Tag Archives: The Rot

Jun 26 2012

Birds of Prey 10


Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Birds of Prey 10, originally released June 20th, 2012.

Patrick: In a lot of ways, the New 52 incarnation of Birds of Prey acts as as one of only a few blank canvasses in DC’s library. The two founding members of the group are a brand new character — as in Starling — and one reformed in such a way as to be unrecognizable as the Black Canary of old. The rest of the team is rounded out by characters either not normally associated with the Birds of Prey or (in Barbara’s case) aggressively altered by the new continuity. My first dip into this world was so fresh and new and exciting, that I started to feel a little let down as writer Duane Swierczynski wrapped up one story arc, vamped for time, and then paid lip-service to Snyder’s Night of the Owls crossover event. I’m not going so far as to claim that those three issues (7, 8 and 9) were wasted, but now that Birds of Prey seems firmly set its own two feet again, it’s apparent that this series is at its strongest when its free to develop on its own terms. Continue reading →

Jun 8 2012

Animal Man 10

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

Patrick: For a guy whose soul is trapped in the physical manifestation of animal life, Buddy Baker’s actually having a pretty good time. What could have been a dire slog through dense dense mythology is transformed into a pretty kickin’ adventure thanks to some warrior dog-men, a wise-crackin’ goat pal and humor ahoy. Coming in off the death of Animal Man, this is exactly what this series need to keep from teetering off into the abyss.

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Jun 7 2012

Swamp Thing 10

Alternating Currents: Swamp Thing 10, Drew and ShelbyToday, Drew and Shelby are discussing Swamp Thing 10, originally released June 6th, 2012.

Drew: Maintaining a sense of tension in an ongoing story is an unenviable balancing act. If a writer plays things too subtly, the tension is lost, but if it’s laid on too thickly, it looses all meaning. After building to what seemed like a sure climax in issues 8 and 9, Scott Snyder brings things down to a simmer for the introduction of Anton Arcane, but a simmer that seems more primed to burst than anything in the previous four issues. That a quiet conversation in a swamp can feel more dangerous than whole armies of the undead is a testament to Snyder’s writing, which continues to feel somehow both inevitable and innovative. Continue reading →

Jun 5 2012

Op-Ed: Girls and Comic Books

Cosplay is a problem. I love dressing up, I love costumes, so naturally, I want to cosplay at the next con I attend. BUT I know I’m not in the kind of shape I would need to be in to make the costumes of any of my favorites work. I definitely don’t want to end up in some sort of “mistakes were made” cosplay photo gallery. Plus, if I’m going to go to hang out with friends at a con, I don’t want to be uncomfortably, impractically sexy!

Now, I am obviously old enough to not need superheroines to look up to as role models. I do, however, want to celebrate the characters I most enjoy reading; what with imitation being the highest form of flattery and all that, cosplay seems the way to go. Between Wonder Woman’s mostly pantsless state and Batgirl’s skin-tight…whatever that thing is called, my options are limited. Continue reading →

Jun 1 2012

Animal Man Annual 1

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing the Animal Man Annual 1, originally released May 30th, 2012.

Patrick: All good modern-epics have have nearly bottomless backstories: histories that stretch on further than any of the characters can remember. “This has all happened before and it will happen again.” I do not quote the sacred text of Battlestar Galactica lightly; the war between The Rot, The Red and The Green has a history that literally (and necessarily) spans all life on Earth. Ever. We’ve gotten glimpses of this history in Animal Man and Swamp Thing, but this is the first time we’ve gotten an extended look at one of the previous incursions by The Rot. We don’t get the whole picture, but we do get some remarkable personal insight.

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May 8 2012

Swamp Thing 9

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Swamp Thing 9, originally released May 2nd, 2012.

Shelby: I love non-traditional stories. While there is definitely comfort to be found in stories that go exactly as you imagine, it’s those twists that can turn a story on its ass that make things really interesting. And when those twists give the finger to time-honored and traditional story-telling tropes, that’s when I sit up and take notice. Swamp Thing is an awesome embodiment of the non-traditional. Our hero is a monster (unless you compare him to the villain), and in this issue after he rescues the damsel, she turns right around and rescues him back.

Continue reading →

May 4 2012

Animal Man 9

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Animal Man 9, originally released May 2nd, 2012.

Shelby: We’re all getting pretty wrapped up in the Night of the Owls. We’ve got a lot of really talented writers and artists working on it, and with Scott Snyder at the helm, well, it’s easy to get wrapped up in it. One could almost forgive me for forgetting about some of these other story arcs DC has going on right now. I say ‘almost’ because there’s obviously no way to forgive not thinking about The Red, The Green, and The Rot. This month’s Animal Man reminds me of why that is; the title page features Buddy, traveling through the Red after dying at the hands of the Rot and literally unraveling. Organ by organ, muscle separating from bone, bone separating from other bones.

God damn, I love this title.
Continue reading →

Apr 6 2012

Animal Man 8


Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Animal Man 8, originally released April 4th, 2012.

Shelby:  There is a certain aesthetic that I find really appealing, I like to call it “scary pretty.” I love Mexican sugar skulls, Tim Burton movies, and photographing abandoned factories. There’s can be such beauty in twisted, frightening, ugly things. Obviously, Animal Man falls completely into the scary pretty category, both story-wise and art-wise. Lemire, Foreman, and Pugh have crafted something twisted and scary and beautiful and I cannot get enough of it. Continue reading →

Apr 5 2012

Swamp Thing 8

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Swamp Thing 8, originally released April 4th, 2012.

Drew: Swamp Thing is all about details. Plot-wise, this issue may be even lighter than the previous one — Swamp Thing brings the fight to Sethe’s doorstep, prompting Sethe to play his ace in the whole: a Rot-ified Abby Arcane — but the creative team continues to emphasize and elucidate themes in ways that are both exciting and rewarding. Both the narration and the art are packed with subtle detail that amplify, refract, and subvert the story in surprising ways. Continue reading →

Mar 12 2012

Swamp Thing 7

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Swamp Thing 7, originally released March 7th, 2012.

Patrick: Alec Holland dies after taking a chainsaw through the torso.  Spoiler, I guess. No, I didn’t just ruin a twist or anything – in fact, Alec suffers this wound at the end of the previous issue. As is so frequently the case for characters in superhero comics, the drama continues to play out past the point of death, into the cerebral nether-space between living and dying. It allows Alec to decide that he needs to embrace his destiny and become the Swamp Thing. It’s a regular stop for heroes nearing the end of the Heroes’ Journey (capital H, capital J), but Scott Snyder manages something subtly different, emotionally unique to this very specifically reluctant hero.  Continue reading →