http://sequart.org advancing comics as art Wed, 09 Jul 2025 21:12:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://sequart.org/magazine/70585/wonder-woman-1984-review/ http://sequart.org/magazine/70585/wonder-woman-1984-review/#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2020 23:33:46 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=70585 [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/70581/art-spiegelman-golden-age-superheroes-were-shaped-by-the-rise-of-fascism/ http://sequart.org/magazine/70581/art-spiegelman-golden-age-superheroes-were-shaped-by-the-rise-of-fascism/#comments Thu, 24 Dec 2020 16:23:15 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=70581 [more]]]> 2 http://sequart.org/magazine/70544/different-men-of-tomorrow-superman-and-providence/ http://sequart.org/magazine/70544/different-men-of-tomorrow-superman-and-providence/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2020 01:17:56 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=70544 [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/70198/send-in-the-clowns-todd-phillips-joker/ http://sequart.org/magazine/70198/send-in-the-clowns-todd-phillips-joker/#comments Wed, 15 Jan 2020 02:06:48 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=70198 Coulrophobia. A fear of clowns. It’s kind of an ironic fear when you consider the idea that clowns are humanity’s way of making fun of its own mortality. For the longest time, I actually thought… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/69753/jordan-peele%e2%80%99s-us-untethered/ http://sequart.org/magazine/69753/jordan-peele%e2%80%99s-us-untethered/#comments Mon, 27 May 2019 13:29:37 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=69753 “There we are – demented children mincing about in clothes that no one ever wore, speaking as no man ever spoke, swearing love in wigs and rhymed couplets, killing each other with wooden swords, hollow… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/69694/invisible-art-that-makes-temple-of-silence-forgotten-works-worlds-of-herbert-crowley/ http://sequart.org/magazine/69694/invisible-art-that-makes-temple-of-silence-forgotten-works-worlds-of-herbert-crowley/#comments Tue, 02 Apr 2019 10:00:54 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=69694 Recently, I read an article by Noah Charney about Davie Bowie and William Boyd’s connection to an obscure American abstract expressionist artist Nat Tate, operating in the mid-twentieth century, who destroyed most of his paintings,… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/69470/this-next-experiment-and-the-values-of-fun-toby-fox-and-gaster%e2%80%99s-deltarune-part-iii/ http://sequart.org/magazine/69470/this-next-experiment-and-the-values-of-fun-toby-fox-and-gaster%e2%80%99s-deltarune-part-iii/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2019 16:00:21 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=69470 In our second article, I wrote about Undertale, the presence of W.D. Gaster in the game and its code, the collaborative dynamic between Toby Fox and his audience as well as the implications it had… [more]]]> 2 http://sequart.org/magazine/69454/preliminaries-in-undertale-toby-fox-and-gaster%e2%80%99s-deltarune-part-ii/ http://sequart.org/magazine/69454/preliminaries-in-undertale-toby-fox-and-gaster%e2%80%99s-deltarune-part-ii/#comments Mon, 07 Jan 2019 19:24:59 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=69454 Where we last left off, I wrote a general outline of how Toby Fox’s work in game hacking, music creation, and his participation in and moderation of EarthBound forums helped influence his development of Undertale,… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/69430/earthbound-dress-rehearsals-and-the-beginnings-of-interaction-toby-fox-and-gaster%e2%80%99s-deltarune-part-i/ http://sequart.org/magazine/69430/earthbound-dress-rehearsals-and-the-beginnings-of-interaction-toby-fox-and-gaster%e2%80%99s-deltarune-part-i/#comments Mon, 10 Dec 2018 17:29:17 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=69430 It feels like everyone, and their mother too, has already been talking about the first chapter of Toby Fox’s new video game Deltarune, the spiritual sequel to the popular 2015 independent game Undertale. So many… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/69220/punk-and-heart-in-how-to-talk-to-girls-at-parties-gaiman/ http://sequart.org/magazine/69220/punk-and-heart-in-how-to-talk-to-girls-at-parties-gaiman/#comments Mon, 22 Oct 2018 10:00:48 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=69220 I’d read Neil Gaiman’s short story “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” a long time ago now, back in 2006 when it had been published in Fragile Things. It’s hard for me to remember… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/68258/an-interview-in-patrick-meaney%e2%80%99s-house-of-demon/ http://sequart.org/magazine/68258/an-interview-in-patrick-meaney%e2%80%99s-house-of-demon/#comments Thu, 22 Feb 2018 17:15:41 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=68258 Patrick Meaney, producer of She Makes Comics, and the director of Neil Gaiman: Dream Dangerously, Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods