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Why We Shouldn’t Have to Play Detective When it Comes to “DB,” or Why Douchebags Need to Be Named and Shamed
On December 18th, MariNaomi, author of Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Résumé, Ages 0 to 22, posted an article on popular feminist website xoJane.com. It detailed how she was publicly humiliated and heckled by a heterosexual man… [more]
Alan Moore and Super-Heroes, Part 5: Caveats Galore
Continued from last week. Perhaps at this point, I really ought to begin another round of caveats. First, I don’t regard the super-hero fans I’m describing as “emotionally subnormal,” nor do I think they’re representative… [more]
Steel Sinews: Sex and the Super-Hero
There’s a moment in Cable and X-Force #5 where Dennis Hopeless’s script introduces some foreplay between mutants Colossus and Domino. Poor Piotr Rasputin has been experiencing some control issues recently as a result of being… [more]
Alan Moore and Super-Heroes, Part 4: But Alan Moore’s Not Wrong
Continued from Wednesday. When talking about how super-heroes have changed, we always have to beware of nostalgia. The good old days weren’t all that good, and we tend to remember the comics, television, and movies… [more]
What Marvel’s Miracleman #1 Preview Pages Indicate
A few days ago, Marvel released a five-page preview of its Miracleman #1, scheduled for 15 January publication. Having opined on what Marvel should do editorially with the series (and as the author of the… [more]
Alan Moore and Super-Heroes, Part 3: Alan Moore Needs a Hug
Continued from yesterday. For a man who’s such an indisputable master of language, Moore seems to be surprisingly unconscious of how his own words reveal aspects of his character. If a fictional character said writers… [more]
Alan Moore and Super-Heroes, Part 2: Moore Vs. Morrison, Round the 898th
Continued from yesterday. In some cases, Moore’s claims not to have read works which he goes on to criticize might be read as a case of feigned ignorance as a form of politeness. The specific… [more]
Alan Moore and Super-Heroes, Part 1: Promethea Didn’t Happen Now
Recently, Alan Moore’s made waves by criticizing the super-hero genre. Speaking with The Guardian, Moore said: I haven’t read any superhero comics since I finished with Watchmen. I hate superheroes. I think they’re abominations. They don’t mean what they… [more]
Comics Studies Making More Inroads into Academia
It was heartening to many people in the field of comics studies to see that, this week, the University of Oregon received a grant from a private donor to create a $200,000 endowment for their… [more]
Original, More Explicit Artwork for The Killing Joke Surfaces
As originally reported by Bleeding Cool, Billy Hynes, a former employee of London’s Gosh Comics, tweeted a photo on Sunday that appeared to be a page of original art from Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s… [more]
Why a Fight Club 2 Graphic Novel Could be a Game-Changer
In recent years, several high-profile novelists have turned to comics or allowed their work to be adapted. But Chuck Palahniuk doing so is something special, which just might actually lead to new comics readers — and… [more]
My Big Brother’s Secret Japanese Cartoons: How Anime Addicted Me to Serial Narratives
I’m ten years old, and you’re already dead. Your head explodes, and leather cringes while boots crush bone and dust swirls around a strange haired man in the desert. Buildings lay like corpses, luxury liners… [more]
A Response to Alan Moore from an Emotional “Normal”
Alan Moore is not known for being shy with his opinions, especially when it comes to the cultural intersection of comics and society. For Moore, given his spiritual and philosophical beliefs, everything is radically connected… [more]
Apple’s Comic Double Standard
“…we do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone.” — Steve Jobs Apple has taken a firm stance against pornographic content… [more]
Reflections on Batkid
It’s easy to be cynical. Especially about super-heroes, in an era when they dominate the box office and opening weekends are debated for years before they happen. And then something like this happens. On Friday… [more]
Alan Moore Turns 60 Today
Today is the 60th birthday of Alan Moore, one of the strongest, most creative and unique comic voices of the past three decades. I’m sure everyone can join in sending best wishes to him in… [more]
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is About to Become the Marvel TV Universe
One of the things that bugs me about franchises is that people rarely see them objectively, from a remove. The most fondly remembered installments overshadow everything else, even when “everything else” is the larger work.… [more]
Editing Miracleman: How Marvel Can Do It Right
The long-awaited news has broken, over the weekend, that Marvel plans to finally move forward on its reprinting of Miracleman, beginning with Alan Moore’s issues, moving through Neil Gaiman’s, and culminating by allowing Gaiman and… [more]
When Justice League Changed the World
Before there were comic books in my life, I was aware of the DC Universe solely through the alluring advances of Warner Bros Animation. Lately, the WB has been stepping up their line with a… [more]
On Interpreting The Killing Joke’s Ending (and Authorial Intent)
For his podcast Fatman on Batman, Kevin Smith interviewed Grant Morrison, and Grant talked about how Batman kills the Joker at the end of Batman: The Killing Joke. Grant makes a good argument, citing textual… [more]
Julian Darius on The Killing Joke
In this video, Julian Darius discusses his theory about what happens at the end of Batman: The Killing Joke. For more on Julian’s theory, check out the Bleeding Cool story on it. And of course, you… [more]
Confessions of a Suburban Criminal or: How I Nearly Got Busted and Why I Blame Eric Powell
As I wheeled my Honda minivan into the parking lot of the Kustom Thrills Tattoo Studio, I didn’t realize I had a cop on my tail. I had come for the opening of Eric Powell’s… [more]
A Tale of Two Choices—Reflections on Man of Steel
Warning: If you somehow have managed to not see Man of Steel or had its controversial ending spoiled, turn away. In The Man of Steel from 2013, Superman faces a man that appears to be… [more]
The Wolverine is a Cut Above the Rest
(Sorry about the headline. Low-hanging fruit.) A few months ago I sort of picked apart the trailer for The Wolverine and voiced my disappointment in the direction that they’d seemingly taken the movie in. I… [more]
Thoughts on Reviewing Comics
Every Wednesday, local comic shops and online retailers provide readers with a bevy of new comic book titles and issues. Some superhero series take flight while others crash without rhyme or reason. Some of us… [more]