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Zaki’s Review: Black Panther
Black Panther is a movie that, of necessity, means different things to different audiences. As the latest entry in Disney’s expansive Marvel Cinematic Universe, it holds a specific appeal to longtime comic fans and those… [more]
Review of Prism Stalker #1
Writer and Artist: Sloane Leong Publisher: Image Comics Prism Stalker is a new science fiction series from Image comics. These days “a new science fiction series from Image” is not quite an exciting announcement as… [more]
Review of Michel Fiffe’s Zegas
Writer/Artist: Michel Fiffe Publisher: Fantagraphics While reading Copra, Michel Fiffe’s ongoing tribute to 1980s team comics, it’s easy to just bask in the art, because it’s truly spectacular. At once a summation of many major… [more]
A Trip Through Old Wounds: Patrick Meaney’s House of Demons
It is fairly clear, to my mind, that when most people live long enough, they have moments that they wish they could change. It can be something that they did, or something that they did… [more]
Advance Review: Blood of the Four
(I am a Harper Voyager Super reader: the publishing house HarperVoyager gives me free advance copies of upcoming science-fiction and fantasy titles, and in return I write honest reviews. This is my first such review… [more]
Review of The Dark Judges: The Fall of Deadworld, Book 1
Writer: Kek-W Artist: Dave Kendall Letterer: Annie Parkhouse Publisher: Rebellion / 2000AD As someone who has gotten into Judge Dredd in his late 20s, I have a lot of opinions that would, undoubtedly, mark me… [more]
Thor: Ragnarok, or Shakespeare for Schmucks
In a NYT review of Thor: Ragnarok, you can almost hear the writer, Manohla Dargis, desperately turning her notes over and over for something good to say. The best that she can muster is that… [more]
Holiday Double Feature: Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League
Holidays and breaks are the perfect time to sit down to a double-feature. Way back when, double-features were purposely paired, and I like to try and keep that tradition on the rare occasions I have… [more]
Batman: The Telltale Series Season 1 Review
To state the obvious, Batman has been a phenomenon that has transcended the realm of comics into a multimedia franchise powerhouse. Batman has conquered cartoons (most notably with Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond),… [more]
Go See Valerian
I fell in love with Valerian in the first ten minutes, and I never got over it. Let me explain — it’s not a serious spoiler. We start with human exploration of space, jumping forward,… [more]
Why You Shouldn’t Like Spider-Man: Homecoming, but Probably Do
The Catholic philosopher and theologian Peter Kreeft once quipped, “People will forgive you for being wrong, but they will never forgive you for being right.” I imagine that this is why my distaste for Spider-Man:… [more]
Colossal: A Strikingly Original and Fresh Film
(This review is spoiler-free.) Colossal is not a perfect film, and it won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it has several very important virtues that allow it to stand apart from most of the film… [more]
Godshaper #1 from Boom! Studios Divinely Blurs the Lines
In some cases, the divide between religion and magic, between the divine and the supernatural, is a narrow one. In BOOM! Studios new series Godshaper, that distinction is blurred further with the addition to commerce.… [more]
4 3 2 1: Paul Auster’s New Postmodern Masterpiece
First, turn off your computer or smart phone—yes, right now—grab 4 3 2 1, and plow straight through it. True, it’s almost 900 pages long, but trust me, you won’t want it to end. I’ll… [more]
On the 50th Anniversary of The Velvet Underground and Nico
The first album of the Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground and Nico, was released, after a long delay, 50 years ago today. It’s hard to find words adequate to express what a landmark event this… [more]
Logan: A Brilliant, Game-Changing Film
In some ways, the X-Men have always been about family. Looking back to the first Bryan Singer film from 2000, many of the dramatic tensions revolve around a group of outcasts trying to piece together… [more]
The Belfry: A Nightmare Comic
Sometimes it’s interesting to read a comic that isn’t part of world-building or creating a complex, multi-layered world. To be sure: such complex comics are very welcome, and Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko’s Invisible Republic… [more]
Riverdale’s Rips off Twin Peaks (Badly) and Normalizes Rapey Plotline
There’s a lot wrong with CW’s latest show, Riverdale. Let’s put aside the crazy clown red hair and pale faces of the murder victim Jason Blossom and Archie. Or the obvious invocations of past popular… [more]
Hidden Figures: An Old-Fashioned Feel-Good Movie that Teaches
Hidden Figures is a harmless, old-fashioned all-ages family movie, that teaches an important historical lesson, but it’s light on its feet, entertaining and never feels like a slog. Quite the contrary: this is a very… [more]
Necropolitan #1: The Geography of Hell
We all think we know what hell is. (Ironically, heaven is much more difficult to define or describe, as George Carlin once pointed out.) But somehow, we all seem to “get” hell. Fire, suffering, screaming… [more]
The Goddamned #5: No Happy Endings
“I’m Cain, the man who invented murder. But God invented me, so ask yourself: who’s the real asshole here?” If readers expected the story of Jason Aaron and r. m. Guera’s The Goddamned to take… [more]
Descender #18: Back to Business
In its latest issue, #18, Descender gets back to business, driving the plot of this story forward after taking some time to develop the characters in recent issues. This issue is classic space opera science… [more]
Manifest Destiny #25: Who Are The Demons?
It’s a very special issue of Manifest Destiny as the 25th issue makes its appearance this week. The journey of Lewis and Clark has entered a different phase, as the Corps of Discovery settles down… [more]