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Genre Bliss: Surviving The Purge: Anarchy
I recently spent a sick day at home, trying to recuperate from a nasty cold. In the grand tradition of sick days, I decided to spend it on the couch watching movies and catching up… [more]
A Priest, a Panther, and the Dora Milaje Walk into a Bar: Christopher Priest’s Black Panther
With the Black Panther entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe soon, I figured it was high time I explored the character in print, at least more so that I have previously. I’ve always liked T’Challa but… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 50
Issue #61 “She’s Buying a Stairway to Heaven” Writer: Garth Ennis; Pencils: William Simpson; Inks: Mike Barreiro; Colors: Tom Ziuko; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Editor: Stuart Moore; Cover: Glenn Fabry; When distilled down to its raw… [more]
11.22.63: A Primer for and Review of this Fascinating New Mini-Series
Hulu’s new series 11.22.63 is based on one of Stephen King’s most intriguing and absorbing novels, 11/22/63, in which a man travels back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination. That particular plot contrivance is… [more]
Aftermath: A Few Thoughts on The World’s End as Imagined by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
In the previous chapter of these loose musings on Edgar Wright’s “The World’s End” we left the film’s protagonists in a secret alien base hidden below the final pub of the infamous pub-crawl known as… [more]
Better Call Saul Season 2, Episode 2: Let’s Be Honest
A frequent discussion point among my colleagues about Better Call Saul is the question of why Kim isn’t in Breaking Bad. She’s such an important character to Jimmy McGill, and indeed has been central so… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 49
Issue #60 “Guys & Dolls Part Two: Nativity Infernal” Writer: Garth Ennis; Pencils: William Simpson; Inks: Mike Barreiro & Kim DeMulder; Colors: Tom Zuiko; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Editor: Stuart Moore; Cover: Glenn Fabry; In “Guys… [more]
The End is Nigh!!!: A Few Thoughts on The World’s End as Imagined by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
In the ninth pub of the “Golden Mile”, the “Beehive”, the friends meet the blank of their former teacher Mr. Guy Shepherd. So it can be safely concluded that not even this figure of the… [more]
Better Call Saul Goes its Own Way in the Season 2 Opener
One of the many remarkable achievements of Better Call Saul is that its drama does indeed have a final destination (it’s in the title), but it doesn’t feel inevitable. Quite the contrary — judging from… [more]
Frank Miller’s Daredevil Saga, Part 2: Enter Elektra!
Frank Miller’s most iconic creation at Marvel Comics makes her debut; and will Daredevil save Bullseye, and should he? [more]
How to Be Single: Super-Hero Movie Style
Spider-Man 2 (2004) “Am I not supposed to have what I want? What I need? What am I supposed to do?” -Peter Parker, Spider-Man 2 “That’s all part of living, sir.” -Alfred Pennyworth, The Dark… [more]
Watching the Anti-Hero Rise to Power
The best stories are usually about the flaws of the characters, which may be why we have always been fascinated by the anti-hero. In fact, it’s this particular fascination that has led to the ascension… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 48
Issue #59 “Guys & Dolls Part One: Fallen Women” Writer: Garth Ennis; Pencils: William Simpson; Inks: Mike Barreiro & Kim DeMulder; Colors: Tom Zuiko; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Editor: Stuart Moore; Cover: Glenn Fabry; Shared universes… [more]
An Inconvenient Truth: A Few Thoughts on The World’s End as Imagined by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
At one point of Edgar Wright’s “The World’s End” one of the film’s protagonist’s, Andy, describes Newton Haven as a black hole. Unknown to him at the time, this will prove to be an accurate… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 47
Issues #57-58 “Mortal Clay” & “Body & Soul” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: Steve Dillon; Colors: Tom Zuiko, Daniel Vozzo; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Editor: Stuart Moore; Cover: Glenn Fabry; In a world filled with demons, angels,… [more]
Returning to the “Golden Mile”: A Few Thoughts on The World’s End as Imagined by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
As I promised you in the last instalment of my deliberations on “The World’s End” by Edgar Wright, we shall now join the film’s protagonists on the pub-crawl known as the ”Golden Mile”. Before entering… [more]
Portraits In Alienated British Youth Circa 1989-90, Part Twenty-Two : Breaking Point
Hard as it may be to believe, Dave, the troubled-to-put-mildly “star” of John Smith and Sean Phillips’ Straitgate, does, in fact, have friends. In fact, if you’ll recall, we met a few of them back… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 46
Issue #56 “This is the Diary of Danny Drake” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: David Lloyd; Letters: Elitta Fell; Editor: Stuart Moore; Cover: Glenn Fabry; A friend of mine once told me over beer that “the… [more]
Old Red Eyes Is Back: A Few Thoughts on The World’s End as Imagined by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
After their previous ventures into the horror genre with “Shaun of the Dead” (2004) and the crime-fighting-buddy-action-movie with “Hot Fuzz” (2007), Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg have applied themselves to science-fiction and its tropes in… [more]
Portraits In Alienated British Youth Circa 1989-90, Part Twenty-One : The Human Factor
I think it’s perfectly fair to say that the first two segments of John Smith and Sean Phillips’ Straitagte didn’t exactly present their protagonist, Dave, in anything like a sympathetic (or, for that matter, even… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 45
Issue #55 “Royal Blood Part Four: Dog Eat Dog” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: Will Simpson; Colors: Tom Ziuko; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Editor: Stuart Moore; Cover: Glenn Fabry; Royal Blood ultimately concludes with “Dog Eat Dog.”… [more]
Andy Warhol: A Comics Creator?
Andy Warhol’s name is forever linked to a thoroughly modern style of artistic expression, emerging at a very significant time in the history of western culture. Mechanical replication, repetition and bold, vivid colours were hallmarks… [more]
“The Fourth Means Is Most Terrible, And Rests On The Eviction Of A Soul…” Transcription and Trauma in Providence #6
“And yet, its realism was so hideous that I sometimes find hope impossible. If the thing did happen, then man must be prepared to accept notions of the cosmos, and of his own place in… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 44
It has come to my attention that I was mistaken last week in assuming that the person who may have been Prince Andrew, Duke of York had no real uncle whose ashes he could have… [more]
My Twenty Favourite Films of 2015
Well, 2015 is long over and it’s time for me to put down my top films of the year. I always find this a fun task, although I also always find myself opening this list… [more]