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Magazine Archives for:
2014
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Smorgasbord #2: The Ubiquitous Charles Soule
Welcome to the Smorgasbord Podcast, where Tom Shapira (Curing the Postmodern Blues) and Shawn Edri talk about little of everything comics related. In this episode we talk possible new live-action superhero shows, the new novel… [more]
What Makes a Great Movie?
Ever wondered how I would define a great movie? No. Um… Maybe give this a read anyways? I explain how I would define a great movie, if you couldn’t guess. [more]
The Politics of Batman, Part 4: Sex, Sexism, and the Dark Knight
[Note: The following is reprinted from the book War, Politics and Superheroes] One of the main problems Batman has had from the outset of his career as Feudal Lord crime fighter is that he cannot… [more]
Death Grips: Niggas on the Moon
Throughout their three year history, Death Grips thrived on confrontation. Their first record, 2011′s ExMillitary, was a messy, puzzling, and delightfully primal stew of industrial rap, featuring what sounded like a shouting hobo plastered on… [more]
Revival Interview with Mike Norton and Tim Seeley at Boston Comic Con 2014
Nick Ford: I’m Nick Ford at Boston Comic Con and I’m here with Tim Seeley and Mike Norton of Revival, which is a comic for Image. Tell me a little about yourselves as comic creators and… [more]
Manifest Destiny #10: Enhanced Solutions
In the afterward for issue #10 if Manifest Destiny, Chris Dingess writes that the men on the boat are becoming a genuine threat to the monsters they encounter, rather than the other way around. That’s… [more]
Laugh it Up: Two Perspectives on Humor in Guardians of the Galaxy
Part I “The next real literary “rebels” in this country might well emerge as some weird bunch of anti-rebels, born oglers who dare somehow to back away from ironic watching, who have the childish gall… [more]
Failing to Defend Anita Sarkeesian
Can you debate a critic of Anita Sarkeesian? Is discussion even possible on the topic? As a casual fan of Sarkeesian and her well-constructed, well-argued, and entertaining Feminist Frequency videos, I’ve been appalled to read… [more]
Ken Burns’ The Roosevelts
Ken Burns, over the course of a 35 year career, has made himself into a brand name. Apple even included a feature on their early iPods in which album covers would appear in slow, graceful… [more]
Brian’s Comic Book Grab Bag: Ms. Mystic Deathwatch 2000 Volume 1 #3
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]
Overcoming the Status Quo: Wonder Woman, Superheroes, and the American Criminal Justice System (Part 2)
In this three-part series, I explore where superheroes fit into popular conceptions of criminal justice in the United States, and the potential for Wonder Woman to help improve those conceptions. Last week, I looked at… [more]
I’m a Cyborg, but That’s Okay: Chan-wook Park Gets Weird
So Chan-wook Park made a sort-of-romantic comedy. It’s twisted and hypnotic and experimental. Plus it has robots and Korean pop-stars. [more]
Legitimizing a Hero: Green Arrow’s Rocky Journey to Success
In the last two years we have seen a sudden rise of popularity of what, at one time, could have been considered fringe heroes: heroes that had a fan base but for some reason couldn’t… [more]
“Do You Remember Earth Two or Earth X?”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 35
Continued from last week. Though Millar’s River Run tales are rarely anything other than predictable, they’re also undeniably focused, purposeful and enthusiastically told. Even when he’s sketching out the inevitably baleful career of a psychopathic… [more]
The Host: An Amazing Monster Movie
After watching some Korean movies and a monster movie I thought I’d watch a much-love Korean monster movie! It’s awesome because it’s a monster movie about how much the government sucks. [more]
Colloquium #9: Ice Reaching like Fingers — Chuck Dixon on Winterworld
Markisan interviews Chuck Dixon on his IDW series, Winterworld. Chuck talks about the challenges of surviving a frozen wasteland, taking Winterworld to TV, the temperament of badgers and the fortunate translation mistake that led to walrus… [more]
Delivering the Twentieth Century, Part 1: Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell
If you’re like me, you’ve read with interest the recent news stories about a man named Russell Edwards who claims to have finally and definitively solved the mystery of Jack the Ripper. Much like the… [more]
The Politics of Batman, Part 3: Understanding Batman’s Enemies
[Note: The following is reprinted from the book War, Politics and Superheroes] Aside from the fact that they are all, effectively, his “subjects,” Batman’s villains are connected to him in an even more visceral, symbolic way.… [more]
The Last Roundup…For Now
If I told you my favorite comic book run, you’d be a little surprised. Given that I have a whole bookshelf section for him, you might assume it’s a Superman run. Or given that I… [more]
Fire-Breathing Turtles and Rubber Suits: On Gamera
In which I talk about a movie with a fire-breathing, flying turtle. I’m also wildly insecure and ask for you, the reader, to pitch in on future reviews… But mainly fire-breathing turtles. [more]
X-Men: To the Outback & Beyond… Inferno Aftermath
The Inferno is over… Secrets have been revealed while the smoke has cleared and the dust has settled. The ultimate fates of both Madelyne Pryor and Nathan Christopher Charles Summers are left to the pages… [more]
Brian’s Comic Book Grab Bag: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Volume 1 #8
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]
The Best Thing About Contact was Tom Skerritt as David Drumlin
Many of us of a certain age will remember the 1997 Robert Zemeckis film Contact very well. I personally recall going to see it on opening night (which was July 11) and being profoundly inspired.… [more]
Comics Post September 11th
I remember September 7, 2001 pretty well. It was a Friday. I had been working as a manager of sorts in an office. Small, private administration company. It had been hemorrhaging money because the owner… [more]
Something Vaguely Related to Oldboy: On Stoker
After Chan-wook Park blew me away with his Vengeance Trilogy, a collection of perfectly executed and wildly stylistically disparate films, I had to seek out the rest of his filmography. Or at least watch whatever… [more]