as well as many other documentaries has recently released his first-ever horror film House of… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/68226/elfquest-i-found-the-hearts-way-in-the-world-of-two-moons/ http://sequart.org/magazine/68226/elfquest-i-found-the-hearts-way-in-the-world-of-two-moons/#comments Tue, 20 Feb 2018 12:00:30 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=68226 Wendy and Richard Pini’s Elfquest is a comics series that has been around for forty years. Soon, this ongoing story about the World of Two Moons and its denizens will be coming to an end… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/68217/a-trip-through-old-wounds-patrick-meaney%e2%80%99s-house-of-demons/ http://sequart.org/magazine/68217/a-trip-through-old-wounds-patrick-meaney%e2%80%99s-house-of-demons/#comments Mon, 19 Feb 2018 19:09:12 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=68217 It is fairly clear, to my mind, that when most people live long enough, they have moments that they wish they could change. It can be something that they did, or something that they did… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/67860/that-grey-place-star-wars-the-last-jedi/ http://sequart.org/magazine/67860/that-grey-place-star-wars-the-last-jedi/#comments Thu, 04 Jan 2018 16:25:16 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=67860 “I am your father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate.” “So what does that make us?” “Absolutely nothing….” – Dark Helmet and Lone Starr, Space Balls As of this writing, everyone and their Force immaculate parent… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/67544/do-you-want-to-know-my-secret-identity-professor-marston-the-wonder-women/ http://sequart.org/magazine/67544/do-you-want-to-know-my-secret-identity-professor-marston-the-wonder-women/#comments Mon, 02 Oct 2017 18:30:06 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=67544 I haven’t had the opportunity to see any advanced screenings of Professor Marston & the Wonder Women yet and, as such, I only have the majority of positive advance reviews to go on. Nevertheless, the… [more]]]> 3 http://sequart.org/magazine/67529/back-to-the-past-with-samurai-jack-part-2/ http://sequart.org/magazine/67529/back-to-the-past-with-samurai-jack-part-2/#comments Fri, 29 Sep 2017 15:40:33 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=67529 In Part I of “Back to the Past: Samurai Jack,” I began to look at Genndy Tartakovsky’s final season of his series in terms of its strengths and weaknesses with regards to its overall physical… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/67506/back-to-the-past-samurai-jack/ http://sequart.org/magazine/67506/back-to-the-past-samurai-jack/#comments Mon, 25 Sep 2017 17:30:35 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=67506 So, this past while I’ve been ruminating over Samurai Jack. Originally, I focused on Aku and how ridiculous he is as a villain. However, like I said in my first article on the subject Aku… [more]]]> 2 http://sequart.org/magazine/67278/whatever-happened-to-the-legends-of-tomorrow/ http://sequart.org/magazine/67278/whatever-happened-to-the-legends-of-tomorrow/#comments Fri, 01 Sep 2017 17:30:36 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=67278 It had been advertised for a little while before. The teaser commercial and trailer were fascinating. The Flash had reached another critical story arc mass and Arrow was continuing on. Moreover, in the wake of… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/67255/an-age-of-resistance-legends-myths-and-shadows/ http://sequart.org/magazine/67255/an-age-of-resistance-legends-myths-and-shadows/#comments Thu, 31 Aug 2017 19:20:43 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=67255 It was a surprise. The Jim Henson Company had been seeking to revisit the world of Thra for quite some time. There were, of course, developments. TokyoPop’s Legends of The Dark Crystal and The Dark… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/66858/wonder-woman-spirit-of-truth-and-child-of-love/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66858/wonder-woman-spirit-of-truth-and-child-of-love/#comments Sat, 03 Jun 2017 14:00:40 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66858 By the time this article is seen, Wonder Woman will return to Patriarch’s World on the big screen thanks to DC Comics, Warner Brothers, Patty Jenkins, and Gal Gadot. As such, I really wanted to… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/66753/fairy-stories-for-a-wizarding-world-j-k-rowling%e2%80%99s-the-tales-of-beedle-the-bard/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66753/fairy-stories-for-a-wizarding-world-j-k-rowling%e2%80%99s-the-tales-of-beedle-the-bard/#comments Fri, 26 May 2017 18:30:10 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66753 A little while ago, I got into a rant about Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume Three: Century, or more specifically its final chapter beat “2009.” I understand the creative… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/66665/mythic-world-rewriting-alan-moore-and-jacen-burrows%e2%80%99-providence/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66665/mythic-world-rewriting-alan-moore-and-jacen-burrows%e2%80%99-providence/#comments