Tag Archives: Robin

Sep 6 2012

Earth-2 0

Today, Peter and Patrick are discussing Earth-2 0, originally released September 5, 2012. Earth-2 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Peter: The Second Wave was an interesting move on DC’s part: start handful of series half way through the publishing year. So, many of them launched right in to full-blown stories. The Zero Issues have allowed them some breathing room. Specifically the Earth-2 Zero Issue has allowed James Robinson to flesh out some history before the chaotic and destructive #1 and introduce a new character rooted in the history of Earth-2, and his fate is still uncertain.

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Aug 14 2012

Batman and Robin 12

Today, Peter and Shelby are discussing Batman and Robin 12, originally released August 8th 2012.

Peter: Batman and Robin started off great. It had elements of mystery novels, sprinkled with a little bit of full-tilt action. This book pushed the envelope from its inception, dealing with depressive, repressed childhoods, political boundaries, and killing people with two fingers. This lead to a fantastic story arc, with interesting villains and character analysis. Recently, the ideas that are being explored are very interesting, and would have served this book well, if only they had been better executed.
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Aug 8 2012

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.

Jul 25 2012

Cram Session: Night of the Owls

It can be hard to keep up with all the comics you love. But it’s damn near impossible to keep up with all the comics you’re interested in.

Retcon Punch got you covered.

This is one we’ve wanted to put together for a long time. If you only read one or two of these series and you want to get the skinny on what else happened – we’ve got the video for you. Here’s the whole Night of the Owls presented chronologically.

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Jul 17 2012

Batman and Robin 11

Today, Peter and Drew are discussing Batman and Robin 11, originally released July 11th 2012.

Peter: In preparation for The Dark Knight Rises, I’ve been watching Batman Begins and The Dark Knight a lot lately. In Batman Begins, Bruce examines what he is afraid of in order to figure out what his enemies will fear. Tomasi and Gleason have taken Bruce’s bat symbol and perverted it for evil means. No longer do just criminals fear the bat, but ordinary citizens of Gotham are being terrorized by the very symbol they have grown to rely on for protection. Continue reading →

Jun 18 2012

Batman and Robin 10

Today, Drew and Peter are discussing Batman and Robin 10, originally released June 13th 2012.

Drew: What defines us? Is it our best qualities, our successes and moments of pride; or is it our worst qualities, our failures and our weaknesses? It’s a question that plagues all of us at one time or another, and one that is front and center in Peter Tomasi’s run on Batman and Robin. Damian is a character who seems to have nearly infinite capacity for both good and evil, but how exactly he’ll chose to use that capacity remains in question. What defines Damian has been a driving question of this title, and in this issue, Damian reflects the question outward, delivering what promises to be an affecting character study on all of the former Robins (sorry Stephanie Brown fans — it seems her stint as Robin has been written out of the canon for sure). Continue reading →

Jun 12 2012

Worlds’ Finest 2


Today, Patrick and Peter are discussing Worlds’ Finest 2, originally released June 6th, 2012.

Patrick: Last month, I had a great time with the Earth-2 books. The giddy thrill of watching Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman all eat it, coupled with a handful of details that were just different enough from the main world, really sold me on both Earth-2 #1 and Worlds’ Finest #1. But now that we’re settling into the actual stories that these series wish to tell, it becomes apparent that Worlds’ Finest is stuck on some dull details, even if there is a compelling narrative buried below the surface. Continue reading →

Jun 11 2012

Batwing 10

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Batwing 10, originally released June 6th, 2012.

Drew: Art is repetitive. Analysts like Joseph Campbell and Heinrich Schenker acknowledge that, if you zoom out far enough, most works of art resemble each other. This is true of most narratives, and especially true of superhero comics, where the beats of secret identities, costumes, fighting crime, etc. are near-universal. What makes them interesting are the details around those universals, the details that make Superman different from Batman or the Flash. What drew us to Batwing in the first place was it’s potential for interesting details — as a new title, it had yet to establish just what those details might be. Ten months in, I’ve yet to see those details effectively explored. In fact, this issue turns the focus so sharply from those details that I’m starting to think they just aren’t coming.

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Jun 6 2012

Arkham City: Harley’s Revenge

Today, Peter and Patrick are discussing the Arkham City DLC: Harley’s Revenge, originally released May 29th, 2012.

Peter: If you have not played Batman: Arkham City, or the new downloadable content Harley’s Revenge, do not click and read any more of this article. This is Retcon Punch’s reaction and review to the new content and our post contains LOTS of spoilers. We don’t want to be the people that ruin your gaming experience by spoiling anything. We love this game, and we love our readers, so we don’t want to hurt you in anyway. If you have played, or you just don’t care about spoilers, go ahead, click the link, and enjoy.

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May 30 2012

Cram Session: Batman: Dark Knight 1-8

It can be hard to keep up with all the comics you love. But it’s damn near impossible to keep up with all the comics you’re interested in.

Retcon Punch got you covered.

We read a lot of good Batman books. We also read a lot of bad Batman books. This series falls firmly in the latter camp. It’s aggressively goofy and has more cameo appearances than a Robert Rodriguez movie. The Night of Owls issue was unremarkable, but not a total disaster. Catching up on the eight issues that came before it is totally unnecessary as there’s almost no over-lap in the characters, and a huge writer shake-up between issues 8 and 9. Still, there’s something charmingly dumb about this series, so it’s hard not to pay attention to it.