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Magazine Archives for:
June 2013
Captain America #8 Review
Captain America #8 Written by Rick Remender Art by John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson & Scott Hanna Colors by Dean White Published by Marvel Comics Rating: 9 (of 10) SPOILERS! Captain America should be dead.… [more]
Where Are All the Jack Kirby-Inspired Films or Television Shows?
Jack Kirby is seen by comic readers as one of the most creative, recognizable and iconic creators of our time, influencing not only the medium of comics but also work that has inspired music, art… [more]
Humanity, Heroism, and Action: Grant Morrison’s Action Comics #7
After a two issue break, Superman is back to battle the Collector of Worlds and save Metropolis. Strapping an oxygen tank to his back, Superman is going to leap into space to reach the Collector… [more]
The Old World: Comics and Cultural Reclamation in Sandman #38
Worthy expressions of folk myth are few and far between in the mainstream media, but persist as the most iconic means of contemporary storytelling. At the conclusion of A Game Of You, Gaiman introduces a… [more]
“A Murder of Crows”: Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing #48
Swamp Thing #48 “A Murder of Crows” Cover date: May 1986. Writer: Alan Moore. Artist: John Totleben. Editor: Karen Berger. Colorist: Tatjana Wood. Letterer: John Costanza. We are off to an atmospheric start in this… [more]
“Celibacy Being Such a Drag”: Shameless? Part 16
Continued from last week. It often appears that Millar is determined to deny any interpretation of his work that he doesn’t approve of. Yet as we’ve discussed, he repeatedly fails to produce comics whose political content… [more]
Why Opposing “Dark Realism” is a Straw Man Argument
For years now, I’ve heard people complain about how it’s time that super-heroes weren’t so dark and realistic. I’ve heard this relentlessly about super-hero comics, but I’ve also heard it about super-hero movies. Most recently,… [more]
The Man of Steel Lacks Heart, Brain, Courage
It’s been two days since I saw Man of Steel and I haven’t stopped talking about it. Wait, let me revise that. It’s been two days since I saw Man of Steel and I haven’t… [more]
Review: Superman Unchained #1
Superman Unchained #1 Written by Scott Snyder Art by Jim Lee, Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair Letters by Sal Cipriano Published by DC Comics Review by Markisan Naso Rating: 6 (of 10) SPOILERS! When I… [more]
Future Progressive, Past Regressive: Livewires
Adam Warren’s Livewires is Perfection. This is not a word I use lightly, especially when the thing involved is a one-off project by a person who is often considered a not-very-major-creator[1] ™ but Livewires: Clockwork… [more]
The Garden and the Wilderness: Walking Dead #1-6
Image Comics’ monumentally successful ongoing series Walking Dead presents itself as a story of survival – specifically the survival of the comic’s protagonist, Rick Grimes, in an apocalyptic world that has been overrun by flesh-eating… [more]
Tyrant Issue One: Knock Knock
The first issue of Tyrant, Steve Bissette’s short lived fictional biography of a T-Rex, came out in September of 1994. The series was published by Bissette’s own company, SpiderBaby Grafix. The story lasts 21 pages,… [more]
“The Parliament of Trees”: Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing #47
Swamp Thing #47 “The Parliament of Trees” Cover date: April 1986. Writer: Alan Moore. Artists: Stan Woch and Ron Randall. Colorist: Tatjana Wood. Letters: John Costanza. Editor: Karen Berger. This issue opens with the first… [more]
“The Evil was the Act of Violence…”: Shameless? Part 15
Continued from last week. Millar’s preference for deconstructing genre can at times make for routine and predictable comic books. For those who’d prefer more of close observation, ambition and innovation, and less of the bare bones… [more]
Zack Snyder’s Revisionist The Man of Steel
The Man of Steel is very much Zack Snyder’s. But that doesn’t mean what we thought it did. (As usual, here there be spoilers.) Prior to the film’s release, super-hero fans had a lot of… [more]
Is Superman Still Relevant in a Postmodern World?
Superman. The name alone conjures up images of capes flapping in the skies over thriving metropolises, walls exploding as a rock-hard fist punches through them, and criminals quaking in fear before a hulking mountain of… [more]
Deconstructing the Deconstructions: Hyper Drama and Realism in Superman: Secret Identity
Part of the essence of the superhero genre lies in hyperbole; by this I mean to say that in a superhero “story” (here referring to the output of Marvel, DC and they many succors and… [more]
Humanity, Heroism, and Action: Grant Morrison’s Action Comics #6
The Anti-Superman Army that was teased at the end of the previous issue appears at the beginning of this issue. It appears that the Dealmaker from the first issue (who has popped up a few… [more]
Sequart’s Next Documentary Film Subject is Neil Gaiman!
Sequart Research & Literacy Organization, in conjunction with Respect! Films, is honored and proud to announce that author Neil Gaiman will be the next subject in its expanding line of comics-centric documentaries.
The Continuity Pages Return
The Continuity Pages is a massive project that seeks to organize comics according to continuity, rather than simply by title and number. This especially has advantages in the current era, with its plethora of mini-series,… [more]
The Last Days of Superman
Superman might be the world’s most popular superhero. He’s also among the most difficult to write. Through the years we’ve seen Superman travel through time, endure the heat of the sun, and perform so many… [more]
Jesus Christ Superman
The irony of Superman in the age of Postmodernism is that our world has no need for saviors. Often I find myself in the middle of arguments where I defend Superman to my peers as… [more]
5 Things I Hope Man of Steel Takes from Superman: Birthright
Zack Snyder’s new Superman reboot flick, Man of Steel, is a mere two weeks away at this point, and here in New York City, us city folk have been treated to a new Gillette promotional… [more]
1986: D.P.7 — Group Therapy for Superhumans
In 1986, twenty-five years after the publication of Fantastic Four #1, which launched the modern Marvel Universe, Marvel editor in chief Jim Shooter introduced a new fictional reality in Marvel Comics, the New Universe. This… [more]
Superman’s Rejection of American Exceptionalism
In February of 1940, Superman ended World War II and prevented the future Cold War altogether through flying around the world by capturing both Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin and delivering them to international authorities… [more]