ON COMICS CHARACTERS
ON SCI-FI FRANCHISES
ON GRANT MORRISON
ON TV AND MOVIES
OTHER BOOKS
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Magazine
Optimus Prime, Pedophile
Did you know that the beloved leader of the Autobots had a fetish for underage girls? Or that a Megatron look-alike not only shared the same fetish, but repeatedly tried to rape those girls? Or that… [more]
Reinventing the Cog: A Conversation with The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye’s James Roberts
Many might think Transformers comics are glorified toy catalogues at best. However, to Transformers fans old and young, the toys are but one facet or tool for the indulgence of the imagination in creative and… [more]
When the Good Guys Deserted: On the Blaster Saga, Conclusion
Continued from yesterday. The following American issue — #37 (Feb 1988), also by Budiansky, Delbo, Akin, and Garvey — follows up on the Throttlebots plot. It also features Ratbat and the Earth-bound Decepticons, who haven’t… [more]
Why “Man of Iron” May Be the Best Transformers Story Ever Told, Conclusion
Continued from Wednesday. As the final chapter of “Man of Iron” begins, the British military has unearthed a portion of the side of the buried spacecraft. It’s now clear that the hill in question formed… [more]
Why I Dig the Transformers Movies, Part 3: Dark of the Moon (2011)
Continued from yesterday. Despite its strange title, Dark of the Moon represented a return to form for the series and managed to push both its human and Transformers plots into brave new territory. We’ve looked… [more]
They Made Me Watch Transformers: Dark of the Moon
So please God read this so it’s not in vain. I even tried to find something interesting and maybe even educational to say about it. That took effort! [more]
When the Good Guys Deserted: On the Blaster Saga, Part 4
Continued from yesterday. Issue #36 (Jan 1988) doesn’t only mark the conclusion (such as it was) of the Blaster saga. It also marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Optimus Prime — a year… [more]
Brian’s Comic Book Grab Bag: Warheads Volume 1 #5
Last Christmas 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 a time… [more]
Transformers: Headmasters and Cycles of Violence
When the Headmasters toys debuted, Marvel’s Transformers comic was selling well, in part due to the excitement surrounding 1986′s Transformers: The Movie. And so the Headmasters got to debut not in the monthly Transformers comic but… [more]
Why I Dig the Transformers Movies, Part 2: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Continued from yesterday. Say what you want about the Transformers sequels — and I’ll say plenty of good and bad things below. They were directed by the original movie’s director, Michael Bay, executive produced by… [more]
When the Good Guys Deserted: On the Blaster Saga, Part 3
Continued from yesterday. You might think that, after issue #32, Blaster would reconnect with the Throttlebots. But that never happens — at least not on-panel. When the story picks up again in issue #35 (Dec… [more]
Why “Man of Iron” May Be the Best Transformers Story Ever Told, Part 2
Continued from Monday. As the second chapter begins, Sammy wakes from a dream and walks onto his roof, where he sees an extraterrestrial craft pass overhead. It’s a creepy sequence, and it has far more… [more]
Southern Bastards Starts with a Bang (and a Plop)
Southern Bastards #1, from Jason Latour and Jason Aaron, is the most recent high point in the barrage of high-profile releases coming from Image Comics over the last couple years. Insider fans like myself have… [more]
Why I Dig the Transformers Movies
It’s become kind of fashionable to mock the Tranformers movies. In large part, that’s due to their director, Michael Bay, who’s got a reputation for big explosions and superficial plots. When someone wants to mock… [more]
When the Good Guys Deserted: On the Blaster Saga, Part 2
Continued from yesterday. Issue #30 (July 1987) — also by Budiansky, Perlin, Akin, and Garvey — continues the story, but begins in an unorthodox fashion: by introducing the Throttlebots on Cybertron. The Throttlebots were small… [more]
Unicron Vs. Galactus: Battle of the Planet-Eaters!
When coming up with villains, you usually want someone who poses a real threat to the story’s heroes. Few things are as important to a story as making the conflict seem like something’s at stake.… [more]
“A Martyr for All Mankind”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 24
Continued from last week. At first, Morrison and Millar’s scripts were religious only in the very broadest sense of the term. With the former’s influence clearly dominant, Swamp Thing’s series-opening crisis of identity is clearly framed… [more]
When the Transformers Got Religion (in Transformers: The Movie)
There are a lot of reasons why Transformers: The Movie was revolutionary, when it was released in 1986. Its level of animation was spectacular for anything but a Disney film. Akira hadn’t yet been released,… [more]
When the Good Guys Deserted: On the Blaster Saga
In 1986′s Transformers: The Movie, set in 2005, both the Autobots and Decepticons got new leaders. Marvel Comics adapted the movie as a three-issue mini-series, but the main comic book didn’t leap forward to 2006,… [more]
Why “Man of Iron” May Be the Best Transformers Story Ever Told
When Transformers debuted from Marvel Comics in the U.S., it was originally a bimonthly four-issue mini-series, but it was so successful that it got extended. After a three-month pause between issues #4 (Mar 1985) and… [more]
The Transformed Man: Close Encounters of the Optimal Kind
One day, just another day of organized happiness Like all the others I closed all the doors behind me. –all quotes from William Shatner’s “The Transformed Man,” words by Frank Devenport About a month ago… [more]
When “Tales of Cybertron” Explored the Transformers’ Backstory
The original Transformers comic in the U.K. was augmented by hardcover annuals, beginning with Transformers Annual 1986 (published in late 1985). These annuals generally included several short stories, some in the comics format and others… [more]
Sherlock’s Women: The Good and the Bad
I was continuing my journey through my imposing edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes when I realized my mind could not stop making links between the original texts and BBC’s hit series Sherlock. While I… [more]
It’s Transformers Week on Sequart!
In celebration of the release of Transformers: Age of Extinction, Sequart will be publishing content related to the Transformers all this week. From their initial “Generation 1″ cartoon, toys, and comic book in the 1980s,… [more]