Tue, 16 May 2017 19:45:09 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66665 “All countries and all cultures, in the first few centuries that follow their inception, seem to naturally produce their individual supernatural mythologies and webs of folkloric belief. This much we can deduce by looking at… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/66654/samurai-jack-can-he-go-back/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66654/samurai-jack-can-he-go-back/#comments Thu, 11 May 2017 18:46:35 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66654 It’s always a challenge writing about a series in progress, especially when you know that by the time your article comes out, it may already be a fairly moot point or some development occurs that… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/66598/the-framework-in-agents-of-hydra/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66598/the-framework-in-agents-of-hydra/#comments Tue, 02 May 2017 20:00:46 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66598 Where do we even begin? This is yet another article that I hadn’t been planning. Well, I’m sorry: that is just an alternative fact. You see, I had been thinking of writing about this arc… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/66581/where%e2%80%99s-our-moon-over-soho-in-alan-moore-and-kevin-o%e2%80%99neill%e2%80%99s-the-league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen-part-2/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66581/where%e2%80%99s-our-moon-over-soho-in-alan-moore-and-kevin-o%e2%80%99neill%e2%80%99s-the-league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen-part-2/#comments Fri, 28 Apr 2017 18:30:08 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66581 In Part I of “Where’s Our Moon Over Soho in Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” I talked about The League and three major characters in its story line and some… [more]]]> 4 http://sequart.org/magazine/66567/where%e2%80%99s-our-moon-over-soho-in-alan-moore-and-kevin-o%e2%80%99neill%e2%80%99s-the-league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66567/where%e2%80%99s-our-moon-over-soho-in-alan-moore-and-kevin-o%e2%80%99neill%e2%80%99s-the-league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen/#comments Wed, 26 Apr 2017 22:45:55 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66567 I’m not really sure how to start this one. I feel like I might be writing about this subject a few years too late, but it’s taken just as long to get to the point… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/66544/i%e2%80%99m-afraid-i-must-apologize-the-matrix-rebooted/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66544/i%e2%80%99m-afraid-i-must-apologize-the-matrix-rebooted/#comments Mon, 24 Apr 2017 19:30:08 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66544 There has been talk about a reboot of The Matrix. In 1999, I didn’t really know what that was. The Matrix was created by the Wachowski sisters that took me a while to see. All… [more]]]> 1 http://sequart.org/magazine/66519/star-wars-legacy-junior-jedi-knights-when-the-force-awakens/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66519/star-wars-legacy-junior-jedi-knights-when-the-force-awakens/#comments Tue, 18 Apr 2017 17:45:14 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66519 I remember watching Star Wars for the first time. My parents rented them from the now defunct-Hollywood Movies video store before we got our own VHS collection set. We got one movie a week and… [more]]]> 2 http://sequart.org/magazine/66477/samurai-jack-aku%e2%80%99s-folly/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66477/samurai-jack-aku%e2%80%99s-folly/#comments Mon, 10 Apr 2017 17:55:30 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66477 I knew about Samurai Jack for a long time, but I never really got into it. It was just another cartoon that my brother and some friends were into that I just, at the time,… [more]]]> 1 http://sequart.org/magazine/66424/on-the-origin-of-the-sexes-war-jamie-delano-and-john-higgins%e2%80%99-world-without-end/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66424/on-the-origin-of-the-sexes-war-jamie-delano-and-john-higgins%e2%80%99-world-without-end/#comments Mon, 27 Mar 2017 19:00:12 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66424 I found World Without End almost completely by accident, or rather, in a chain of events that led to a name and a title. It began when I finally read AARGH! for the first time.… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/66258/when-shadow-returns-neil-gaiman%e2%80%99s-american-gods/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66258/when-shadow-returns-neil-gaiman%e2%80%99s-american-gods/#comments Fri, 17 Mar 2017 16:00:40 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66258 For a while, I thought I had a horrible feeling why Shadow left America. If you don’t want any spoilers for either the book or the upcoming television series, please read no further. If not,… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/66126/xx-women-in-horror-horror-in-the-family/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66126/xx-women-in-horror-horror-in-the-family/#comments Mon, 06 Mar 2017 19:50:23 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66126 I will admit, I’ve been waiting for this film. Until fairly recently, I used to write for another online magazine that, in its last incarnation, was called GeekPr0n. I spent some years covering various comics,… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/66038/what-is-the-power-of-the-dark-crystal/ http://sequart.org/magazine/66038/what-is-the-power-of-the-dark-crystal/#comments Thu, 02 Mar 2017 18:30:01 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=66038 Back in 2013, it was my intention to participate in what was called the Gelfing Gathering Author Quest: a contest in which the Jim Henson Company along with Grosset & Dunlap would chose a writer… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65993/wrestling-with-the-cycle-not-all-men-and-%e2%80%9che%e2%80%9d-in-matt-fraction-and-christian-ward%e2%80%99s-ody-c/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65993/wrestling-with-the-cycle-not-all-men-and-%e2%80%9che%e2%80%9d-in-matt-fraction-and-christian-ward%e2%80%99s-ody-c/#comments Tue, 28 Feb 2017 19:30:12 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65993 In Part I of this article, “Not All-Men: On the Subject of “He” in Matt Fraction and Christian Ward’s ODY-C,” we looked at the presence and purpose of men and male characters in an almost… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65962/not-all-men-on-the-subject-of-%e2%80%9che%e2%80%9d-in-matt-fraction-and-christian-ward%e2%80%99s-ody-c/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65962/not-all-men-on-the-subject-of-%e2%80%9che%e2%80%9d-in-matt-fraction-and-christian-ward%e2%80%99s-ody-c/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2017 20:45:48 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65962 When I last wrote on Matt Fraction and Christian Ward’s ODY-C in my article She Made Them in Their Image, I was attempting to focus on the Sebex – the third sex created in a… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65934/traversing-the-plateau-of-leng-to-read-is-to-be-read-in-alan-moore-and-jacen-burrows%e2%80%99-providence/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65934/traversing-the-plateau-of-leng-to-read-is-to-be-read-in-alan-moore-and-jacen-burrows%e2%80%99-providence/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2017 19:50:44 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65934 “So much of this is made of books, this Commonplace book….” – Robert Black, Commonplace Book, June 5th, 1919, Providence #1, p. 32 This article is strange for a few reasons. First off, it’s about… [more]]]> 2 http://sequart.org/magazine/65877/steven-universe-what-is-the-answer/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65877/steven-universe-what-is-the-answer/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2017 17:30:17 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65877 It’s funny how something called “The Answer” are two artistic and emotional pathways that ultimately lead to the same place. Then again, perhaps it is more accurate to say that it is quite fitting. In… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65832/mad-love-meet-love-is-love/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65832/mad-love-meet-love-is-love/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2017 19:15:50 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65832 A little while ago, I had the excuse to revisit the 1988 comics anthology AARGH! Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia in light of more recent political events. In my article AARGH! RESIST! A Retrospective and… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65753/down-a-dark-path-of-bibliomancy-the-necronomicon-in-alan-moore-and-jacen-burrows-providence-2/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65753/down-a-dark-path-of-bibliomancy-the-necronomicon-in-alan-moore-and-jacen-burrows-providence-2/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2017 19:15:26 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65753 In Part I of “Down A Dark Path of Bibliomancy: The Necronomicon in Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows’ Providence” we looked at how Alan Moore incorporated and reinterpreted H.P. Lovecraft’s “History of the Necronomicon” and… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65737/down-a-dark-path-of-bibliomancy-the-necronomicon-in-alan-moore-and-jacen-burrows%e2%80%99-providence/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65737/down-a-dark-path-of-bibliomancy-the-necronomicon-in-alan-moore-and-jacen-burrows%e2%80%99-providence/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2017 19:15:34 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65737 “My own rule is that no weird story can truly produce terror unless it is devised with all the care and verisimilitude of an actual hoax.” – H.P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith (17 October… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65691/watching-a-serial-of-strange-aeons-alan-moore-and-jacen-burrows%e2%80%99-providence/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65691/watching-a-serial-of-strange-aeons-alan-moore-and-jacen-burrows%e2%80%99-providence/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2017 18:00:55 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65691 A lot of people, and I do mean a lot of people, are writing about Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows’ Providence and have been for quite some time. You can look at Joe Linton, Robert… [more]]]> 3 http://sequart.org/magazine/65606/a-myth-of-love-and-metals-gem-fusion-in-rebecca-sugars-steven-universe/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65606/a-myth-of-love-and-metals-gem-fusion-in-rebecca-sugars-steven-universe/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2017 23:30:21 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65606 “So we thought, why don’t we all marry each other?” “Ta-da!” “And if that’s not human enough for you, we throw in a little being born and some dying …” “We’re very sorry for your… [more]]]> 1 http://sequart.org/magazine/65574/the-demon-with-a-thousand-names-and-one-undertale-2/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65574/the-demon-with-a-thousand-names-and-one-undertale-2/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2017 19:00:34 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65574 In Part I of The Demon With a Thousand Names and One in Toby Fox’s Undertale, we focused on some of the game’s background, its medium and genre tropes, and began the process of illustrating… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65512/a-journey-through-alan-moore%e2%80%99s-jerusalem-modern-times/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65512/a-journey-through-alan-moore%e2%80%99s-jerusalem-modern-times/#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2016 23:30:40 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65512 In “Modern Times” we don’t get any answers to the previous chapter, or even new questions about the things that we already know. One hazard in writing these “reader impressions” of mine for each chapter… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65501/a-journey-through-alan-moore%e2%80%99s-jerusalem-x-marks-the-spot/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65501/a-journey-through-alan-moore%e2%80%99s-jerusalem-x-marks-the-spot/#comments Thu, 29 Dec 2016 16:00:01 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65501 A lot of events occurred in Jerusalem’s “Rough Sleepers” chapter. Moore’s nature of time, at least with regards to Northampton and the Burroughs had been revealed as eternalism: as space and time existing simultaneously in… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65464/a-journey-through-alan-moore%e2%80%99s-jerusalem-rough-sleepers/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65464/a-journey-through-alan-moore%e2%80%99s-jerusalem-rough-sleepers/#comments Mon, 26 Dec 2016 16:00:57 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65464 I didn’t know what to make of this chapter at first. To be honest, it’d been a while since I’d read Jerusalem after taking time to undertake some other projects. Certainly the preceding chapter “ASBOs… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65453/a-journey-through-alan-moore%e2%80%99s-jerusalem-%e2%80%9casbos-of-desire%e2%80%9d/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65453/a-journey-through-alan-moore%e2%80%99s-jerusalem-%e2%80%9casbos-of-desire%e2%80%9d/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2016 16:00:05 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65453 There are a few things worth noting before I go on here. I might have mentioned this earlier, through my impressions of the previous chapter but unlike Alan Moore’s previous novel Voice of the Fire,… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65416/the-demon-with-a-thousand-names-and-one-in-toby-fox%e2%80%99s-undertale/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65416/the-demon-with-a-thousand-names-and-one-in-toby-fox%e2%80%99s-undertale/#comments Tue, 20 Dec 2016 16:00:20 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65416 Sequart has “sequential art” as the general focus of both its articles and its studies. Sequential art, a term that was coined by Will Eisner and expanded on by other comics creators and theorists such… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65331/she-made-them-in-their-image-sebex-in-the-universe-of-ody-c/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65331/she-made-them-in-their-image-sebex-in-the-universe-of-ody-c/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2016 17:11:28 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65331 For the longest time, ever since high school, I have been reading Homer’s Odyssey.  