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Wizard World Comic Con–Nashville Notebook: Day Two
I just got insulted by Howard Chaykin. That’s like the comic book world’s equivalent of getting roasted by Don Rickles. [more]
The Strain and Vampire Culture
Vampires have changed tremendously over the years. They used to be representative of the bestial side of human nature, thoughtless creatures of pure Id, no better than animals themselves. Over time, however, they have evolved… [more]
Wizard World Comic Con—Nashville Notebook: Day One
Howard Chaykin may have sounded like he was auditioning for Glengarry Glen Ross, but his was the most enjoyable panel I’ve attended in three years of convention-going. [more]
Portraits in Alienated British You, Circa 1989-90, Part Thirteen : All’s Well That Ends — Well?
With the shit having already hit the fan, the eleventh and final chapter of Garth Ennis and Warren Pleece’s True Faith plays out more like an epilogue than anything else — but it’s a highly… [more]
Portraits In Alienated British Youth Circa 1989-90, Part Twelve : Where It All Hits The Fan
There’s no doubt about it — chapter ten of Garth Ennis and Warren Pleece’s True Faith, entitled “False Gods,” is an absolute barn-burner. Or church-burner, I guess, as the case may be. The authorities —… [more]
Tiptoeing Through the Tulips with Neil Gaiman
While some of the points Gaiman makes in his “Tulip Speech” are less relevant than they were in the early ‘90s, his overall prescription for saving the industry is as simple and true today as ever. [more]
“There Was No Hand To Hold Me Back. That Night I Found The Ancient Track”: Transgressive and Transfigurative Acts in Providence #4
“That the prince of the powers of darkness, passing by the flower and pomp of the earth, should lay preposterous siege to the weak fantasy of indigent eld — Nor, when the wicked are expressly… [more]
Alan Moore brings Satire and Subtext to Spawn: Writers Writing Spawn, Part 1
Believe it or not, Alan Moore wrote an issue of Spawn. In the midst of a crass and embarrassing era of comics, could Alan Moore steer Image Comics to substance? [more]
The Chair Showed the Limits of Film Taste and the Director’s Role
The first season of the Starz TV series The Chair came to an end almost a year ago, yet it seems to have generated very few ripples of lasting influence, if the blogosphere is any… [more]
“Shambling After the Mad Ones”: Bob Dylan, Alan Moore, and Jack Kerouac
A couple of weeks ago, I broke down and got a copy of Bob Dylan’s 1970 album, Self Portrait. For many fans, this album represents the low point in Dylan’s discography. Throughout most of the… [more]
A Look at Zombies Throughout History
Following the recent premiere of new AMC series Fear the Walking Dead with its record-breaking number of viewers, we can once again confirm that our fascination with the reanimated corpses is alive and well. With… [more]
Cult Classics: Starship Troopers
“War makes fascists of us all.” That’s the line that best describes the attitude and approach Paul Verhoeven takes in his science-fiction masterpiece Starship Troopers. The film was neither a flop nor a success at… [more]
Eiji Tsuburaya’s Death and the Changing Face of Kaiju Films
On January 25th in 1970, the landscape of kaiju films changed forever. Eiji Tsuburaya had started work on a new television series by this point, a horror anthology show known as The Unbalance Zone. The… [more]
“How’d you do, my little Siren?”: Sensuality, Sentiment and Solipsism in Providence #3
Let’s begin by returning to the idea of Alan Moore infusing the Mythos with an emotional current and introducing the alien to well, the alien. I am undoubtedly one of those strange folk who doesn’t… [more]
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Conflict Resolution
Spoilers for The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. (But honestly, you should’ve read it by now anyway.) Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Some chemical-induced villain comes into your campus looking for Spider-Man to fight… [more]
The Nostalgia Test: Re-examining Denny O’Neil, Denys Cowan, and Rick Magyar’s The Question
The Question strove for subtext—it was more about Vic’s spiritual journey than whether he could defeat a villain or escape a burning building. [more]
Portraits In Alienated British Youth Circa 1989-90, Part Eleven : Enter The Iron Lady
You knew it had to happen at some point in the pages of True Faith : Nigel, Terry, and their newfound “friends” have been entirely too successful in their church-burning campaign and, this being 1989… [more]
Race and Gender: Incognegro‘s Protagonist is Not the Hero He Hopes to Be
With the recent release of Strange Fruit #1 being critiqued for its lack of unique identity in its African-American (and even Alien-African-American) characters and unrealistic characterisation, my thoughts drew back to another piece. A comic… [more]
50 Shades of Grey and Male Silence: Why Christian Couldn’t Speak
E.L. James’s 50 Shades of Grey began in 2011 as self-published Twilight fan fiction, quickly became a bestselling ebook, was picked up by Vintage Books in March of 2012, and as of June 2015 has sold over… [more]
The Essentials: Two-Lane Blacktop
So I’m field testing a new title for the series previously known as “Movies You Should Watch.” I have grown tired with that name! Or, more accurately, I’ve decided to take the series in a… [more]
Time Paradox: Sound in Comics
Comics are unique in that it is the only medium where sound is seen, rather than heard by its audience. My previous discussion on this topic focused on some visual devices used in comics to… [more]
This is Your Comic on Drugs
How Drugs Killed Comics In 1954 the comic publishing industry faced a Galactus-sized threat from psychiatrist Fredric Wertham. His study linked comic book reading to juvenile delinquency and other social ills. The report whipped up… [more]
The Audacity of Hope, Geek Culture, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Part 2
A week ago I went to see the new Mission Impossible. While waiting for it to start, I was a bit amused to see trailers for two upcoming movies—The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the latest… [more]
Weird Worlds: The Minor Mainstream Works of Steve Gerber, Part 3 – Captain America
Of the works that I am considering in this series of articles, Steve Gerber’s run on Captain America is by far the shortest. Weighing in at a scant 3 and three quarter issues, this truncated… [more]