ON COMICS CHARACTERS
ON SCI-FI FRANCHISES
ON GRANT MORRISON
ON TV AND MOVIES
OTHER BOOKS
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Magazine Archives for:
September 2014
“There is Something Wrong with This World”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 34
Continued from last week. Even when Millar put an appropriately exotic backdrop to use, he frequently neutered its dramatic potential. The desert setting used to conclude the first arc was portrayed in an entirely throwaway… [more]
The Movie Before Oldboy: on Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
You’ve probably heard of Oldboy. It was Korean director Chan-wook Park’s breakout film, meeting with presumably unexpected levels of foreign critical acclaim. Spike Lee remade it one time, but it’s best to gloss over that… [more]
Trailer Park Boys Season 8: More Maple-Infused Drug-Related Fun. (No Spoilers)
The new season of Trailer Park Boys was released this past weekend on Netflix, with all ten episodes going live at the same moment in true 2014 style. It really is a new era for… [more]
From the Steranko Files: The Hunt for Red Tide
The sun was going down and the shadows from the Venetian blinds made the desk in my office look like it was covered in zebra skin. It had been a long day and my eight… [more]
The Martian by Andy Weir: Superb Hard Science Fiction Storytelling
The Martian, by Andy Weir, is a rare example of excellent “hard” science fiction, great suspense writing and an old-fashioned space adventure, complete with lots of plausible and realistic science and some great characters. It… [more]
The Politics of Batman, Part 2: Batman Begins, Feudalism, and Neoconservatism
[Note: The following is reprinted from the book War, Politics and Superheroes] Batman Begins won the support of comic book aficionados across cyberspace as a “traditional” and pitch-perfect portrayal of Batman, while simultaneously providing a… [more]
Smorgasbord #1: Secret Origins
Welcome to the Smorgasbord, a brand new comics podcast which has a little bit of everything. Join veteran Sequart writer Tom Shapira (Curing the Postmodern Blues) and newcomer Shawn Edri as they traverse the ups… [more]
Did Cinematic Gwen Stacy Have To Die Too?
Let me start by saying I am not a “Spider-Man Guy” and a great deal of my knowledge of the character comes from osmosis (from my college roommate who was a Spidey Guy and from… [more]
Only Humanoid: Cheese, and other forms of Cake
Muse Writer: Denis-Pierre Filippi Art: Terry Dodson I’ve got nothing against cheap entertainment. These works, in whatever medium, are nothing more than bread and circus – exciting violence, loud explosions, shallow humor, and beautiful bodies… [more]
The Third Man: A Near-Perfect Movie
In continuation of our informal Orson Welles series, I think it’s appropriate to give a small nod to The Third Man, a film that became closely associated with him but to which his contribution was… [more]
Brian’s Comic Book Grab Bag: Firestorm Volume 2 #95
This Christmas 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 a time… [more]
“Nobody Actually Believes This Comic is Haunted or Cursed, Right?”: Multiversity #1 and The Past, Present and Future of Grant Morrison’s Grand Narrative
Whenever one reads a Grant Morrison title one ends up contemplating his other works in varying degrees. His separate tenures on a variety of DC titles, alongside his creator owned titles, and even works for… [more]
Ghostbusters the 30th Anniversary Screening
This past weekend I had a chance to take in Ghostbusters on the big screen at my local movie theatre, which was part of the celebration of its 30th anniversary. The fact that a movie… [more]
“Not Walking in Alan Moore’s Footsteps”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 33
Continued from last week. Of course, there’s no reason why an obvious ending can’t also be a satisfying one. Similarly, a protagonist that seems to lack personality or potency can still be used in a… [more]
Prisoner Number Six, Willie the Shake, and All that Jazz
Will you do me a favor? No matter what I write in the next paragraph, I want you to commit, right now, to continue reading this column—no matter what. Do we have a deal? Okay,… [more]