ON COMICS CHARACTERS
ON SCI-FI FRANCHISES
ON GRANT MORRISON
ON TV AND MOVIES
OTHER BOOKS
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Magazine
Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Fourteen: Indigo Primer
Before delving into the eighth and final issue of John Smith, Scot Eaton and Mike Barreiro’s Scarab, we need to take a brief side-step and examine an earlier Smith creation, the trans-dimensional troubleshooting way-above-top-secret agency… [more]
X-Men: To the Outback & Beyond… Part 10
We left off last issue with Rogue / Ace and Wolverine rescuing Phillip Moreau from the Mutant Train with promises to “…bring this flamin’ country down” while their teammates finally arrived in Genosha on their… [more]
Unmasked Review
Unmasked (written by Christian Read with art by Emily Smith and Gary Chaloner) tells the story of a married couple living a seemingly normal live. However, they are in fact super-villains who have given up… [more]
Capital Thoughts: Captain America #21
“The law of sacrifice is uniform throughout the world. To be effective it demands the sacrifice of the bravest and the most spotless.” —Mahatma Gandhi. So reads the penultimate panel of Captain America #21. The… [more]
Ang Lee’s Hulk and Seriousness in Comics Movies
I came across a quote from Ang Lee made in 2012. It was during press for the film Life of Pi. Lee said he wouldn’t have been able to do the film without learning about… [more]
My So-Called Secret Identity: An Interview with Will Brooker
Dr. Will Brooker is no stranger to this site. He and his creator-owned comic My So-Called Secret Identity have been featured multiple times either within the context of an interview or a review. Dr. Brooker has most… [more]
Sex Criminals #6 Review
[If you read this comic, consider yourself guilty of the sin levelled at many a child: you've been spoiled.] Well, well, well, our friends the sex criminals return in issue #6, after we left them… [more]
Brian’s Comic Book Grab Bag: Cage #15 Volume 1
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]
God Damn You All to Hell: Planet of the Apes TV Show
“The mother ducking humans are talking!?” That was the fourth note I took about the Planet of the Apes TV show pilot. My iPad has an annoying habit of autocorrecting “fucking” to “ducking”. This is… [more]
Sequart Announces Meet the Magus: Magic in the Work of Alan Moore
Sequart is proud to announce that it will publish Meet the Magus: Magic in the Work of Alan Moore, authored by Dr. Hannah Means-Shannon. Meet the Magus: Magic in the Work of Alan Moore explores… [more]
Everything’s Just Vibrations: A Review of GraphicAudio’s Final Crisis Production
Due to the restrictions of life, I often find myself being unable to read as often as I would like, comics or otherwise. Luckily, audiobooks exist, allowing me to make good use of the time… [more]
The Stuff of Nightmare: A Review of Justin Randall’s Changing Ways
I can remember vividly the first time I played Myst, the ground-breaking video game by Broderbund. I had purchased it earlier in the day and sat down at my PC with the whole evening spread… [more]
“[The] Most Morally Objectionable Comic DC Has Ever Published”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 23
Continued from last week. As ever, it’s impossible to precisely disentangle Morrison’s influence from Millar’s. Yet Swamp Thing’s storylines and themes certainly bear the stamp of many of the former’s recurrent passions; magic and folklore,… [more]
F for Fake: Orson Welles’ Last Movie
Years later, reflecting back on his life and work, Orson Welles would say, “I thought I was onto something,” in reference to his last completed film, 1973’s F for Fake. The relative lack of impact… [more]
Sequart Releases The Anatomy of Zur-en-Arrh: Understanding Grant Morrison’s Batman
Sequart Organization is proud to announce the publication of The Anatomy of Zur-en-Arrh: Understanding Grant Morrison’s Batman, by Cody Walker. Grant Morrison has made a career of redefining heroes, but his work with Batman has… [more]
A Father’s Day Post-Mortem: Maleficent, Gender, and Fairy Tale Romance
Down with eyes romantic and stupid Down with sighs and down with Cupid Brother, let’s stuff that dove Down with love. –Bobby Darin, “Down With Love” Whenever someone asks me what’s the best part of… [more]
Manifest Destiny #7: A Different Mission
[Spoilers ahoy, Captain Clark.] It’s wonderful to be back amongst the pulpy charms and historical poetry of Manifest Destiny after a break. For those who missed the first six issues, Chris Dingess and Matthew Roberts… [more]
Jason Mewes Survives to Age 40
The day has come that many would have bet every farm in the Midwest we would never see: Jason Mewes has just turned 40 years old. Mewes is the Sid Vicious or Keith Moon of… [more]
I Read an Old and Valuable Comic… And Liked It
I was recently reading my tattered paperback copy of Bester’s The Stars My Destination for a future article and happened to check on when this very beat-up book was released. It turns out that I… [more]
X-Men: To the Outback & Beyond… Part 9
Writer: Chris Claremont Penciler: Rick Leonardi Inker: Terry Austin Colorist: Glynis Oliver Letter: Tom Orzechowski Editor: Bob Harras We left a depowered Wolverine and Rogue, with the Carol Danvers persona in charge of the psyche… [more]
What’s a Franchise and Which One is the Best?
I wrote about which film series count as franchises and which one I thought was the best. And used math to prove my point! Here’s a clue – it may be related to the series I’ve been reviewing for weeks. [more]
Battle for the Planet of the Apes is Underwhelming
The last film of the original five Planet of the Apes movies has been watched. It was… okay, despite being kind of bland. [more]
Crossbones Could Be Great TV – Eventually
The first two episodes of Neil Cross’ new pirate show, starring John Malkovich, have aired. I examine them. Completely without nautical puns too. [more]
Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris: A Review
From Charlaine Harris, the bestselling author who created Sookie Stackhouse and her world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, comes a darker locale – populated by more strangers than friends. But then, that’s how the locals prefer… [more]