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Up Front: How Bill Mauldin’s Cartoons Captured the Truth of WWII
Although the name usually implies humor, cartoons don’t always have to be funny. In fact, like any other artistic medium, cartoons can –and should– express the entire range of emotions, and just maybe they can… [more]
ABC v. Aereo: Broadcast and Performance
In what I am hoping will be but the first in a series (or second, depending on how one counts it), the following is a look at the intersection of the arcane worlds of popular… [more]
Breaking Through The Far Side: Gary Larson’s Postmodern Antiquity
Many grow up with the presence of newspaper strips immediately within reach. These snippets of surreality appeal primarily to children, which is odd considering the intended audience of the “funnies” earlier in the 20th century.… [more]
Race, Racism, and Italian-American Crimefighters, Part 2: The Punisher
This article appeared originally in the anthology Pimps, Wimps, Studs, Thugs, and Gentlemen (2009), edited by Elwood Watson. I’m reprinting it here because I believe it has things to say about Italian-Americans, law enforcement, and… [more]
Martin Scorsese’s American Gangster Trilogy
Martin Scorsese is perhaps the most admired living filmmaker in America. His works continually strive to reflect his unique vision and often appeal critically and commercially to audiences. Some of his works are also thematically… [more]
“Australia’s Favourite Boy” Gets the Chop
Hey gang! If you could click this link and vote the second strip (Ginger Meggs) to keep me alive I’d be grateful. Yes that is just a fictional character’s plea on a promotional Facebook page… [more]
Sensual Female Guardian Angels: Luc Besson’s Early Films, Part 2
The Fifth Element features a similarly incongruous love story between a retired-marine-turned-cabbie and a woman that is, literally, all the goodness and beauty humanity has to offer. The plot concerns a contest between the radically… [more]
Charles M. Schulz and Peanuts: The Longest Jazz Solo in History
The panel opens on a barren sidewalk. Two unnamed children, a boy and a girl, sit on some steps, leading to another, equally barren sidewalk. There are no trees, no buildings, no animals, no cars… [more]
Hulk Rend Wolverine!!!: Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk #1-2
Damon Lindelof is an unabashed nerd in Hollywood. Lindelof’s purported first conversation with JJ Abrams was mainly a discussion about Star Wars[i]. His enjoyment of comics lead him to recruit Paul Dini, Jeph Loeb and… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 8
Issue #10 “Sex and Death” Writer: Jamie Delano Art: Richard Piers Rayner and Mark Buckingham Colors: Lovern Kindzierski Letters: Todd Klein Cover: Dave McKean With the ultimate goal of self-preservation, the consequences of John Constantine’s… [more]
The Super-Heroics of Frank Miller and Alan Moore, Part 6
The Tragic Villains of Miller and Moore Moore and Miller’s approach to writing is always comparable and yet vastly different. Miller is hard-boiled crime writer and Moore delves deep into culture and vast concepts with… [more]
Kevin Smith & Joe Quesada’s Daredevil: The Comic that Saved Marvel
Joe Quesada is the savior of Marvel. Simply put, without Joe Quesada coming in the late ‘90s to create Marvel Knights, Marvel Comics would be a defunct company. While many editorial decisions made by Quesada… [more]
A Defence of Star Trek The Motion Picture
I don’t like to rank art, instinctively. This isn’t a sport, and it’s not about ringing all the bells and checking off all the boxes. So, when people ask me to rank the Star Trek… [more]
Race, Racism, and Italian-American Crimefighters, Part 1: Columbo, the Untouchables, and Joe Pistone
This article appeared originally in the anthology Pimps, Wimps, Studs, Thugs, and Gentlemen (2009), edited by Elwood Watson. I’m reprinting it here because I believe it has things to say about Italian-Americans, law enforcement, and… [more]
Unashamed: In Which Concluding Remarks are Made and a Book is Announced, Shameless? The Superhero Tales of Mark Millar
I hate to break a promise, even if it’s made to no-one but myself. Yet things have changed since I typed “to be continued” at the foot of the last section of Shameless? to be… [more]
Sensual Female Guardian Angels: Luc Besson’s Early Films, Part 1
In traditional Roman Catholic doctrine, God is represented as a masculine Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) that leaves little room for a feminized vision of either the Creator God or… [more]
Writing the Collective Page: Dave Sim, Judenhass, and Tolerating Injustice
When we talk about race relations in America or racial progress, it’s all nonsense. There are no race relations. White people were crazy. Now they’re not as crazy. To say that black people have made… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 7
Issue #8 “Intensive Care” Writer: Jamie Delano Art: John Ridgeway Inks: Alfredo Alcala Colors: Lovern Kindzierski Letters: John Costanza Cover: Dave McKean Although the series is still very early on, the characterization of Constantine has… [more]
The Super-Heroics of Frank Miller and Alan Moore, Part 5
Optimism Ultimately, there are two types of stories: tragedies and comedies. There are no inherent requirements for tragedies or comedies. In the days of Shakespeare tragedies ended with death and comedies ended with weddings. But… [more]
The Magnificent Ambersons: The Film That Made Orson Welles Cry
“In those days they had time for everything. Time for sleigh rides…” And so begins, in a haze of warm nostalgia and gentle humour, Orson Welles’ most maddening and controversial film, The Magnificent Ambersons. Viewed… [more]
Jorge Borges in Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol #22, A Companion Reader
One final look at the intertextual themes in the first four issues of Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol (#19 to #22). [more]
“The Characters Remain Unaware of My Scrutiny, but Their Thoughts are Transparent”: The Multiversity: Pax Americana #1
Whether he explicitly stated it or not Pax Americana is to be Grant Morrison’s Watchmen Redux. Of course it is so much more than this as well. During the initial drafting of this article Pax… [more]
Grant Morrison, Watchmen, and the Art of the Polemic
In order to criticize a movie, you have to make another movie. —Jean-Luc Godard A few years ago I stopped reading monthly comic books. It wasn’t an ideological decision—just a reader’s. Most of the comics… [more]
Our Feature Presentation: How Superhero Films Have Changed Trailers
What’s the perfect kind of pleasure? Oscar Wilde quipped that a cigarette is most exquisite due to its leaving one unsatisfied afterwards. The having of it immediately leads to wanting another. Now Hollywood has taken… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 6
Issue #7 “Ghosts in the Machine” Writter: Jamie Delano Artist: John Ridgeway, Brett Ewins and Jim McCarthy Colorist: Lovern Kindzierski Letterer:Todd Klein At this point in Hellblazer, the series has featured many things associated with… [more]