This is something that has followed me from Undergrad all the way into my Graduate studies. But not too long ago… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65260/aargh-resist-a-retrospective-and-a-prelude/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65260/aargh-resist-a-retrospective-and-a-prelude/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:00:53 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65260 In my four-part article Not By Something As Accidental as Blood: Bash Back, my research into Lawrence Gullo, Fyodor Pavlov, and Kelsey Hercs’ work took me to places I hadn’t gone before while, in other… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65233/the-narrative-power-of-violence-bash-back/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65233/the-narrative-power-of-violence-bash-back/#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2016 22:35:28 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65233 In Part III of this article, we looked at how Bash Back‘s narrative and The Family utilize and represent violence as a form of self-defense. In Part IV of “Not By Something as Accidental as… [more]]]> 2 http://sequart.org/magazine/65193/lgbtq-fantasies-of-violence-in-bash-back/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65193/lgbtq-fantasies-of-violence-in-bash-back/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2016 20:30:19 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65193 In Part II of this article, we looked at some of the characters and how they might represent The Family in Issue #0 of Lawrence Gullo, Fyodor Pavlov, and Kelsey Hercs’ Bash Back: A Story… [more]]]> 3 http://sequart.org/magazine/65112/a-journey-through-alan-moores-jerusalem-a-host-of-angles/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65112/a-journey-through-alan-moores-jerusalem-a-host-of-angles/#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2016 21:00:59 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65112 You know there’s going to be a story when you’re told, flat out, that the protagonist is going to go insane. I feel like for every detail I catch in my reading of Jerusalem, there… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/65035/the-family-and-identity-in-bash-back/ http://sequart.org/magazine/65035/the-family-and-identity-in-bash-back/#comments Tue, 15 Nov 2016 19:00:05 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=65035 In Part I of this article, we examined some of the possible origins, influences, resonances and echoes behind Issue #0 of Lawrence Gullo, Fyodor Pavlov, and Kelsey Hercs’ Bash Back: A Story of the Queer… [more]]]> 5 http://sequart.org/magazine/64992/not-by-something-as-accidental-as-blood-bash-back/ http://sequart.org/magazine/64992/not-by-something-as-accidental-as-blood-bash-back/#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2016 19:30:18 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=64992 It’s funny what you can find hidden right in plain sight. Sometimes you know it’s there, but you just don’t know where to look. Perhaps you’ve seen it in other forms, in various other permutations.… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/64975/a-journey-through-alan-moores-jerusalem-work-in-progress/ http://sequart.org/magazine/64975/a-journey-through-alan-moores-jerusalem-work-in-progress/#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2016 17:45:01 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=64975 This is an experiment, you understand. I haven’t written for Sequart in quite some time and in addition to other articles I want to write, I’ve decided I wanted to try something I haven’t really… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/39347/on-the-art-and-cycle-of-proper-suffering-the-artist-figure-in-phoenix-karma-part-3/ http://sequart.org/magazine/39347/on-the-art-and-cycle-of-proper-suffering-the-artist-figure-in-phoenix-karma-part-3/#comments Sun, 16 Feb 2014 12:00:10 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=39347 In the second part of this article, we looked at the challenges that faced each artist-figure in Phoenix: Karma. Now, in the final part of this article, we will look at how they come to… [more]]]> 1 http://sequart.org/magazine/39338/on-the-art-and-cycle-of-proper-suffering-the-artist-figure-in-phoenix-karma-part-2/ http://sequart.org/magazine/39338/on-the-art-and-cycle-of-proper-suffering-the-artist-figure-in-phoenix-karma-part-2/#comments Sun, 09 Feb 2014 12:00:13 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=39338 In the first part of this article, we looked at the beginnings of the artist-figure Tezuka Osamu, the cultural time period that informed his work, the era he chose to create Phoenix: Karma in and… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/39332/on-the-art-and-cycle-of-proper-suffering-the-artist-figure-in-phoenix-karma/ http://sequart.org/magazine/39332/on-the-art-and-cycle-of-proper-suffering-the-artist-figure-in-phoenix-karma/#comments Sun, 02 Feb 2014 12:00:10 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=39332 It is neither a new nor a culturally specific idea that art is created through suffering: that the figure of the artist is an individual who must experience great ordeals in order to accomplish his… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/34090/flowers-fire-and-dreams-in-neil-gaimans-sandman-overture-1-part-3/ http://sequart.org/magazine/34090/flowers-fire-and-dreams-in-neil-gaimans-sandman-overture-1-part-3/#comments Wed, 25 Dec 2013 12:00:50 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=34090 The next segment of The Sandman Overture Issue #1 doesn’t have a very auspicious beginning.  