Magazine

Our online content delivery system.

A Leap Forward: The Flash Pilot Review

One of the smartest things The Flash manages to do in its first full episode as a TV series is establish just about everything it needs to hum along as both a show and as… [more]

Truth, Justice, and Ferguson

The story of Ferguson, an image of small town USA torn apart, unfolded through the media in increasing complexity. First, there were the tragic reports of a black, unarmed teenager shot six times, twice in… [more]

The New Batgirl: An Interview with Babs Tarr and Cameron Stewart

Nick Ford: Please tell us who you are and what you’re most known for. Babs Tarr: Besides BATGIRL I’m probably best know for my Bosozoku Sailor Scouts piece that kind of went viral a couple… [more]

Rubber on Planes: Gamera vs. Gyaos

Aerial battles you guys! Because flying turtles are cool looking. Right? Right?! This is actually a solid and enjoyable kaiju film with a cool villain. [more]

The Politics of Batman, Part 5: Batman Returns, Enron, and the Buying of American Democracy

I first saw the film Batman Returns when it was released in 1992. I was young and didn’t understand it. I found the Penguin disgusting. I had a sense that the movie was condemning American… [more]

Discovering Black Jesus, Episode 5 “Fried Green Tomatoes”

Boonie: Man, God ain’t good man. God sucks right now. Black Jesus: Oh negro of little faith, isn’t the miracle of the forgivin’ cholos enough proof to let yo’ disbelievin’ ass know that God want… [more]

Smorgasbord #3: Sad Goat

For the third episode of Smorgasbord, Shawn and Tom try to to untangle the mess DC made with their recent bad shirt designs, tackle the end of the Kirby lawsuit, and try to be hopeful… [more]

“Why d’You Think God Created Abortion Clinics?”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 38

Continued from last week. After abortion as a vehicle for laddish jokes and abortion as a means for evoking terror, Millar turned to abortion as a symbol of crass irresponsibility. (ST: 147/152/157) In Sink Or… [more]

Could Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam Contribute to Orientalism?

Dwayne Johnson will play DC heavy-hitter Black Adam in an upcoming Shazam film. Fans were either reviled or revitalized, but what has been rarely discussed is how exactly Black Adam should be adapted to the big screen. We just need to be careful. [more]

The Shatner News No One Covered: Scenes from a Comics Convention, Part 1

Recently, Denise Dorman, the wife of the great Star Wars artist, Dave Dorman, posted a blog where she described the financial difficulties faced by many of the comics creators who attend conventions.  Hers was a… [more]

Is Cromagnon’s Orgasm Worth Your Time?

Austin Grasmere and Brian Elliot were successful pop producers in the mid 1960s. Despite their eminent reputations in the popular music industry, they wished to create a more experimental album, as a sort of hobby… [more]

Terrible Monster Design and Boring People: Gamera vs. Barugon

Japanese people in blackface, coincidence ridden jungle adventures, and the worst Kaiju fight scenes I’ve seen. Ugh. [more]

True Detective Explores the Roots and Branches of Southern Gothic

Set on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, and filled with images of hurricane-wrought destruction, the first season of True Detective uses many Southern Gothic visual elements. Physical decay evokes themes of moral decay, which are… [more]

The Second Coming of Television

The Beast -with sincere apologies to W.B Yeats. Blogging and blogging in widening participation The ‘twoten to’ cannot follow the timeline; Schedules fall apart; the box-set cannot hold; Cyber-anarchy is loosed upon the world, The… [more]

A Sarcastic Review of Videodrome

Just to be clear: sarcastic. I liked this movie. Don’t get that mixed up, guys. Hopefully this is funny. [more]

ZomBeing and Nothingness: Part 2

Previously: Being faithful to your genre, monsters as liminal beings, and horror as fascination. Beyond Thunderdome If the archetypal zombie story is apocalyptic, it’s worth considering what apocalyptic stories actually are. Chandra Phelan notes that… [more]

Rat Queens #8: Violet Rebels Against Expectations

After the dark twists and turns and plot developments that featured so prominently in issue #7 of Rat Queens, ending in an attack on the town of Palisade by the tentacled god himself, issue #8… [more]

Brian’s Comic Book Grab Bag: The Man Called A-X Volume 1 #3

On Christmas Day 2013, 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… [more]

Sword of Doom: So Close

I feel like this may be the start of many samurai reviews I do. This one was good, but also not? [more]

Oh, My Aching Cranium! : Jack Kirby’s OMAC Deconstructed And Reconstructed, Part Five

Hey, look! It’s our “girl” from the cover—and apparently she’s got a name and everything! Dear readers, allow me—by way of Jack Kirby, of course—to introduce you to Lila, a manufactured “Build-A-Friend” that comes our… [more]

A Voice in the Dark, “Get Your Gun” #1: A Review

A Voice in the Dark was easily one of the best reviewed and most talked about titles published by Image Comics and Top Cow last year. The story of Zoe Aarons and her life of… [more]

“Terminate This Pregnancy”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 37

Continued from last week. Millar makes more use of the topic of abortion in Swamp Thing than most superhero writers do in a lifetime. In each case, abortion is used either as a symbol of… [more]

The Last Temptation of Supe: Christian Overtones in “For the Man Who Has Everything”

On those rare occasions when I teach students about superhero comics, one question that always comes up is what defines a “hero”. Is, for example, a hero simply an individual who does heroic things? Or… [more]

Delivering the 20th Century, Part 3: Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell

In re-reading From Hell, it’s hard not to marvel at the liberation Alan Moore seems to be enjoying.  Despite the brilliance of his earlier superhero and horror stories, there was often still a sense of… [more]

“A Narrative Structure in Which Despite a Series of Ridiculous Mishaps, All Goes Well”: On Multiversity: The Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of the Counter-World #1

Nearly a month ago the Multiversity event kicked off in grand fashion. Not long after that I took a lengthy and in depth look at the first issue. With the release of The Society of… [more]