ON COMICS CHARACTERS
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ON GRANT MORRISON
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Magazine
X-Men: To the Outback & Beyond… Part 5
Writer: Chris Claremont Penciler: Marc Silvestri Inker: Dan Green Colorist: Glynis Oliver Letter: Tom Orzechowski Editor: Bob Harras Right off the bat, largely due to the graphic on the cover declaring “NOW ON SALE TWICE… [more]
Why It Doesn’t Matter What Ben Affleck’s Batman Costume Looks Like
A rational person bases their judgement on previous experience. This applies across the board, but is often forgotten, particularly in emotional situations involving childhood memories. That’s the best explanation I can come up with for… [more]
The Genius of Arrested Development, Season 4
Arrested Development is an acquired taste. Over three seasons, the show, featuring an ensemble cast focusing on an extremely dysfunctional family, struggled through incarceration, treason charges, brother-sister love, magic tricks gone awry, and plenty of… [more]
“Follow me; I seek the everlasting ices of the north…”: DC’s Frankenstein in Post-Millennial Publication, Part Two
We left the last article after establishing various conventions of the Creature and ended on the discussion of a crossover and crisis event. We begin this article with another company-wide crossover and crisis event. To… [more]
Gathering Moss: On Rolling Stone’s Top 50 Non-Superhero Graphic Novels
Last week Rolling Stone released its list of “The 50 Best Non-Superhero Graphic Novels.” Writer Joe Gross wrly notes that assembling such a list is tantamount to placing a large target on his back. A… [more]
Brian’s Comic Book Grab Bag: Eternal Warrior Volume 1 #18
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]
Cancellations and Renewals: What’s Happening to my Favourite Shows Next Year
I’ve mainly talked about two TV shows on this site, and that’s not by accident. I reviewed the whole fifth season of Community and wrote about why you should watch Hannibal. Some of you went… [more]
S.O.B. Indeed: A Review of the Animated Son of Batman Movie
SPOILERS BELOW: Last week, I had some Papa Gino’s pizza. It was a large, with extra cheese. (This is going to become relevant in a second, I promise.) I wasn’t too excited about it, honestly.… [more]
Raised by Raptors #1: Dynamite but Dino-Lite
“Raised by Raptors” #1, written by Oliver Sykes, the lead singer of metal band Bring Me the Horizon, is a strange pairing between dinosaurs and the Aztecs. Somewhat verbose and light on the action (and dinosaurs), I felt this dinodystopia left a lot to be desired. [more]
Sequart Officially Releases Chris Claremont X-Men Documentary
Sequart Organization and Respect Films are proud to announce that our Chris Claremont X-Men documentary is now officially released, including on Vimeo and DVD. Comics in Focus: Chris Claremont’s X-Men offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse at… [more]
“Swamp Thing was Just a Vegetable who Lived in a Bog, after All”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 18
Continued from last week. For almost a decade, Wein and Wrightson’s estimable if brief spell on Swamp Thing would prove impossible to follow. At best, the character would feature in some mildly suspenseful tales marked… [more]
Planet of the Apes Review
And lo the great Planet of the Apes viewing doth commence! I’m sure most of you know there’s a new Planet of the Apes movie coming out next month – Dawn of the Planet of… [more]
The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Pop Tragedy or Just Sad?
[Author’s note: If you haven’t seen The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and it feels like your Spidey sense is tingling, it’s probably because you’re about to encounter major spoilers.] I’ll always remember when I went to… [more]
Review of Arrow Season 2, Episode 22
“Streets of Fire” is the kind of breathless climax that TV is uniquely capable of. It’s nearly forty-five minutes of pure, unbridled forward momentum. Recklessly charging forward while paying off nearly an entire season’s worth… [more]
Buffy: Out of Control
Things are starting to get out of control for the Slayer army. That’s the essential, long-range, overall story arc point made in issues #22 and 23 of Buffy Season 8. But you could be forgiven… [more]
Blue is the Warmest Color: A Great Graphic Novel Love Story
Love, to this amateur, seems to have this peculiar quality of specificity and generality, at least in our memory. We remember sentiment, feeling and then some very particular moments or images. It’s like remembering a… [more]
Dear Zack Snyder: Get Wonder Woman Right!
“You’ll never believe this, but the Dredd movie is fantastic!” my brother Brian informed me. “Oh?” I didn’t want to say that all I really cared about was the portrayal of Psi-Judge Anderson, but …… [more]
The Grand Budapest Hotel after Two Viewings
“You can tell they had a low budget; all the backgrounds were painted.” That quote comes courtesy of one of the shining beacons of taste I went with to see The Grand Budapest Hotel. It… [more]
Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Eleven
Like you, I’m not quite sure what Glenn Fabry and Tony Luke’s cover for Scarab #5 is exactly supposed to be depicting other than some weird electricity coming out of our protagonist’s head, but it… [more]
Rat Queens #6: Hangovers and Dark Magic
We last left the Rat Queens at a wild party, having defeated an evil army, brought one of their members back from the brink of death and they celebrated appropriately. (Or, as we soon find… [more]
Brian’s Comic Book Grab Bag: Tangent Comics: Nightwing Volume 1 #1
This 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]
Why You Should Watch Justified
Justified should be a way more popular show. It’s not that it’s unpopular, in fact it’s heading into its sixth season, it’s that it should be resonating more clearly with viewers. It is the kind… [more]
Grant Morrison: The Zoids Years
Grant Morrison is well known for looking at the banality of life and giving things a unique cosmic twist. To live in his world of a magic-fuelled, comic rock-star means working in a world of… [more]
Orson Welles’ Mr. Arkadin
In honour of what would have been Orson Welles’ 99th birthday today, I’d like to offer some insight on one of his lesser-known and seldom-seen films, 1955’s Mr. Arkadin. It’s impossible to meaningfully discuss Orson… [more]
Starting Out Again at the Top: Swamp Thing (1994 to 1996) — The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 17
Continued from last week. It’s no overstatement to say that Mark Millar’s first major breakthrough at DC Comics owed everything to Grant Morrison. Offered the chance in 1993 to write Swamp Thing, Morrison assumed the… [more]