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Magazine Archives for:
November 2013
A Response to Alan Moore from an Emotional “Normal”
Alan Moore is not known for being shy with his opinions, especially when it comes to the cultural intersection of comics and society. For Moore, given his spiritual and philosophical beliefs, everything is radically connected… [more]
Cowboy Bebop, Coolness, and Genre Mash-ups
There is an endless number of reasons to love Cowboy Bebop. This kung-fu, detective, sci-fi, crime, honky-tonk tinged mashed-upped masterpiece is cooler than any of us. Not because it wears the clothing of those genres,… [more]
Revenge, Hypnotism, and Oedipus in Oldboy (2003), Part 2
Last time, we began examining the 2003 South Korean movie Oldboy, directed by Park Chan-wook and adapted from the 1996-1998 manga by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi. We just got to the movie’s big twist ending. So be warned:… [more]
My Body is a Cage: Evangelions, AT Fields, and Hedgehogs
My body is a cage that keeps me From dancing with the one I love But my mind holds the key – My Body is a Cage, The Arcade Fire Talking about the soul is… [more]
Super-Powers in Mai, the Psychic Girl’s Second Act
Continued from our introduction to Mai, the Psychic Girl and part one of our discussion of how super-powers are depicted in the series. As the narrative shifts into its second half, in which the Wisdom… [more]
The Noise They Make: Akira and the Bosozoku
Akira is an odd film. Some like to believe it a riddle that if you can just get a crowbar into, you might crack it open and spill it’s meaningful contents. And while it is… [more]
Revenge, Hypnotism, and Oedipus in Oldboy (2003)
The brilliant 2003 South Korean film Oldboy, directed by directed by Park Chan-wook, is a revenge story. As such, it has to negotiate this genre’s long history, which it manages to do rather successfully by simultaneously… [more]
Apple’s Comic Double Standard
“…we do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone.” — Steve Jobs Apple has taken a firm stance against pornographic content… [more]
On Oldboy
Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy is a phenomenal film. A devastating meditation on vengeance initially disguised as a revenge thriller, Oldboy is disturbing, exhilarating, terrifying, and more. Chan-wook Park deftly juggles the tone of this film, all… [more]
Super-Powers in Mai, the Psychic Girl
Continued from our introduction of Mai, the Psychic Girl. Ryoichi Ikegami is one of manga’s most talented artists, and he’s certainly one of my own favorites. His cityscapes and vehicles are bafflingly realistic. And while… [more]
20th Century Boys Volume One
The last volume of Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys I read was volume 22. The series only lasts two more volumes – 21st Century Boys Volume One and Two. These articles cover my attempted reread… [more]
On “The Day of the Doctor”
Warning: this article contains spoilers for “The Day of the Doctor,” the 50th-Anniversary Doctor Who Special. Blame it on the proliferation of soundbites. Or our declining attention spans. But there’s been a marked increase in… [more]
On Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys: Friends
When I first read Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys: Friends, I stopped after the initial six pages and put the book away. For they were so perfect in themselves, so wonderfully concise and clever and moving,… [more]
The Grandmasters
I’ve been planning a series of articles about the all-time greats of the medium for a while. I was planning to focus on living greats, but with Sequart doing this Manga Week it seemed like… [more]
On Mai, the Psychic Girl
In early 1987, Eclipse introduced American comics readers to manga with three translated series. The first, debuting one week before the other two, was Mai, the Psychic Girl. The following week, Eclipse debuted The Legend… [more]
It’s Manga Week on Sequart!
In celebration of this week’s release of Spike Lee’s Oldboy, a remake of the 2003 South Korean film, in turn based on the Japanese manga, we’re running manga-related posts all this week on Sequart. Manga’s… [more]
Your Indie Weekly: Darkest Night #1-2
Darkest Night #1 and 2 Written and drawn by Hayden Fryer Published by Siberian Productions Website: www.siberianproductions.com Darkest Night comes to us from Sydney, Australia, and comic creator Hayden Fryer. Fryer got on my radar… [more]
JFK: Comic Book Hero
(…continued from THIS) It was a bright, sunny Friday like this one, 50 years ago, that John F. Kennedy met his end in Dallas, Texas. This is, of course, well known, and one of the… [more]
An Unknown Soldier in an Unknown War: Joshua Dysart’s Unknown Soldier
An exploration of the Unknown Soldier’s meta-mythology about war and the individual. Joshua Dysart reboots the franchise in Uganda. [more]
The Bechdel Test and a Sexy Lamp: Detecting Gender Bias and Stereotypes in Mainstream Comics
Recently, the Swedish Film Institute began sponsoring a movement spearheaded by a number of theaters who are now making use of the “Bechdel Test” to evaluate their films in order to determine the extent of… [more]
Lee Harvey Oswald: A Comics Villain?
This week marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most infamous days in world history: November 22nd, 1963. Based on the violent and deadly events of that day, the names John F. Kennedy and… [more]
Slip and Slide
A few weeks ago, I went to the New York City Comic Con for the first time in my life and suffice it to say, it was an incredible experience. From meeting creators who were… [more]
Reflections on Batkid
It’s easy to be cynical. Especially about super-heroes, in an era when they dominate the box office and opening weekends are debated for years before they happen. And then something like this happens. On Friday… [more]
“Where’s Canon Fodder?”: Shameless? Part 36
Continued from last week. Though pinpointing exactly when Millar stopped working for 2000AD is an difficult business, he’d most definitely moved onto the American market by the time Canon Fodder returned without him in 1996. With the… [more]
Alan Moore Turns 60 Today
Today is the 60th birthday of Alan Moore, one of the strongest, most creative and unique comic voices of the past three decades. I’m sure everyone can join in sending best wishes to him in… [more]