Articles
Portraits In Alienated British Youth Circa 1989-90, Part Twenty-Three : Ka-Pow!
Well — hello again! An observant acquaintance on twitter recently remarked to me that he “hoped I’d get back to (my) ‘Portraits In Alienated British Youth’ series at some point,” and I had to make… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 67
Issue #80 “Rake at the Gates of Hell: Part Three” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: Steve Dillon; Colors: Tom Ziuko; Letters: Clem Robins; Editor: Stuart Moore; Assistant Editor: Julie Rottenberg; Cover: Glenn Fabry; As we’ve seen… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 66
Issue #79 “Rake at the Gates of Hell: Part Two” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: Steve Dillon; Colors: Tom Ziuko; Letters: Clem Robins; Editor: Stuart Moore; Assistant Editor: Julie Rottenberg; Cover: Glenn Fabry; Picking a mere… [more]
Fear And The Batman: An Examination Of The Role That Horror Plays In The World Of The Dark Knight
A band of thieving criminals flee to a cornered alleyway, running from the stalking specter descending upon them. As they run they turn around a sharp corner and stumble into a dead end where they… [more]
Droids, Slaves and C-3PO’s Red Arm
The role of droids in the Star Wars universe has always been fairly clear, and yet tinged with some troubling implications. They’re servants, essentially, but they’re also companions and, most interestingly of all, they have… [more]
The Dawn of Cinematic Universes: What Shared Continuity In Film Is Telling Us About The Future Of Cinema
There is no secret that a new trend has emerged in mainstream films, a trend that is specifically connected to the inclusion of famous characters and epic worlds, all of which have now joined together… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 65
Issue #78 “Rake at the Gates of Hell: Parts One” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: Steve Dillon; Colors: Tom Ziuko; Letters: Clem Robins; Editor: Stuart Moore; Assistant Editor: Julie Rottenberg; Cover: Glenn Fabry; Despite the cyclical… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 64
Issue #75b-77 “Act of Union,” “Confessions of an Irish Rebel,” & “And the Crowd Goes Wild” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artists: William Simpson, Steve Dillon, Peter Snejbjerg; Colors: Stuart Chaifetz, Tom Ziuko; Letters: Clem Robins; Editor:… [more]
On Phonogram & “Hating So Correctly”
Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s Phonogram is very much a celebration of pop music, a comic filled with characters who love it deeply and at times overwhelmingly. A blurb from Art Brut vocalist Eddie Argos… [more]
The Complicated Legacies of Wonder Woman and Lois Lane
Throughout the history of DC Comics, two female characters stand above the rest, in terms of appearances and popularity in the broader culture: Wonder Woman (Diana Prince) and Lois Lane. It can be argued that… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 63
Issue #75 “Damnation’s Flame: Hail to the Chief” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: Steve Dillon; Colors: Tom Ziuko; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Editor: Stuart Moore; Assistant Editor: Julie Rottenberg; Cover: Glenn Fabry; Picking up immediately from last… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 62
Issue #74 “Damnation’s Flame: Trail of Tears” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: Steve Dillon; Colors: Tom Ziuko; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Editor: Stuart Moore; Assistant Editor: Julie Rottenberg; Cover: Glenn Fabry; Picking up immediately where the previous… [more]
Star Wars In May – Thoughts on the Anniversary of the Original Release
Yesterday fans all over the world recognized May 25 as one of the most important anniversaries in popular culture: the release of Star Wars on that day in 1977. This comes at the tail end… [more]
A Tour of the 2016 Eisner Nominees, Part 12 – Wrapping Up
Over the course of this series about the 2016 Eisner Award Nominees, we’ve been focusing on individual titles that many comics fans may have either missed or overlooked. Without question, every comic mentioned in the… [more]
A Tour of the 2016 Eisner Nominees, Part 11 – March: Book Two
The history recounted in March: Book Two is, or should be, fairly familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of the 20th century. The Freedom Riders and the other struggles of the early 1960s American… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 61
Issue #73 “Damnation’s Flame: Broadway the Hard Way” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: Steve Dillon; Colors: Tom Ziuko; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Editor: Stuart Moore; Assistant Editor: Julie Rottenberg; Cover: Glenn Fabry; Last we left John Constantine… [more]
A Tour of the 2016 Eisner Nominees, Part 10 – Kaijumax
Zander Cannon’s Kaijumax is an easy comic to like, because it takes such joy in being what it is. A colourful, quick-witted satire of prison movie cliches, blended with an all-star cast of Toho Pictures’… [more]
13 Cameras Plays Upon Your Video Surveillance Fears
The new suspenseful home invasion horror film, 13 Cameras, bases its plot on a very realistic fear – that someone may be spying on you inside your own home. The notion that anyone could be… [more]
Revisit The Dark Knight Rises With Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman
Kevin Smith is naturally a positive and forgiving personality, which makes his podcasts fun, but often prevents him from really getting into a serious critique of a film, especially when it’s a film close to… [more]
Science Fiction Elements of Infinite Jest: Part 3, Subsidized Time
The twentieth-anniversary rereading and discussion of the greatest novel ever written, David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, has just ended. The discussion continues, and this is part of it. Many thousands of fans worldwide including me… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 60
Issue #72 “Damnation’s Flame Part One: Brave New World” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: Steve Dillon; Colors: Tom Ziuko; Letters: Clem Robins; Editor: Stuart Moore; Assistant Editor: Julie Rottenberg; Cover: Glenn Fabry; When Hellblazer started 71… [more]
Rethinking and Re-inking Catwoman
A few months ago I started reading Deborah E. Whaley’s recent book, Black Women in Sequence: Re-inking Comics, Graphic Novels, and Anime. In it, Whaley explores how women of African descent are portrayed in various visual… [more]
Until the End of the World: Thoughts on Preacher
Tulip: The way I hear it, there’s two good places to look for God: in church, or at the bottom of a bottle. Jesse: Maybe I’ll go find a liquor store, then … ’cause lemme… [more]
Of Squirrels and Girls
This exposes me to some risk, having to look over my shoulder for Steinbeck’s vengeful spirit, but that’s the life we choose in the thrilling, fast-paced world of sequential art criticism. Not like music reviewers… [more]
A Tour of the 2016 Eisner Nominees, Part 9 – Monstress
Monstress wastes no time in creating a lush, vivid fantasy world and giving us some great characters to populate it. This Image Comics release by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda builds all manner of artifice… [more]