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Magazine Archives for:
2014
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“Nice to Meet You, Big Guy!”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 5
Continued from last week. Though he’d never again see one of his scripts feature in any of the Batman’s many headlining titles, Millar would return to the character over and over again throughout the Nineties. It’s… [more]
The Curious Case of the Omnipresent Consulting Detective, Part 2: An Interview with Leah Moore and John Reppion
You’re in for a special treat this week. In my last column, I talked about the flurry of Sherlock Holmes projects that have appeared over the past five years. This week I wanted to turn our… [more]
On the Art and Cycle of Proper Suffering: The Artist-Figure in Phoenix: Karma
It is neither a new nor a culturally specific idea that art is created through suffering: that the figure of the artist is an individual who must experience great ordeals in order to accomplish his… [more]
Review of Community Season 5, Episode 5
I was really looking forward to this episode of Community. It’s quite possibly the last episode of the show to feature Troy (played by Donald Glover). It’s also a new high-concept episode, something the show… [more]
Review of Arrow Season 2, Episode 11
“Blind Spot” is the kind of episode that was needed after last week’s subpar outing. It’s not an all-time classic episode, but it’s a good, solid hour of TV that hinges on a strong central… [more]
Lights Go Out on Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Saturday, January 4, saw the last ever Broadway performance of Julie Taymor’s calamitous superhero musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. I’m a huge Spidey fan (who isn’t?), so I’ve been curious to see the play… [more]
Top 5 TV Farewells of 2013
In 2013, we got to see a lot of comings and goings in the world of television. You had new shows making their bid for supremacy, and you had some oldies (but goodies) take that… [more]
The Champions: A Bridge Between Genres and Time
The Champions as term and footnote When most people hear of the term “The Champions,” they think of the iconic song created by Queen. Others think of the 1975-1978 Marvel comic series or various other… [more]
Megatron, Supreme Leader of All Decepti– Wait. What?
Recently, IDW pitched upcoming events in their Transformers titles very much from the left of field when they began soliciting artwork of leader and founder of the Decepticons, Megatron, wearing an Autobot symbol. This move,… [more]
Justifying Deicide: Lyta Hall’s Feminist Journey in “The Kindly Ones”
The final arc of Sandman proceeds to bookend the series with cameos and homages to earlier plots. The feel here is different from previous arcs; Gaiman explains elements as they come, rather than holding back… [more]
The Great Smallville Rewatch, Part 1
In early 2013, I decided to finally catch up – via the magic of DVD technology – on a show of which I’d been a huge devotee back in the earliest years of its existence. … [more]
“Just Don’t Do It Again”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 4
Continued from last week. How was it possible for Millar to show so much respect for Bruce Wayne’s back story while portraying such a deeply unconvincing Dark Knight? Though the writer’s take on Wayne was ludicrously… [more]
The Curious Case of the Omnipresent Consulting Detective, Part 1
He’s one of the most popular characters in literary history, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a time when Sherlock Holmes was more visible than the past five years. Offhand, I can’t think of another… [more]
Atrocity in Memoriam – Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir
In 2008, Waltz With Bashir, a documentary exploration of the First Lebanon War, was released to wide critical acclaim. The film is animated, told from the perspective of Ari Folman, who dictates his experiences via… [more]
What Batman vs. Superman Could Get Right (And Wrong)
Last year when Man of Steel came out, I was reminded of the line uttered by Chastity (Gabrielle Union) in 10 Things I Hate About You: “I know you can be overwhelmed… and you can… [more]
Review of Community Season 5, Episode 4
Troy and Abed are in mourning. Pierce Hawthorne has died. It’s no secret that the actor that played him, Chevy Chase, didn’t particularly enjoy working on the show. He didn’t find it funny, and he… [more]
Capital Thoughts: Captain America #14
Issue #14 nicely ties up the Nuke story-arc. Nuke justifies his psychotic murder spree by stating that he’s only doing it for the troops, and to keep America strong. He further states that Cap, despite… [more]
Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Four
Where were we again? Oh yeah, it’s 1992, and despite attempting to jazz things up in their low-selling Dr. Fate title by having the Helmet of Fate’s original bearer, Kent Nelson, pass the golden dome onto… [more]
Twisted Times: My Part in Alan Moore’s “Last Interview”
We are told that Alan Moore doesn’t use email, and rarely goes online. By contrast, I’ve been online – on and off – for twenty years now. I started using the internet when it was… [more]
“Thus strangely are our souls constructed…”: DC’s Frankenstein in Post-Millennial Publication, Part One
Frankenstein (or, rather, Frankenstein’s creature): that oft studied literary figure, that icon of cinematic horror and, upon closer inspection that almost universal and perpetual figure in the comic art. Appearing in various titles from a… [more]
Michael Douglas Adds to Ant-Man’s Legacy
While Marvel Studios’ Avengers franchise (and appendages) tends to garner the most ink, I have to say I find development on the studios’ secondary properties far more fascinating, as it demonstrates their willingness to continually… [more]
Buffy Goes to the Comics: An Introduction
Joss Whedon once claimed that he would continue to engage with the characters of his doomed Firefly series in any possible medium, including “etchings”. As intriguing as a woodcut series sounds, either for Firefly or… [more]
An Apology to Dr. Will Brooker
When I wrote yesterday’s piece on Alan Moore’s most recent interview, I wasn’t aware that the “Batman scholar” Moore was mocking was Will Brooker. I feel really bad about not identifying him, because it perpetuates… [more]
“There are Some Things in Life It’s Best not to See”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 3
Continued from last week. The suspicion that Millar idled his way through his years at 2000AD is at least in part countered by the contents of Favourite Things. For it seems unlikely that he would have… [more]