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Sharpening the Image: Introduction
Comic readers from Gen X and (older members of) Gen Y remember 1992 as a sort of zeitgeist for comics. Change was in the air in all strata of the field
“Roots”: Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Issue #24
Saga of the Swamp Thing #24: “Roots” Cover date: May 1984. Writer: Alan Moore. Artists: Steve Bissette and John Totleben. Colorist: Tatjana Wood. Letterer: John Costanza. Cover: Tom Yeates. Editor: Len Wein.
The Adventures of Henry Pym (1962 to 1965)
Don’t print the legend. There was no such thing as an archetypal “Marvel superhero” for the first few years following the publication and unexpected success in 1961 of the Fantastic Four. What would in hindsight… [more]
On JLA: Earth 2, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
Like many classic comics from the 1980s onward, JLA: Earth 2 (the 1999 original graphic novel written by Grant Morrison with art by Frank Quitely) plays with comics history in a postmodern way, offering new… [more]
Grant Morrison’s Day-Glo Years: Flex Mentallo, Part 1
The Invisibles is Grant Morrison’s definitive work about our world, the nexus of his philosophical worldview, simultaneously the source and culmination of his ideas about our universe. But there is another world, the super-hero world
On Kingdom Come, by Mark Waid and Alex Ross
1996’s Kingdom Come — a self-contained, fully-painted series by writer Mark Waid and artist Alex Ross — was first published as a four-issue, prestige-format mini-series, designated as an Elseworlds (i.e. out-of-continuity) tale. The story was… [more]
Meet the Magus, Part 7: Dualism and the Dark Side in Batman: The Killing Joke
For fans, many of the works that Alan Moore produced for DC carry the shadow of later acrimony between the author and publisher
On Iron Man in 1963, by Stan Lee, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby
Why should we care about Tony Stark? More importantly, why should we pity him?
Miracleman, Chapter 7 Concludes
We’ve begun discussing chapter seven (parts one, two, and three) of Alan Moore’s Miracleman, illustrated by Alan Davis. Today, we conclude our exploration of that chapter. (We’ve previously introduced Miracleman and discussed chapters one, two, three, four, five, and… [more]
Miracleman, Chapter 7, and British Politics
We’ve begun discussing chapter seven (in two parts) of Alan Moore’s Miracleman, illustrated by Alan Davis. Today, we continue our exploration of that chapter. (We’ve previously introduced Miracleman and discussed chapters one, two, three, four, five, and six,… [more]
“Another Green World”: Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Issue #23
Saga of the Swamp Thing #23: ”Another Green World” Cover date: April 1984. Writer: Alan Moore. Artists: Steve Bissette and John Totleben. Colorist: Tatjana Wood. Letterer: John Costanza. Cover: Tom Yeates. Editor: Len Wein.
On the Batman of Three Worlds, by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff (1963)
It’s not so long ago that the very idea would have sounded thoroughly absurd. Yet, the Batman tales of the late ’50s and early ’60s by editor Jack Schiff, writer Bill Finger, and penciler Sheldon… [more]
Miracleman, Chapter 7: The Mike / Liz / Miracleman Love Triangle
We’ve begun discussing chapter seven of Alan Moore’s Miracleman, illustrated by Alan Davis. Today, we continue our exploration of that chapter. (We’ve previously introduced Miracleman and discussed chapters one, two, three, four, five, and six, plus the… [more]
Miracleman, Chapter 7: “Blue Murder”
We’ve previously introduced Miracleman and discussed chapters one, two, three, four, five, and six, as well as the interlude “The Yesterday Gambit.” We now continue our examination with chapter seven of this celebrated but long-unavailable series,… [more]
Meet the Magus, Part 6: A World Inside, Outside in Alan Moore and Oscar Zarate’s A Small Killing
Three years before Alan Moore announced his decision to become a magician and roughly four years before the performance event of The Birth Caul, he collaborated with Oscar Zarate on an unusual graphic novel.
On Paul Chadwick’s Concrete: Complete Short Stories 1986-1989
Becoming a monster’s not all bad, or so Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko assured us.
The Road to Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins
We’ve previously examined the road to Christopher Nolan taking over the Batman film franchise, from Batman and Robin through Frank Miller’s “Year One” screenplay. This installment concludes the story, taking us up to Batman Begins.… [more]
Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man, Part 3
Lately I’ve been writing about comic books mostly from a mythological sort of angle, either as they pertain to mythological symbolism or how they can be used as real-life lessons the same way a myth… [more]
Grant Morrison’s Day-Glo Years: Fantastic Four: 1234
Fantastic Four: 1234 was written at the tail end of Morrison’s Day-Glo Years, during his brief period writing for Marvel in the early 2000s.
“Swamped”: Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Issue #22
Saga of the Swamp Thing #22: “Swamped” Cover date: March 1984. Writer: Alan Moore. Artists: Steve Bissette and John Totleben. Colorist: Tatjana Wood. Letterer: Todd Klein. Cover: Tom Yeates. Editor: Len Wein.
A Peek Behind the Curtain: Into North Korea with Guy Delisle in Pyongyang
Guy Delisle’s travelogue, Pyongyang, takes readers on a journey to a country that has been closed off to the West for years, and instead of dispelling fears of a fascist nation oppressing its people in… [more]
Meet the Magus, Part 5: Microcosm, Macrocosm, and Magic in V for Vendetta
V for Vendetta may well be Alan Moore’s most politically concerned work, and its sci-fi dystopian vision has a decidedly practical edge.
On DC Comics Presents #50, by Mishkin, Cohn, Swan, and Shaffenberger (1982)
Nothing ever ages worse than a typical product of the moment just before a paradigm shift.
Frank Miller’s Year One Screenplay
Late 2000 seems, by all accounts, to have been a turning point for the languishing Batman franchise. It was then that both Batman: DarKnight and the live-action Batman Beyond were cancelled, with Warner Bros. focusing… [more]
Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man, Part 2
In the summer of 2011, Spider-Man died.