ON COMICS CHARACTERS
ON SCI-FI FRANCHISES
ON GRANT MORRISON
ON TV AND MOVIES
OTHER BOOKS
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Magazine
Neil Gaiman: The Early Years, Black Orchid (Part 2), “Gangsters and Scientists”
Continued from part 1. In the introduction to the first collected edition of Black Orchid, Neil Gaiman wrote, “I know that some people regard this writing as escapist fiction, but I think that tales of… [more]
That’s Not Funny: Alan Moore’s Tragic Joker
The ’80s for comics is something akin to the British Invasion. American Rock-and-Roll saw a exponential boost in popularity when British acts invaded the already well-established scene, bringing with them unique stylistic influences that would… [more]
“Bogeymen”: Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing Issue #44
Swamp Thing #44 “Bogeymen” Cover date: January 1986. Writer: Alan Moore. Artists: Stephen Bissette, Ron Randall & John Totleben. Colorist: Tatjana Wood. Letters: John Costanza. Editor: Karen Berger. The issue opens with a scene in… [more]
From Shazam to the Devil, from Brother Power the Geek to Jesus?: Shameless? Part 8
Continued from last week. It’s impossible to say how much the young Millar wrote or how often he sent off his work to publishers in the years before he landed the Trident Comics contract. His… [more]
On Armageddon 2001 and the Annual-Based Crossover
Armageddon 2001 was the first DC universe-wide crossover to run through the company’s annuals. The central mini-series of Armageddon 2001 was only two issues long, acting as “bookends” to the tie-ins, which ran exclusively through… [more]
My Best Guess for How to Live Life as a Super-Hero
As I write this, the authorities are still pursuing the perpetrators of the April 15 bombing of the Boston Marathon, although it looks like we might not have to wait much longer to see them… [more]
How Far is Too Far?: Excessive Violence in Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
For centuries, writers all over the world have seen the word censorship as a dirty word. And rightly so. No self-respecting writer wants his/her intellectual property to be covered up as though it wasn’t good… [more]
Humanity, Heroism, and Action: Grant Morrison’s Action Comics #3
Gene Ha takes over on art duties for the first seven pages of issue #3 in order to show what Krypton was like. The first page of issue #3 depicts Krypton as a colorful utopia… [more]
Ascending the Throne: Dream’s Return to Dominance in Sandman #25-28
Obligation to duty is an odd way of exacting revenge for a condemned archangel. Thus far in Season of Mists, Gaiman’s philosophy of duty and right work ethic encircles the conundrum of Lucifer’s Miltonian Hell,… [more]
1986: The British Invasion, Part 1 — Grant Morrison in 1986: Batman
As shown in previous installments, in the mid-1980s there were notable late works by two of the leading members of the founding generation of comic book professionals, Will Eisner and Jack Kirby. This period is… [more]
What if Superman was Really the Antichrist!?!: Shameless? Part 7
Continued from last week. The Saviour #1-6 (December 1989 to January 1991) Trident #5 (April 1990) The Saviour TPB Volume 1, Trident, 1990 (reprints all of the above except issue 6, with a Neil Gaiman… [more]
Patrick Meaney: The Sequart Interview
Patrick Meaney is the author of Our Sentence is Up, as well as essays in several Sequart anthologies and a contributor to Sequart.org. He’s also the director of Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods and Warren… [more]
What Damian Wayne Says about Adult Comic Fans
A few days ago, one of my friends from work was telling me about a particularly attractive girl that he knew from his other job. I know, this isn’t a terribly interesting way to start… [more]
Neil Gaiman: The Early Years, Black Orchid’s Passive and Impassive Universe Part 1
Neil Gaiman, like Alan Moore, is someone working in comics who seems to need no introduction. Their influence and impact is so pervasive that they’ve practically become a household name. But there’s a danger to… [more]
Superior Spider-Man Memories
The premise of one of Marvel Now’s flagship titles, The Superior Spider-Man, may initially come across as a classic sci-fi plot: two characters having their minds magically “switched” to create fish-out-of-water scenarios. But within the… [more]
“Windfall”: Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing Issue #43
Swamp Thing #43 “Windfall” Cover date: December 1985. Writer: Alan Moore. Artists: Stan Woch & Ron Randall. Colorist: Tatjana Wood. Letters: John Costanza. Editor: Karen Berger This issue is aptly entitled ‘Windfall’, both for its… [more]
“That Wicked Tongue Will Land You in Trouble Some Day”: Shameless? Part 6
Continued from last week. Shameless? will inevitably reference the way in which Mark Millar has discussed his own work. As such, it’s worth noting that his distinctive public persona turns out not to have been… [more]
On Warren Ellis’s Super-Hero Work at Avatar
We’ve previously looked at Warren Ellis’s realistic worldview, at his much-celebrated 1999-2003 period, and at his work for Marvel from 2004-2010. One of the more interesting developments of Ellis’s career, especially given his professed distaste… [more]
On Sequart’s Grant Morrison Library (Video)
In which I discuss Sequart’s three books on Grant Morrison’s work: Timothy Callahan’s Grant Morrison: The Early Years, Patrick Meaney’s Our Sentence is Up: Seeing Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles, and Tom Shapira’s just-released Curing the… [more]
“Don’t Tell Me What to Do”: Looking at Hellboy Refusing Fate by Pushing Freewill
Hellboy is the intellectual demon child of comic book writer Mike Mignola. It’s been published by Dark Horse Comics off and on since 1993. Hellboy’s origin is simple, during WWII in 1944 an occultist by… [more]
Humanity, Heroism, and Action: Grant Morrison’s Action Comics #2
In the supplemental material in the issue, Grant Morrison writes, “Superman is mankind at its best, and Lex Luthor is us at our worst . . . but they’re both us.” It’s a sentiment that… [more]
Sandman #21-24: Expanding Cosmologies and Dream’s Spiritual Subjugation
In the forward to The Absolute Sandman, Volume One Paul Levitz quipped that Sandman was an unfolding dialectic that narrowed the lines between folk tale and myth. Since the beginning of this narrative, Levitz speculated… [more]
1986: Strikeforce: Morituri, Part 2: No Way Out
In Strikeforce: Morituri, the Marvel Comics series created by writer Peter B. Gillis and artist Brent Anderson, which debuted towards the end of 1986, the Earth of the late 21st century is under attack by… [more]
The Adolescent High Conceptualist: Shameless? Part 5
Continued from last week. It would take Millar almost a decade to develop a style that was as controlled and effective as his ideas were consistently intriguing. The first substantial evidence of this would appear… [more]