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“Comic Books Most Dripping-Wet Liberal”: Shameless? Part 24
Continued from last week. The image of Millar as a tykish, daring and promising newcomer was wearing through by the end of 1992. What had at first seemed like boyish ambition, conspicuous potential and a novice’s… [more]
Miracleman, Chapter 10: The Secret Origin of Miracleman
We’ve begun discussing chapter ten, the conclusion of Book One (parts one and two), of Alan Moore’s Miracleman, illustrated by Alan Davis. Today, we continue our exploration of that chapter.
Tyrant Questions and Answers with Steve Bissette
Previously we looked at Tyrant’s letter pages, issue one, issue two, issue three, and issue four. Steve Bissette’s Tyrant leaves us with more questions than it does answers. The series came to a crashing conclusion with… [more]
“The Best Thing Since Dark Knight, Possibly Better”: Shameless? Part 23
Continued from last week. Despite years of cold shoulders and rejection letters, Millar’s determination to write for the major players in the American comics industry never seems to have wavered. In particular, he continued to long… [more]
Miracleman, Chapter 10 as a Mystery Story
We’ve begun discussing chapter ten, the conclusion of Book One, of Alan Moore’s Miracleman, illustrated by Alan Davis. Today, we continue our exploration of that chapter.
“Let Them Serve as Signs”: Graphic Adaptations of Christian Texts
In issue number 301 of The Comics Journal, there are articles critiquing two major spiritual works in the graphic tradition. One of these works is R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis, the other Dave Sim’s Cerebus. While the latter… [more]
Humanity, Heroism, and Action: Grant Morrison’s Action Comics #10
After taking an issue off to visit Earth 23 and President Superman, Morrison returns the narrative back to Maxim Zarov (also known as Nimrod the Hunter) who was last seen killing a T-Rex at the… [more]
Song of Death: The Tragedy of Dream’s Only Begotten Son
Through the Sandman, one recurring theme endures that tempers the fantasy offered by Gaiman and his titular protagonist. This is deconstructing the fantastic and popularizing ancient tales into pedestrian tongues. He is contextualizing tales culturally… [more]
“But The Bad People Haven’t Gone Away”: Shameless? Part 22
Continued from last week. The Spider wasn’t the only long-unseen British superhero to be radically reworked by Millar in Vicious Games. He also briefly laid claim to Tri-Man, who’d been a far more conventional example of the… [more]
Miracleman, Chapter 10: “Zarathustra”
We’ve previously introduced Miracleman and discussed all but the final chapter of Book One. We now continue this critical examination with chapter ten (written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Alan Davis) of this celebrated but long-unavailable series that… [more]
The Garden and the Wilderness – Walking Dead #20-24
Walking Dead #20 opens with Rick Grimes and his group of survivors in unfamiliar territory. For the first time in the series’ short history, the group has emerged victorious when faced with circumstances that threatened… [more]
Tyrant Issue Four: Dreams and Bones
Previously we looked at Steve Bissette’s most experimental issue of Tyrant. The final published issue of Tyrant opens with yet another spectacular nature drawing. Steve Bissette draws the rocky remains of a riverbed, a trickle of… [more]
“Lots of People Dressed Like That in the Sixties”: Shameless? Part 21
Continued from last week. Fifteen months would pass until March 1992′s 2000 AD Action Special and the next of Millar’s superhero stories to see print. A stillborn revamping of the Sixties British superhero The Spider, it… [more]
Humanity, Heroism, and Action: Grant Morrison’s Action Comics #9
After completing the first arc on Action Comics, Morrison spends one issue in the alternate universe of Earth-23 where Superman is not only black, but also the President of the United States. President Superman had… [more]
Archetypes of Conflict: Weaponized Narratives in “Parliament of Rooks”
“How does the story end?” is a legitimate, but not often enough asked, inquiry of our narratives. Imagine any fairy tale. The Tortoise and the Hare embodies the weathered adage, “slow and steady wins the… [more]
“The End” Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing #50
Swamp Thing #50 “The End” Writer: Alan Moore. Editor: Karen Berger. Artists: Stephen Bissette, Rick Veitch and John Totleben (and special thanks to Tom Mandrake). Colorist: Tatjana Wood. Letterer: John Costanza. Cover Date: July 1986.… [more]
“That Slightly Dodgy, Anarchic Material”: Shameless? Part 20
Continued from last week. The obviousness of Millar’s influences would become more and more of a problem as his work for Fleetway continued. Of course, 2000AD had been founded upon a deliberate policy of appropriating and… [more]
Miracleman, Chapter 9 Concludes
We’ve begun discussing chapter nine of Alan Moore’s Miracleman (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6), illustrated by Alan Davis. Today, we continue our exploration of that chapter.
The Garden and the Wilderness – Walking Dead #13-19
The “prison saga” is one of the longest-running and commercially successful arcs in Walking Dead history, and also captures better than any other storyline to date how the “garden and wilderness” theme is unique to… [more]
Tyrant Issue Three: The Egg
The third issue of Steve Bissette’s Tyrant is devoid of any title, which is odd. Every other issue opened with a strong title page. Perhaps Bissette wanted to distance this issue from the others, as it… [more]
“A Worm Shouts a Magic Word”: “Shameless? Part 19
Continued from last week. Millar hardly made it easy for the reader to sympathise with his protagonist. Arthur Montgomery is as unconvincing as a type as he’s unsympathetic as a character, and it’s only in… [more]
Miracleman, Chapter 9: The Masculinity of Miracleman
We’ve begun discussing chapter nine of Alan Moore’s Miracleman (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), illustrated by Alan Davis. Today, we continue our exploration of that chapter.
Yet Those Hands Will Never Hold Anything: Emiya Shirou as the Interactive Superhero of Fate/Stay Night (Part 2)
Continued from part one. At some point in the superhero trope, the hero has to start building on the foundation of their training and perfecting their powers. For Shirou, this results in the mangling of… [more]
Humanity, Heroism, and Action: Grant Morrison’s Action Comics #8
The issue begins inside the bottle city of Metropolis as Lex Luthor explains that he has no desire to be rescued by Superman and then tries rationalizing his alliance with the Collector as a plan… [more]
Sandman’s Soft Places: Travelogue Through the Dreaming
Corporeality is overrated in the comic book multiverse. Grant Morrison’s theoretical conceptualizations of the infinite reality have interwoven themselves through the vein of modern storytelling, but Gaiman’s play on this concept is also well documented… [more]