Tag Archives: Iron Man

May 20 2013

Iron Man 10

Alternating Currents: Iron Man 10, Drew and Patrick

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Iron Man 10, originally released May 15th, 2013.

Drew: Steven Soderberg’s Ocean’s 11 had a lot going for it: lavish, exciting locations, an all-star cast playing colorful characters, and a crackerjack heist story that kept the audience guessing until the end, just to name a few. Of course, none of those things were particularly original — the film was a remake, after all — but it was unlike anything that was being made at the time. Two sequels and countless copycats later, those ideas don’t feel nearly as fresh, which unfortunately leaves Iron Man 10 (or should I call it “Stark’s 7”?) dead on arrival. Continue reading →

May 17 2013

Age of Ultron 8

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Today, Patrick are discussing Age of Ultron 8, originally released May 15th 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.

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Patrick: A few weeks ago, I noted that I wasn’t having very much fun with the whole Age of Ultron concept – issue after issue of pure, relentless destruction and doom was getting to me. But that started to feel like the point: Brian Michael Bendis was taking my comic-book-fan apocalypse-lust and rubbing my nose in it. When the heroes decided they had to take drastic action and travel through time to fight Ultron on his inventor on different chronal fronts, I cheered the initiative. Anything to stop the suffer-slog through devastated cityscapes. But as the series moves further and further away from what’s familiar in the Marvel Universe, the harder it is to get a grasp on the story. Continue reading →

May 7 2013

Chat Cave: Iron Man 3

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Marvel Studio’s follow-up to the uber-successful Avengers movie, Iron Man 3, came out this weekend to mixed reactions from critics and fans, but it cleaned up at the box office, certifying the longevity of the whole Avengers’ stable of films. The movie also serves a double roll — concluding the Iron Man series while kicking off Marvel’s Phase II. How well did it succeed in any of these capacities? Welcome to the Chat Cave.

Patrick: I had the pleasure of seeing this movie with my little brother, Jack — who until recently, had been writing about a title-a-week with us. He’s the fascinating case of someone who had never seen any of the Iron Man movies and also has not seen The Avengers. As a self-contained adventure, this worked amazingly well for her. I don’t know how the Marvel Studios guys do it, but they manage to make relatively faithful superhero movies that aren’t steeped in dense mythology. Walking out of that movie, Jack concluded that Tony’s superpower was “data management,” which sounds like it should be boring. But there are enough ultra-fast-talkin’ sequences and super-computer-assisting-crime-solving sequences to dramatize this super-collation of data in engaging and funny ways. Continue reading →

May 7 2013

Iron Man 9

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Today, Patrick and (guest writer) Pete Pfarr are discussing Iron Man 9, originally released May 1st, 2013.

Patrick: Expectations are a bitch. Sometimes we perceive quality based solely on the similarity a work of art has to what qualities we were expecting it to have. Expectations make us say things like “Fantastic Four is supposed to be fun!” or “Evil Dead is supposed to be campy!” Thanks to the cinematic juggernaut that is the Iron Man film series, there are an awful lot of “supposed to”s for Tony Stark. As Kieron Gillen starts a new story arc for Iron Man, he lays all our precious expectations out on the table and then shakes his finger sternly. Whatever we’re getting here, it ain’t what we expect. Continue reading →

May 6 2013

A + X 7

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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!

Continue reading →

Apr 26 2013

Guardians of the Galaxy 0.1 – 2

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Today, Mikyzptlk and Scott are discussing Guardians of the Galaxy 0.1 – 2, originally released February, March, and April 24th, 2013, respectively.

