ON COMICS CHARACTERS
ON SCI-FI FRANCHISES
ON GRANT MORRISON
ON TV AND MOVIES
OTHER BOOKS
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Magazine Archives for:
2015
Switch to calendar view.
Pixels and Why Video Game Films Never Succeed
The release and instantaneous failure of Adam Sandler’s latest production Pixels shines light on one of Hollywood’s longtime pitfalls – movie adaptations of video games and their utter lack of success. While not a direct… [more]
The Essentials: Two-Lane Blacktop
So I’m field testing a new title for the series previously known as “Movies You Should Watch.” I have grown tired with that name! Or, more accurately, I’ve decided to take the series in a… [more]
The Moral Arc Of Eternity: Al Ewing’s El Sombra Trilogy – Part 3
(Before beginning the article, be aware there are significant and comprehensive spoilers for the phenomenal and largely unheralded books discussed here. If you would consider reading them before beginning this, for your own sake, it’s… [more]
Behind the Veil: Hannibal Season Three Episode Ten
…I do not consider either the just, or the wicked, to be in a supreme state, but to be, every one of them, states of the sleep which the soul may fall into in its… [more]
The Moral Arc Of Eternity: Al Ewing’s El Sombra Trilogy – Part 2
(Before beginning the article, be aware there are significant and comprehensive spoilers for the phenomenal and largely unheralded books discussed here. If you would consider reading them before beginning this, for your own sake, it’s… [more]
The Moral Arc Of Eternity: Al Ewing’s El Sombra Trilogy – Part 1
(Before beginning the article, be aware there are significant and comprehensive spoilers for the phenomenal and largely unheralded books discussed here. If you would consider reading them before beginning this, for your own sake, it’s… [more]
Sequart Releases The Sacred Scrolls: Comics on the Planet of the Apes
Sequart Organization is proud to announce the publication of The Sacred Scrolls: Comics on the Planet of the Apes, edited by Rich Handley and Joseph F. Berenato. Since the 1970s, the Planet of the Apes franchise has… [more]
Time Paradox: Sound in Comics
Comics are unique in that it is the only medium where sound is seen, rather than heard by its audience. My previous discussion on this topic focused on some visual devices used in comics to… [more]
Descender #6: Ostracism
A significant part of the new issue of Descender takes place fifteen years before the start of our main story, on a dusty old planet named “Ostrakon”. It’s a very clever and literate reference for… [more]
Smorgasbord #24: Schrodinger’s Gambit
This week on Smorgasbord, Channing Tatum is/is not Gambit, Hercules is/is not heterosexual, Bill Willingham is/is not Real-Life Mr. Dark, and Fant4stic is terrible in all possible universes. We also review John Flood #1, Dark… [more]
This is Your Comic on Drugs
How Drugs Killed Comics In 1954 the comic publishing industry faced a Galactus-sized threat from psychiatrist Fredric Wertham. His study linked comic book reading to juvenile delinquency and other social ills. The report whipped up… [more]
The Audacity of Hope, Geek Culture, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Part 2
A week ago I went to see the new Mission Impossible. While waiting for it to start, I was a bit amused to see trailers for two upcoming movies—The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the latest… [more]
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’: Fun Time at the Theatre for Fans, Not the Equal of What Came Before It.
(Note: some spoilers, particularly regarding the ending) It’s that time again: beginning its return in earnest with 2013’s Japanese release of Battle of Gods, Akira Toriyama’s Sh?nen manga titan and pop-cultural gamechanger Dragon Ball continues… [more]
Camerahead and Pistonhead: Hell on Earth
This film is a campy entry in the Hellraiser entry that has a few good components. Sort of. If you squint. But these sort of good moments are mishandled by the generally terrible film. [more]
Weird Worlds: The Minor Mainstream Works of Steve Gerber, Part 3 – Captain America
Of the works that I am considering in this series of articles, Steve Gerber’s run on Captain America is by far the shortest. Weighing in at a scant 3 and three quarter issues, this truncated… [more]
“And Thus Exemplify This Process.” – Duality, Duplicity and Dissolution in Providence #2
Providence thus far appears at the very least to be an exercise in dichotomy. The first issue portraying relatively liberated sexual play alongside tragic repression. The second issue appears to do much the same, only… [more]
Ex Machina and the Art of Appropriate Stylization
I want to be perfectly clear about something right from the start: I really liked Ex Machina. I’d go so far as to call it a great film. When it’s end-of-the-year-list time I suspect Ex… [more]
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer: A Retro Review
When their first Fantastic Four flick grossed more than three times its production budget in 2005, the hoped-for sequel quickly left the realm of the hypothetical for home studio Twentieth Century Fox. And with the cast… [more]
Fantastic Four (2005): A Retro Review
The moment that principal photography on Roger Corman’s million-dollar production of The Fantastic Four commenced on December 28, 1992, the ultimate goal of license holder Bernd Eichinger was instantly fulfilled. His hold on the Fantastic… [more]
8House: Arclight #2: Rich in its Restraint
We should start this review by revising, in retrospect, some of the assumptions and conclusions I made about 8House: Arclight #1. For one thing, as some have pointed out, I’m not entirely sure what the… [more]
Blood in the Moonlight: Hannibal Season Three Episode Nine
Hannibal is frequently a praise worthy show. It must be said, however, I found myself especially impressed by its latest episode. It’s not a particularly eventful episode, by Hannibal’s standards. There are no murders, no… [more]
Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four: A Retro Review
While Marvel Comics stablemate Spider-Man took a rather circuitous route to the big screen, that journey almost pales in comparison to what happened to the Fantastic Four on the way to a film franchise they could call their own. [more]
Spring: Monsters and Romance
My overall reaction to Drafthouse Film’s new release, Spring, is definitely a positive one. I’ll be interested in what the directors, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, will do next. They’ve directed one movie together before,… [more]
The Audacity of Hope, Geek Culture, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Part 1
When Emily Dickinson wrote, “Hope is the thing with feathers,” she clearly didn’t anticipate geek culture. For despite popular stereotypes, one of the most dominant characteristics of many in the geek community is a deep… [more]
Shatner’s Man O War: A Voice is Missing
We are given Chapter 1, “How it All Began.” Opening the book we are told “in the near future, humanity has colonized the moon and Mars, but corporate greed and over reliance on technology have… [more]