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Magazine
Watching the Anti-Hero Rise to Power
The best stories are usually about the flaws of the characters, which may be why we have always been fascinated by the anti-hero. In fact, it’s this particular fascination that has led to the ascension… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 48
Issue #59 “Guys & Dolls Part One: Fallen Women” Writer: Garth Ennis; Pencils: William Simpson; Inks: Mike Barreiro & Kim DeMulder; Colors: Tom Zuiko; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Editor: Stuart Moore; Cover: Glenn Fabry; Shared universes… [more]
An Inconvenient Truth: A Few Thoughts on The World’s End as Imagined by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
At one point of Edgar Wright’s “The World’s End” one of the film’s protagonist’s, Andy, describes Newton Haven as a black hole. Unknown to him at the time, this will prove to be an accurate… [more]
John Linton Roberson: The Sequart Interview, Part 2
Yesterday, we began a career-spanning interview with John Linton Roberson, whose 100-page anthology This Sickness #8 is just out! If you haven’t read part 1, click here, and then come back here for part two.… [more]
John Linton Roberson: The Sequart Interview
John Linton Roberson, whom I know from his contributions to Martian Lit, has a new 100-page anthology out, entitled This Sickness #8. He has long been on the forefront of self-publishing using new technologies, has… [more]
Descender #10: Picking a Side
We’ve spent so much time getting to know the characters and their personal challenges over the past 10 issues of Descender that it’s good to be reminded in the new issue that the freaking galaxy… [more]
Thomas J. McLean on Mutant Cinema: The X-Men Trilogy from Comics to Screen
As part of its ongoing Patreon campaign, Sequart runs a Book/Movie of the Month Club. Patrons get a digital copy of a Sequart book or movie at the beginning of each month, and they’re invited… [more]
On X-(Wo)men and Third-Wave Feminism
Sometimes you find ideological influences in the unlikeliest places. For example, X-Men comic books helped make me a feminist. Those comics were some of the first places that I saw women as leads who did… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 47
Issues #57-58 “Mortal Clay” & “Body & Soul” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: Steve Dillon; Colors: Tom Zuiko, Daniel Vozzo; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Editor: Stuart Moore; Cover: Glenn Fabry; In a world filled with demons, angels,… [more]
Victor Frankenstein is a Travesty
By semi-popular demand here is my long delayed review of that bloody terrible Frankenstein prequel that 2015 birthed to a resounding thud and general disinterest. Which is almost a shame, because it’s a fairly special kind of terrible. As I’ll cover. [more]
Returning to the “Golden Mile”: A Few Thoughts on The World’s End as Imagined by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
As I promised you in the last instalment of my deliberations on “The World’s End” by Edgar Wright, we shall now join the film’s protagonists on the pub-crawl known as the ”Golden Mile”. Before entering… [more]
Martian Comics #3: Review
[Before I begin to review Martian Comics #3 I wanted to state that the idea behind this review was all mine. Julian, the head of Sequart, and the Sequart team were worried that having their… [more]
Manifest Destiny TPB vol 3 is Essential Reading
The latest, and darkest, collection of Manifest Destiny appears in stores this week, gathering issues #13-18 in a gruesome, intense and compelling TPB. Although it may be obvious to anyone who reads this comic, it… [more]
Naked Lunch: A Literary High
“It’s a literary high…. It’s a Kafka high. You feel like a bug.” Canadian director David Cronenberg’s film Naked Lunch is a hallucinogenic and hazy adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novel of the same name.… [more]
It’s Long Past Time to Retire the Term “Graphic Novel”
In comics, we’re always struggling with titles and definition. At least, some of us struggle with these things when conversing with people outside the field of comics studies. For everyone I’ve ever met who is… [more]
Portraits In Alienated British Youth Circa 1989-90, Part Twenty-Two : Breaking Point
Hard as it may be to believe, Dave, the troubled-to-put-mildly “star” of John Smith and Sean Phillips’ Straitgate, does, in fact, have friends. In fact, if you’ll recall, we met a few of them back… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 46
Issue #56 “This is the Diary of Danny Drake” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: David Lloyd; Letters: Elitta Fell; Editor: Stuart Moore; Cover: Glenn Fabry; A friend of mine once told me over beer that “the… [more]
Old Red Eyes Is Back: A Few Thoughts on The World’s End as Imagined by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
After their previous ventures into the horror genre with “Shaun of the Dead” (2004) and the crime-fighting-buddy-action-movie with “Hot Fuzz” (2007), Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg have applied themselves to science-fiction and its tropes in… [more]
Portraits In Alienated British Youth Circa 1989-90, Part Twenty-One : The Human Factor
I think it’s perfectly fair to say that the first two segments of John Smith and Sean Phillips’ Straitagte didn’t exactly present their protagonist, Dave, in anything like a sympathetic (or, for that matter, even… [more]
Welcome Back, X-Files
Get out your plaid, your docs and your Nine Inch Nails albums, because the 1990s have returned on the new X-Files. There have been reboots and relaunches before in TV history, and certainly in film… [more]
Smorgasbord #35: Going 911 on 4.99
Tom and Shawn get all combative in a very angry Smorgasbord, as they discuss the new Suicide Squad trailer, Image series ending too early, Marvel superhero (and price) inflation, and a complete rundown of the… [more]
Southern Bastards #13: Game Time
Ah, American football. It isn’t the world’s most competitive sport (have you seen the World Cup lately?), nor is it necessarily its most violent (I’m looking at you, Australian rules rugby), but there’s something about… [more]
The Days of EC: A Critical Examination of the Pulp Books of the Past and What They Can Teach Us About Our Future
The pages were pulpy and the colors were bright, the ink was fresh and the dialogue had been waxed freshly onto each page and all it cost was a nickel to buy. The panels were… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 45
Issue #55 “Royal Blood Part Four: Dog Eat Dog” Writer: Garth Ennis; Artist: Will Simpson; Colors: Tom Ziuko; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Editor: Stuart Moore; Cover: Glenn Fabry; Royal Blood ultimately concludes with “Dog Eat Dog.”… [more]