of Earth-2 brings with it many more interesting and surprising developments than just the one hot-button issue. As Earth-2 slowly repopulates with costume heroes, he will certainly be playing large role. The character has been pretty much completely redone with the New 52, which means we have a total reinvention of the Green Lantern side of his character. But there is no way I am going to spoil that on the home page.
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Justice League 10

Today, Patrick and (guest writer) Zach Kastner are discussing Justice League 10, originally released June 27th, 2012.

Patrick: Sometimes when I’m working on a project under deadline, I find myself pissing away precious minutes wasting time. Usually on the internet – that damn internet! And sometimes that time wastery yields something interesting: I get ideas for unrelated projects or I catch up with an old friend or I learn something. So it’s hard to classify that time as “wasted,” but it certainly makes it harder to cram in all the work it takes to finish that project in time. Naturally, the project suffers as a result. That’s kind of how a feel about Justice League 10.

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