Tag Archives: Hank McCoy

Jun 26 2013

New Avengers 7

new avengers 7

Today, Spencer and Patrick are discussing New Avengers 7, originally released June 19th, 2013. 

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Spencer: The more responsibility you have, the harder it is to find time to yourself. I consider myself fortunate to have a job that I can ignore completely on my days off, but if I was, say, a CEO or the president, I just wouldn’t have that luxury; there are no days off when you’re that important. As the self-appointed protectors of our universe, the Illuminati fall firmly into that camp. Even as the threat of the Incursions recedes for the moment, they’ve still got more than their fair share of life-or-death, morally gray decisions to make.

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Jun 4 2013

New Avengers 6

new avengers 6

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing New Avengers 6, originally released May 29th, 2013. 

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Patrick: My favorite game in the Resident Evil series is the 2002 Game Cube remake of the original. There were a lot of ways that it improved on the quality of the first game, while finding inventive new ways to escalate that feeling that everything could fall apart at a moment’s notice. The most startling addition to the game was that any zombie that hadn’t been properly decapitated (or burned) could re-rise from the dead and attack you as some kind of super-zombie. The in-game written materials speak of this in vagaries, but you’re largely left to discover this new gameplay mechanic by experiencing it first hand — usually while screaming that you hadn’t saved in over an hour. But that moment when you’re walking through a room you cleared out 20 minutes earlier and you’re set upon by an enemy you can’t easily defeat is one of the most effective expressions of horror in video games. Just when the Illuminati seem to have figured out how to defend themselves against a collision of parallel Earths, the threat is immediately revealed to be well beyond what any of them understand, so why do they all look so relieved?

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May 6 2013

All-New X-Men 11

all new x-men 11

Today, Drew and guest writer Charles Cress are discussing All-New X-Men 11, originally released May 1st, 2013.

Drew: Superhero comics have a strange line to walk when it comes to serialization. We want a sense of forward movement — we want the characters to grow and change — but we also want to read stories with them forever. In essence, we want the excitement of serialization (your LOSTs or your Breaking Bads) with the comfort of a more episodic structure (your Seinfelds or your Law and Orders). The problem with that is when something we expect to move forward doesn’t, we notice it. “Wheel spinning.” This is strictly a problem with expectations — nobody would ever accuse an episodic series of spinning its wheels — but Brian Michael Bendis has done such a stellar job at telling a propulsive story in All-New X-Men, it’s a little jarring when issue 11 retraces its steps.

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May 6 2013

A + X 7

a+x 7

Today, Spencer and Taylor are discussing A + X 7, originally released April 24th, 2013.

Spencer: We live in an era of comics where six-month storylines are the norm and accusations of decompressed storytelling abound. Some stories are worth the space, but others just feel like they’re grasping for ways to fill out a trade paperback. Regardless, I’ve found myself greatly appreciating shorter storylines as a result, and as a writer who often struggles in vain to be concise, I admire a creative team that can fit a complete story into a small amount of space and not have it feel lacking. This month’s A+X not only tells two such stories, it even manages to throw in a twist ending; color me impressed!

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Apr 8 2013

All-New X-Men 10

Alternating Currents: All-New X-Men 10, Drew and Shelby

Today, Drew and Shelby. are discussing All-New X-Men 10, originally released April 3rd, 2013.

Drew: They say that history is written by the victors. Generally, we mean that in a societal sense: the winners of wars paint their cause in a favorable light, which is why successful overthrows of the government are called “revolutions,” while failures are called “civil wars.” But what if we applied the phrase personally? Our lives are made up of decisions and compromises, which we tell ourselves were the right ones. This is easy enough to do, since we can always paint the opposing choice as naiveté or ignorance — sure, being a fireman seemed like a cool idea when I was six, but I realized it really wasn’t what I was interested in as I grew older — but does that mean it’s always right? This is hard to know because of the one-sided relationship we have with the past — we may know the mindsets of our past selves, but those past selves can’t know the circumstances that lead to where we are now. All-New X-Men has reveled in the idea of a dialogue with the past, forcing its characters to defend their actions in ways that they never would otherwise. Issue 10 brings this dialogue to a head, as Old, Evil Scott (as we’ve taken to calling him here) provides a measured response to Young Scott’s impassioned “how could you?”

