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Magazine Archives for:
October 2013
Aurelia, Restitutor Orbis: Meddling with Sovereignty in Sandman #52
“Cluracan’s Tale” marks the second installment of single, one-shot style issues in the Worlds’ End story cycle in the Sandman. Exhibiting the wit of the Faerie and the corruption of Man, Cluracan’s yarn advances a… [more]
Ultimate Spider-Man #10-12 is a Coming of Age Story with Tights, Crime Lords, and High School Girls
The coming of age story is one of the most enduring story types in Western literature. From Telemachus in the Odyssey to Huckleberry Finn and more recently the boy wizard Harry Potter, readers young and… [more]
“Keep Calm. I’ll Wrap This Up Quickly.”: Shameless? Part 34
Continued from last week. The world-building that Millar had begun to invest in Canon Fodder was unusually rich, distinctly quirky, and full of promise. Yet that surprising combination of Catholicism, Holmesian characters, alt-world SF and superheroes… [more]
Sex and Nuclear Armageddon in Young Miracleman’s “Quiet Desperation”
We’ve begun discussing the silent Young Miracleman story originally printed in Warrior #12. Today, we continue that discussion. (If you’re new, hop to the introduction, to the beginning of Book One, or to the interlude… [more]
Your Indie Weekly: Owlgirls #1
Owlgirls #1 Written by: Robert Sodaro Art by: Rachele Aragno with Dave Ryan Published by: Red Anvil Comics Website: http://www.redanvilcomics.com 1940s New York. An amazing time to live in a growing city that is full… [more]
Capital Thoughts: Captain America #11
Consistency. It’s not much to ask for in a serial. In fact, without consistency, the serial form is moot. Last issue, Remender told us in the “letters” section that Cap “has spent more time in… [more]
Dial H and the Superman for the Modern Age
How many times have you heard the phrase “a Superman for the modern age?” This oft used, clichéd phrase gets tossed around all the time, especially when it comes to heroes that betray some effect… [more]
Sharing the Love From Ground Zero: Spread by Justin Jordan and Kyle Strahm
In the comics medium, a spread is usually an image that takes up two or more pages in both volume and sheer scope. That is what most fans and comics scholars would first think when… [more]
“Bones Gnawed to the Marrow”: Shameless? Part 33
Continued from last week. “I had no idea what I was doing for the most part and just learning how to do very basic stuff then. Only good stuff I’d recommend would be Big Dave (which… [more]
Miracleman, Book Two: “Quiet Desperation”
We’ve previously introduced Miracleman and discussed all ten chapters of Book One (starting here), along with the interlude “The Yesterday Gambit,” which were originally published in Warrior #1-11. We now begin Book Two… with the… [more]
Your Indie Weekly: Tara Normal #1-2
Tara Normal #1 and #2 Written and Drawn by: Howie Noel Website: TaraNormal.com Tara Normal is about “a female paranormal investigator with supernatural powers fighting for her late mother’s soul.” The series has its origins… [more]
In the Dark with Rachel Deering: An Interview About a Horror Anthology
Billed as “A monstrous collection of all-new, original terror tales from the darkest and most brilliant minds in comics,” Rachel Deering’s Kickstarter In the Dark promises to deliver a hefty tome of over 250 pages… [more]
Accessibility and the X-Men: A 2-Part Look at My First Comic, Part 2
Two more characters enter the picture in Havok and Longshot and I picked this first page, despite their introductory sequence lasting several more filled with great character insight, because I think it depicts Longshot in… [more]
“Life on the Edge”: In Which a Man Named Robert Finds Himself Stuck in a City
Sandman has fostered its reputation as a staple in the Horror genre since its conception, often executing stories and fables instigating the subtle and unnerving fear lurking in the modest and mundane. Gaiman’s style, very… [more]
Ultimate Spider-Man #8-9 Uses a Variety of Character Perspectives to Show Spider-Man’s Development As a Hero
After the editorial mandated origin story, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley get to cut loose and tell their first official Ultimate Spider-Man story. The name of the story arc is “Learning Curve”, which signifies… [more]
Editing Miracleman: How Marvel Can Do It Right
The long-awaited news has broken, over the weekend, that Marvel plans to finally move forward on its reprinting of Miracleman, beginning with Alan Moore’s issues, moving through Neil Gaiman’s, and culminating by allowing Gaiman and… [more]
“Two Tickets for My Next Performance”: Shameless? Part 32
Continued from last week. So how did Morrison and Millar use the pages of Big Dave to express their contempt for homophobia? Starting from the premise that their readers were similarly liberal-minded, they studded the strip’s… [more]
Miracleman, Book One Concludes
We’ve begun discussing the conclusion of Book One (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10) of Alan Moore’s Miracleman, illustrated by Alan Davis. Today, we continue our exploration of this historic… [more]
Colloquium #4: Point of No Return — Christos Gage on Absolution
Markisan interviews Christos Gage on his creator-owned superhero series, Absolution. They talk about how protagonist John Dusk becomes a killer, the effects of PTSD on police officers, the parallels between Absolution and Breaking Bad, and how to get… [more]
Capital Thoughts: Captain America #10
Last time, we explored the death of Cap’s son, Ian, and its emotional fallout. We wondered, for example, how Ian’s death would affect his relation with Sharon, who killed the boy. At least some of… [more]
Dean Trippe on the Autobiographical Something Terrible
I don’t do much writing for Sequart. Most of what I do here is behind the scenes. (I edit the books and produce the documentaries.) However, every once in a long while, something moves me… [more]
Accessibility and the X-Men: A 2-Part Look at My First Comic
ac·ces·si·ble adj: Easily approached or entered. I never thought much about the concept of accessibility in comic books for the first 20-something years of my comic book reading career (I think it’s safe to call… [more]
How Comics Work: The Fight Scene, Part 4
Young Avengers 3 Kieron Gillen (writer), Jamie McKelvie (artist), Mike Norton (artist), Mathew Wilson (colourist), et al The third issue of Young Avengers breaks all the rules. The fight has little to no context in the… [more]
Revisionism Comes to a Silver Age: Or Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?
Julian Darius, in a response to a comment of mine in his article “On Underworld Unleashed, Precursor to Kingdom Come” explains that Reconstructionism with regards to the superhero comics genre is a term coined by… [more]