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Shock and Awe   Avengers # 347  writer: Bob Harras      penciller: Steve Epting inker: Tom Palmer colorist: Gina Going-Raney * I’ve read tens of thousands of comic books in my lifetime, but there are only a select few for which I can remember the exact time and place I read them. One of those is Avengers #347. I was sleeping over at my friend Stan’s house. I’d brought some comics over to show him (he was a dabbler) and to read before falling asleep. As I lay there on the floor in my sleeping bag, a   single halogen lamp for light, my mind was blown by what I read in Avengers #347, which was the  conclusion of a nineteen(!) part storyline called “Operation Galactic Storm.” The previous 18 parts had been underwhelming, with the story sinking under its own weight and having no real coherence. So for the story to end in such an unexpected and thought-provoking way was a real shock. * There are two kids of major events in comics. One is the  Inf...

Taking Flight Alpha Flight #106 Writer: Scott Lobdell Penciller: Mark Pacella Inker: Dan Panosian Colorist: Bob Sharen * Though I'm a cisgender heterosexual male, I’d say I’m pretty far along on the spectrum of embracing the wide array of differences in how people express their sexuality and gender.  That wasn't always the case though, and it took a sometimes-ugly journey to get here.   Begin that I'm a cisgender heterosexual male, the system wasn’t designed for me to be tolerant and accepting of homosexuality or anything else outside of the heterosexual or gender “norm.” In addition to the gender and sexuality coding that everyone gets, I was raised in a conservative church that condemned what were euphemistically called “alternative lifestyles.” And I absorbed that, along with the casual homophobia that permeated the 1980s TV and movies of my youth.   At the same time, I knew and liked my dad’s friends, a couple named Ron and Tom, though I was naïve enough that it to...

A Perfect Thirty-First Issue Quasar #31 Writer: Mark Gruenwald Penciller: Greg Capullo Inker: Harry Candelario Colorist: Paul Becton * Reading monthly comics you become conditioned not to expect each individual issue to cover much territory on its own. You accept that you’re buying a part of a larger story. It might be enjoyable, but you don’t expect it to feel like a complete reading experience in and of itself. Of course there are the occasional standalone issues, which can be good, but aren’t inherently better by virtue of being self-contained. The rarest unicorn of all is the single issue that is part of the larger tapestry but still feels complete in-and-of-itself. Quasar #31 is one of those unicorns. It’s an act of magic that is and does things it shouldn’t be able to be or do. It’s a standalone story that’s part of a larger narrative. It ties off its plot threads but opens up many others. It makes Marvel’s much maligned New Universe seem like an intriguing place. And it deep...

The Thrill of the Hunt New Titans #82 writer: Marv Wolfman penciller: Tom Grummett inker: Al Vey colorist: Adrienne Roy * The Teen Titans began in the mid-1960s as a group of sidekicks who occasionally hung out and had adventures. As many DC characters did, the team went in some shaggy and weird directions in the 1970s. But in 1980, Marv Wolfman and George Perez revamped the team completely, adding new members (Cyborg, Changeling a.k.a. Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire) and glowing up originals Robin, Kid Flash, and Wonder Girl. The New Teen Titans was a massive hit, and at its height rivaled the popularity of The Uncanny X-Men . In fact, that’s the book it was most compared to, as both concerned a diverse group of characters who operated as a makeshift family.   George Perez left Titans in the mid-1980s, and was replaced by Eduardo Barreto. Perez returned in 1988 and the book was rebranded as The New Titans (the characters by this time all having reached their early 20s. ...