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Apr 1 2013

Superior Spider-Man 6AU

superior spider-man 6AU AU

Today, Ethan and Patrick are discussing Superior Spider-Man 6AU, originally released March 27th, 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.

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Ethan: Familiarity is a funny thing. The exposure we have to a thing or activity, the more hard-wiring space our brains devote to it. That’s great when you need to do something quickly — like recognize and react to a baseball flying at your head — or when you do something the same way over and over — like driving a route to work every day. That hard-wiring can save you from injury, or save on processing power that could be put to other use. Automatic responses aren’t always helpful though; sometimes your conditioning assigns a label and to situation too quickly and funnels you into a course of action that almost always works, but not this time. In the Age of Ultron crossover Superior Spider-Man #6, writer Christos Gage and artist Dexter Soy demonstrate the folly of this kind of snap judgement as Otto Octavius (in the body of Spider-Man Peter Parker) faces off against the malicious artificial intelligence. Continue reading →

Mar 26 2013

All-New X-Men 9

all new x-men 9

Today, Patrick and (guest writer) Michael D. are discussing All-New X-Men 9, originally released March 20th, 2013.

Patrick: ­”What are we doing here?” It’s a practical question, but it’s also often a petulant one. The question is so charged, packed with implications about the many other ways the asker would rather be spending their time. In my experience, the next thought after “what are we doing here?” is usually “I’m leaving.” When you’re young and unattached, it’s a dangerous question because it can lead you to take almost any course of action. So when a time-displaced mutant that feels alienated from his only friends asks “What are we doing here?” it’s cause for alarm.

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Mar 12 2013

All-New X-Men 8

all new x-men 8

Today, Ethan and Shelby are discussing All-New X-Men 8, originally released March 6th, 2013.

Ethan: ­Time-travel narratives always have the potential to bring up questions of self and identity. Though he wrote in less sci-fi context, Famous Dead White Guy David Hume talked about self not in terms of one, coherent, persistent soul but as a collision of different, constantly changing ideas and perceptions, like a train barreling forward with an ever changing set of passengers. While I may feel like I’m one, same person from one day to the next, I’m occasionally startled when my brain abruptly serves up a memory from the past. I remember the experience, the decisions, the stimuli as if it was me, but the choices and statements made by that past person often seem alien. That person was, in many real ways, NOT the me I am now. Reading All-New X-Men 8, I was happy to see that writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Marquez took some time to play around with these ideas.

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Feb 7 2013

All-New X-Men 7

all new x-men 7

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing All-New X-Men 7, originally released February 6th, 2013.

Shelby: Sometimes, when you’re having a rough go of it, all you need to do is talk it out. Find a friendly ear, let go of your issues, and hopefully get some unbiased, third-party advice. It doesn’t have to be someone you know, it just has to be someone who’s there for you when you need them: the kindness of a well-timed stranger who can help you stay the course. Since this is a comic book, however, that stranger is actually a conniving villain out to manipulate you so no one can foil the master plan.
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Jan 29 2013

A + X 4

a+x 4

Today, Scott and Drew are discussing A + X 4, originally released January 23th, 2013.

Scott: A + X makes me feel like a kid again, playing with my action figures after school. I would create worlds where Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Wars heroes could coexist, Han Solo and Donatello teaming up to defeat… well, something, I’m sure. It was never really the end result that interested me, but rather the excitement of combining these two things that I loved individually. What it created was an especially fleeting sort of fun, where the initial idea was the best part and it grew harder to sustain the longer it went on. I feel the same way about A +X, which is why splitting the issue into two stories is such a good idea — the novelty wears off much less over just ten pages. A + X 4 pairs Avengers and X-Men characters who compliment each other in interesting ways: first, two who have a lot in common, then two who could hardly be more different.

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