Pages twenty-five and twenty-six open up into a spread with Morpheus flying towards his Castle and his Dreaming kingdom: now… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/34089/flowers-fire-and-dreams-in-neil-gaimans-sandman-overture-1-part-2/ http://sequart.org/magazine/34089/flowers-fire-and-dreams-in-neil-gaimans-sandman-overture-1-part-2/#comments Wed, 18 Dec 2013 12:00:49 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=34089 In the next part of The Sandman Overture Issue #1, we now get to focus on Morpheus’ tools in trade: dreams. After transitioning to page fourteen, what we have waiting for us is something that… [more]]]> 1 http://sequart.org/magazine/34088/flowers-fire-and-dreams-in-neil-gaimans-sandman-overture-1/ http://sequart.org/magazine/34088/flowers-fire-and-dreams-in-neil-gaimans-sandman-overture-1/#comments Wed, 11 Dec 2013 12:00:48 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=34088 An overture is traditionally the opening or introduction to an opera. Yet if anything in the past twenty-five or so years of the comics medium can be compared to an opera–as a masterpiece made up… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/30732/sharing-the-love-from-ground-zero-spread-by-justin-jordan-and-kyle-strahm/ http://sequart.org/magazine/30732/sharing-the-love-from-ground-zero-spread-by-justin-jordan-and-kyle-strahm/#comments Wed, 23 Oct 2013 11:00:43 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=30732 In the comics medium, a spread is usually an image that takes up two or more pages in both volume and sheer scope. That is what most fans and comics scholars would first think when… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/29740/revisionism-comes-to-a-silver-age-or-who-is-killing-the-great-capes-of-heropa/ http://sequart.org/magazine/29740/revisionism-comes-to-a-silver-age-or-who-is-killing-the-great-capes-of-heropa/#comments Wed, 09 Oct 2013 11:00:09 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=29740 Julian Darius, in a response to a comment of mine in his article “On Underworld Unleashed, Precursor to Kingdom Come” explains that Reconstructionism with regards to the superhero comics genre is a term coined by… [more]]]> 4 http://sequart.org/magazine/29216/the-stitching-together-of-a-mythos-kris-straub%e2%80%99s-broodhollow-part-3/ http://sequart.org/magazine/29216/the-stitching-together-of-a-mythos-kris-straub%e2%80%99s-broodhollow-part-3/#comments Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:00:45 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=29216 In Parts I and II, we looked at the influences and aesthetics of Kris Straub’s Broodhollow as well as the stories that led to its creation respectively. But now, we move away from considerations of… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/29215/the-stitching-together-of-a-mythos-kris-straubs-broodhollow-part-2/ http://sequart.org/magazine/29215/the-stitching-together-of-a-mythos-kris-straubs-broodhollow-part-2/#comments Wed, 11 Sep 2013 11:00:06 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=29215 When we last left off in Part I, we were looking at the beginnings of Broodhollow: at its possible horror and comic influences and how its aesthetics is centred around the exploration and fear of… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/29203/the-stitching-together-of-a-mythos-kris-straubs-broodhollow/ http://sequart.org/magazine/29203/the-stitching-together-of-a-mythos-kris-straubs-broodhollow/#comments Wed, 28 Aug 2013 11:00:37 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=29203 It’s a rare thing to watch a reality in the process of its own formation. It’s like observing a building being created row by row: block by block. But in this case it’s more like… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/25260/yet-those-hands-will-never-hold-anything-emiya-shirou-as-the-interactive-superhero-of-fatestay-night-part-2/ http://sequart.org/magazine/25260/yet-those-hands-will-never-hold-anything-emiya-shirou-as-the-interactive-superhero-of-fatestay-night-part-2/#comments Sat, 13 Jul 2013 11:00:34 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=25260 Continued from part one. At some point in the superhero trope, the hero has to start building on the foundation of their training and perfecting their powers. For Shirou, this results in the mangling of… [more]]]> 0 http://sequart.org/magazine/25252/yet-those-hands-will-never-hold-anything-emiya-shirou-as-the-interactive-superhero-of-fatestay-night-part-1/ http://sequart.org/magazine/25252/yet-those-hands-will-never-hold-anything-emiya-shirou-as-the-interactive-superhero-of-fatestay-night-part-1/#comments Sat, 06 Jul 2013 11:00:20 +0000 Matthew Kirshenblatt http://sequart.org/?p=25252 The super-hero genre is something that has not only cross-pollinated into different media, but has–in itself–been subject to a considerable amount of scrutiny. Superheroes have been changed into gritty, horrifyingly realistic beings by the Revisionism… [more]]]> 2