Mikyzptlk: The Green Lantern books have engendered in me a healthy love of space-opera that Marvel properties have generally not been able to do quite as successfully. I’ve known about Guardians of the Galaxy for a few years now, but I’ve never given it a shot up until now. News of the upcoming movie has piqued my interest, however, and with that it seems that now may be the right time to start paying attention to this rag-tag team of space-faring weirdos. Brian Michael Bendis is clearly aware of all the hype this series is starting to get as well as he delivers something that features small and personal moments mixed with high-octane, blockbuster entertainment. Continue reading →

Apr 17 2013

Age of Ultron 8 PREVIEW

age of ultron preview

Age of Ultron 8 comes out on May 13th, 2013 and is written by Brian Michael Bendis with Art by Brandon Peterson. Click here for our complete Age of Ultron coverage.

Marvel’s previews for these things are getting increasingly obtuse. Okay, what do we have here? Someone in the Iron Man armor sorting through images of Ultron’s destruction. The logical question – who’s in that armor? Unless Tony’s had a rough couple weeks, that ain’t him. I’ll get the ball rolling with wild speculation: LOST’s John Locke.

Also, the cover suggests we’ll see some of Sue and Wolverine’s adventures in the past. That could be fun.

Preview a couple pages after the jump. Continue reading →

Apr 15 2013

Age of Ultron 5

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Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Age of Ultron 5, originally released April 10th 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.

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Shelby: Why is it always time travel? If you have a science-y plot in a comic book (especially a Marvel book, it seems) odds are pretty good that time travel with either be the basis of the conflict or the solution. Personally, I hope we never figure out how to travel through time. Travel to the past, and the most innocuous action could alter the future in unimaginable ways; travel to the future, and your knowledge of what will happen will color the actions you take in the present. It all seems too risky. It would appear that Brian Michael Bendis disagrees with me; not content to limit himself to one kind of time continuum manipulation, Age of Ultron 5 has the team traveling to the past AND the future to resolve this Ultron problem. What could possibly go wrong? Continue reading →

Apr 10 2013

Deadpool 7

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Today, Scott and Patrick are discussing Deadpool 7, originally released April 3rd, 2013.

Scott: The first 6 issues of Deadpool adhered to a very specific and bizarre tone. The oddball humor likely turned away nearly as many readers as it won over, but you have to admire Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan for boldly seeing their outlandish resurrected-Presidents arc through. It was an ambitiously weird way to kick off a series, and I found their marriage of subject and tone to be a success. Count me firmly on the side of the “won-overs.” Deadpool 6 established a new arc to occupy the series, but Posehn and Duggan decide to put that on hold for an issue. Because of their tight production schedule, you see, they’ve been forced to release an inventory issue — a print-ready issue that’s been filed away in case of such an emergency — but rather than an issue from this Deadpool run, they’ve dusted off an inventory issue from the late 70s/early ’80s. It’s of course a guise, and Posehn and Duggan are at the helm of these retro-looking pages. While they pass it off as a time-saver, Deadpool 7 must’ve required much more effort from the creative team than a typical issue, and the result is a perfect Bronze Age satire.
 Continue reading →

Apr 5 2013

Age of Ultron 4

age of ultron 4 AU

Today, Patrick and Ethan are discussing Age of Ultron 4, originally released April 3rd, 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.

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Patrick: One of the things I’ve absolutely loved about picking up monthly comics is that I’ve had the opportunity to get know the work of a ton of great writers and artists. It pains me a little to think of how few people will ever read a funny exchange written by Jeff Lemire, and how few people will never see Adam Hughes masterful acting simply because they don’t read comics. Drew, Shelby and myself have been at this for over a year — I like to think we’re in the club now — and I have this brand new skill of identifying someone by their work. Brian Michael Bendis, the writer behind Age of Ultron is notorious for his massively decompressed stories, and between this series, Guardians of the Galaxy, and his X-Men books, I feel like I can spot his handiwork a mile away. But Age of Ultron is a special case, and its glacial pace allows almost every issue to be a Bryan Hitch vanity project. This makes it kind of tough to discuss in the same way we discuss other comics, but it’s clear now that this is the series’ identity – the problematic obsessions with character development and plot and theme are mine and not Ultron’s. Retcon Punch needs a new way to talk about comics. Alright, let’s see what we got. Continue reading →