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Magazine Archives for:
August 2014
Science Fiction Elements of Infinite Jest: Part 1, Videophony
David Foster Wallace’s 1996 novel Infinite Jest is, for my money, the greatest novel ever written. It appears regularly near the top of “best novels of all time” lists such as Time Magazine’s. It has… [more]
When Vultures Weep: Reflections on Robin Williams and the Alchemy of Joy
I didn’t want to write this column. From the first moment I heard about the death of Robin Williams, it was hard enough just to process the news. Besides, I knew millions of other people… [more]
“This Mutant Dreamtime” – Language in Australian Post-Apocalypse Horror Broken Line
Broken Line, available digitally from Perth-based Australian publisher Gestalt Comics, is set after a typical Cold War-era nuclear war. In the familiar nightmare image of a man-made apocalypse, artist Emily K. Smith renders the mushroom… [more]
Sex Criminals #7: More Real Life
In a week in which many of us are wondering if there’s any justice left in this world, one bright spot is to remember that Sex Criminals was honoured with an Eisner recently, which means… [more]
Advanced Creative Storytelling and the Art of Metanarrative: Community’s Journey to #sixseasonsandamovie
As the spring television season began its descent into summer, Community fans shared a collective thought: this truly is the darkest timeline. For five seasons, the battlecry of #sixseasonsandamovie had proven to work as Community… [more]
Venture Bros. is Awesome
You’d think designing a show almost purely to mock and taunt things I love would more or less instantly earn my hatred. Well almost instantly. Well in some cases almost five seasons. But Big Bang… [more]
The City on the Edge of Forever: IDW Re-imagines Harlan Ellison’s Original Teleplay
The original draft of City on the Edge of Forever by Harlan Ellison is one of the more famous unproduced screenplays in television or indeed film history. The final episode itself was justly recognized as… [more]
Brian’s Comic Book Grab Bag: Ghost Rider Annual Volume 1 #2
On Christmas Day 2013, my brother gave me a booster pack of random, non-sequential issues from a variety of popular comic book titles that syndicated in the late eighties to mid nineties. The nineties was… [more]
Defending Guardians of the Galaxy
Okay. Let’s do this. *Cracks knuckles* Recently Julian Darius wrote a real mic-drop of a response to Guardians of the Galaxy. It was pretty incendiary. Like everything Julian writes it was excellent, and made me… [more]
Comic Con Discoveries Part 2: Ghost Cop and the Works of Arthur Ball
Many of the comics I acquired at SDCC were true flukes. Both of the books here were simply handed to me by friendly, approachable creators who were happy to discuss the work and have it… [more]
Japan’s “New” Anti-Piracy Campaign for Anime and Manga
There has been much discussion of a newly enforced law in Japan regarding online piracy. A-Kon, for which I run various programs, and most other anime conventions do not permit bootlegging at events and internet… [more]
Why Don’t We Trust Filmmakers?
Where is the trust? That is the question I asked after the recent flurry of criticisms leveled at Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice. It got me thinking about fandom reactions in general when it… [more]
Marlon Brando and the Problems with Collective Cartooning
In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud defines the act of cartooning as “amplification through simplification.” In other words, a cartoon ignores most of the details, focusing instead on only one or two key components. In the… [more]
Media and Conflict: Reflections on the Centenary of WWI
Today, as I write this, it is 4 August 2014, the centenary of WWI. Or, as I prefer to conceptualize it as a historian, Act I in a Century of Tragedy. Niall Ferguson calls it… [more]
On Black Jesus: Adult Swim’s Reimagining of the Messiah
I wasn’t surprised to see that late night programmer Adult Swim was going to put on a show called Black Jesus. I’ve been watching the network since my early teens (now about 10 years), recalling… [more]
Basic Instructions Creator Now Writes Novels
Many of you Sequart readers already know Scott Meyer from his popular webcomic Basic Instructions. The comic is thoroughly venerable by internet standards, having written and posted it since 2003. Here is a fairly typical… [more]
Comic Con Discoveries Part 1: The Goon and The Guns of Shadow Valley
I picked up several comics at the recent San Diego Comic Con, so I’m having a look that them all as I get some good reading time. All of these comics are first-time reads for… [more]
Only Humanoid: The Jodorowsky Paradox
The Incal Writer: Alexandro Jodorowsky Artist: Jean Giraud Watching Jodorowsky’s Dune (an excellent documentary about the never completed adaptation of the Science Fiction classic into film) I was struck by how good it appears to… [more]
So Long and Thanks for all the Apes
I just had to write a fitting send-off to the Planet of the Apes series. I recap, rank, and reminisce these wonderful films. I also do that for the duds. But lets focus on the wonderful aspect. [more]
Andre the Giant: A Modest Graphic Novel about a Giant Man
They call it “the business”. That’s the first thing I learned in the wonderful new comic about the life of one of the 20th century’s famous wrestlers. It’s not “the sport”, because that would open… [more]
Borgman: Mysteriously Effective
Everything about Borgman feels muffled. Like glimpsing a striking image through a foggy haze. Or hearing a catchy song muffled by feedback and noise. The movie relies on this atmosphere. One can’t feasibly be divorced… [more]
“Up Onto The Overturned Keel Clamber, With A Heart Of Steel…”: The History Channel’s Vikings and Hyperreal Heathenry
The French postmodern philosopher Baudrillard I believe would have found the History channel’s Vikings to be very interesting. Particularly in light of some of the ideas he espoused in his work Simulacra and Simulation. You… [more]
It’s Okay to Criticize Guardians of the Galaxy
I read Julian Darius’ essay on Guardians of the Galaxy with great interest, just as I read Stephanie Zacharek’s review of the same film. Both of them have come under fire on social media (Julian’s… [more]