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The Super-Heroics of Frank Miller and Alan Moore, Part 4
Late ‘90s to ‘00s Superhero Work In the middle of the 1990s Alan Moore did something that confounded everyone, he agreed to work with Rob Liefeld. Liefeld was a bold creator and entrepreneur and his… [more]
Oh, My Aching Cranium!: Jack Kirby’s OMAC Deconstructed And Reconstructed, Part Nine
Immortality. It’s the big enchilada, isn’t it? The whole ball of wax. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The one thing that will probably be forever out of our grasp. And… [more]
True Detective and Breaking the Hard-Boiled Code
Of all the genres used in True Detective, hard boiled detective fiction is the most easily recognizable. Detectives Marty Hart and Rust Cohle have front row seats to the graphic violence and systemic corruption in… [more]
“New Paradigms for the Super Hero Team Structure?”: On Skrull Kill Krew #1-5 (The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 45)
Continued from last week. No-one could accuse Morrison of being blind to Skrull Kill Krew’s satirical potential. In 1995, he spoke enthusiastically of the book’s capacity to discuss the likes of “catastrophy in the 20th… [more]
Religion, Ethnicity, and Marxism in the Films of Sergio Leone
Children are gunned down in the street and in their homes. Women are forced into slavery, beaten, and raped. Men are slowly, methodically tortured. Lifelong friends casually – and sometimes inexplicably – betray one another.… [more]
Confessions of a Paranoid Humanities Scholar: On Big Hero 6 and Interstellar
A couple of weeks ago I parked next to an SUV covered in decals all warning about the coming “zombie apocalypse.” I chuckled, largely because I’ve never had a moment’s worry about zombies. But there… [more]
Before The Clone Wars, There were… Clone Wars?
I’m not usually one to pride myself one way or another on public opinion, but when it comes to the Star Wars Prequels I make no bones about my agreement with the masses about it:… [more]
Theorizing about the Joker in All Seriousness
And it’s not that easy. One thing becomes clear as I go about snooping on the Man Who Laughs – you cannot quite ‘come to know’ the Joker. You can read about him, theorise all… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 5
Hellblazer #6 “Extreme Prejudice” Written:Jamie Delano Art: John Ridgeway Colors:Lovern Kindzierski Letters: Todd Klein Cover: Dave McKean Just as when the term “magic” is presented and certain images come to mind, “skinhead” also conjures certain… [more]
Analysis of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, part two
Some time ago I decided to watch through and analyze the skeletal filmography of Andrew Dominik, watching through all three of his movies in the order in which he made them. After starting with the… [more]
The Super-Heroics of Frank Miller and Alan Moore, Part 3
Early 90s Superhero work I have been alluding at various points the real-life history of my two subjects in my past articles, but context is vital in understanding the next period of superhero writing for… [more]
Oh, My Aching Cranium!: Jack Kirby’s OMAC Deconstructed And Reconstructed, Part Eight
What a difference an issue makes! If you’ll recall (and I promise it’s true even if you don’t recall), the super-satellite Brother Eye was noticeable only for “his” absence in issue three of Jack Kirby’s… [more]
“Until It Destroys Your Brain”: On Skrull Kill Krew #1-5 (The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 44)
Continued from last week. Not everything in Morrison and Millar’s rebuffed pitches to Marvel went to waste. The former’s dogged belief in the quality of the Apocalypse 2099 proposal would have only been strengthened by… [more]
Superman Goes to the Symphony: Michael Daugherty’s The Metropolis Symphony
One of the old adages about writing says that you should write the thing that scares you—so here goes. For this week’s column, I want to take a look at a piece of classical music. … [more]
There’s Always Music in the Air: Pure Experience and the Philosophical Appeal of Twin Peaks
The recent announcement –following some cryptic tweets– that Mark Frost and David Lynch will be resurrecting their cult TV hit Twin Peaks predictably caused a firestorm of speculation and excitement. The vocal enthusiasm about the… [more]
FURY and the Horrors of War Spectacle
There is much dispute over the relationship between war and film. Considering horrific realism versus the need for action spectacle, FURY is ambiguously caught in the middle. Safe to say, however, Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman,… [more]
Colour in The Fountain: Majestic and Artful Sci-Fi
The Fountain, Darren Aronokfsky’s 2006 science fiction masterpiece, is a true piece of cinematic art. It deals with weighty themes of love, death and the meaning of life, and it does so with a carefully… [more]
The Flash Season 1 Episode 5 Review
One of the hardest things for a TV series to do over the long run is to remain consistently inventive and exciting. Particularly in the American network model of television where most series are turning… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 4
Issue #5 “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” Writer: Jamie Delano; Art: John Ridgeway; Colors: Lovern Kindzierski; Letters: Todd Klei; Cover: Dave McKean “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” marks the first issue of the series that… [more]
The Super-Heroics of Frank Miller and Alan Moore, Part 2
Prime-Era Superheroes After a falling out with British Comics publishers, Alan Moore began working with DC Comics writing the horror-book Swamp Thing. Most of Swamp Thing avoided utilization of most superheroes sans some supernatural characters.… [more]
“It Would Have Made a Great Comic”: On Skrull Kill Krew #1-5 (The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 43)
Continued from last week. Yet whatever its strengths, Morrison and Millar’s 2099 proposal went to waste, with a far less sweeping and less nostalgic series of changes being introduced instead. As part of the ongoing… [more]
The Original Science-Fiction Hero, Part 2: Buck Rogers and the Art of the Reboot
In last week’s column, I wrote about the original novella from Amazing Stories that first introduced Buck Rogers. This week I want to look at two recent attempts to reboot the character. Whenever I talk… [more]
When Marvel Comics Adapted Blade Runner
One of the most interesting movie adaptations published in Marvel Super Special was the adaptation of Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner (Marvel Super Special #22, Sept 1982). The comic-book version was written by Archie… [more]
Analysis of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Part One
PREAMBLE Some time ago I decided to watch through and analyze the skeletal filmography of Andrew Dominik, watching through all three of his movies in the order in which he made them. After starting with… [more]