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Fantastic Four (2005): A Retro Review
The moment that principal photography on Roger Corman’s million-dollar production of The Fantastic Four commenced on December 28, 1992, the ultimate goal of license holder Bernd Eichinger was instantly fulfilled. His hold on the Fantastic… [more]
8House: Arclight #2: Rich in its Restraint
We should start this review by revising, in retrospect, some of the assumptions and conclusions I made about 8House: Arclight #1. For one thing, as some have pointed out, I’m not entirely sure what the… [more]
Blood in the Moonlight: Hannibal Season Three Episode Nine
Hannibal is frequently a praise worthy show. It must be said, however, I found myself especially impressed by its latest episode. It’s not a particularly eventful episode, by Hannibal’s standards. There are no murders, no… [more]
Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four: A Retro Review
While Marvel Comics stablemate Spider-Man took a rather circuitous route to the big screen, that journey almost pales in comparison to what happened to the Fantastic Four on the way to a film franchise they could call their own. [more]
Spring: Monsters and Romance
My overall reaction to Drafthouse Film’s new release, Spring, is definitely a positive one. I’ll be interested in what the directors, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, will do next. They’ve directed one movie together before,… [more]
Shatner’s Man O War: A Voice is Missing
We are given Chapter 1, “How it All Began.” Opening the book we are told “in the near future, humanity has colonized the moon and Mars, but corporate greed and over reliance on technology have… [more]
No Future For You – Crossed +100
*SPOILERS for the six issue Crossed +100 storyline* Then the whole community of Israel set out from Elim and journeyed into the wilderness of Sin – Exodus 16 We all know what the post-apocalypse looks… [more]
Southern Bastards #10: A Force of Nature
Coach Big is dead. That fact no doubt affects people in lots of different ways in Craw County, and the larger mythic universe of Southern Bastards. But before we get to all of that, the… [more]
Rasputin #7: Ghosts
“Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living” -Arthur C. Clarke That’s a very interesting maxim to apply to Grigori Rasputin, particularly in… [more]
Invisible Republic #5: One Door Opens… Then Ten Others
At the end of issue #5 of Invisible Republic, we’ve reached the end of the first story arc in style. Opening up its secrets like a very well-written television series, the big twist at the… [more]
Worst. Episode. Ever.: “I’ve Got Batman in my Basement”
The success of Batman: The Animated Series can not be understated. Debuting on September 5th, 1992 until September 15th 1995, the series has long been known for its dark atmosphere, in line with the Tim… [more]
Ernest Cline’s Armada: One Remove Too Many
At last, Ernest Cline, best-selling author of Ready Player One, has released his second novel, Armada. RPO was so fun to read, and so perfectly constructed, that its follow-up was bound to be disappointing. And… [more]
Lost Soul Tells the Story of Richard Stanley’s Dr. Moreau
Richard Stanley’s The Island of Dr. Moreau is one of the great unmade films in the history of science fiction cinema, yet unlike many “unmade” films, such as Jodorowsky’s Dune, this project actually did yield… [more]
Bitch Planet Studies Exploitation With Exploitation
Bitch Planet is a comic that uses the language of exploitation, visual and verbal, to discuss the topic of exploitation. And it’s definitely well-informed on that subject. Kelly Sue DeConnick’s script is full of metaphors… [more]
Descender #5: The Centre of the Galaxy
In the latest issue of Descender, we get a tremendous narrative “focus pulling”, showing us with absolute clarity for the first time where the story of TIM-21, Dr Quon, Captain Telsa and Driller fit into… [more]
8House Arclight #1: Graceful and Dignified Fantasy/Sci-Fi
It doesn’t take a great deal of exposition to build a completely original and engrossing science fiction/fantasy world, especially in comics. That principle is exemplified by the 8House series, the first story arc of which… [more]
Rasputin Is Back
Rasputin returns for its sixth issue, following one of the most dramatic and unexpected jump-cuts in the history of comics that ended the previous issue. It isn’t as if this issue walks back those surprises… [more]
A Sandman Miscellany: Sandman Overture #5 Review
One of the difficult aspects of reviewing Neil Gaiman’s bookend of his long developed Sandman conceptual universe is making heads and tails of the myriad pathways that intertwine in the grand narrative. [more]
Invisible Republic #4: Get Another Source
As I’ve mentioned before in our discussions of Invisible Republic, one of the most interesting things about this book is the nature of the dramatic stakes. Nobody is fighting to “save the world” in the… [more]
Southern Bastards #9: Past, Present and Football
“But the Good Lord always gives us another chance, don’t he?” -Coach Big Here were are again, back in the tangled thicket of history, race, sex, sports, ribs and morality that populate the literate and… [more]
Manifest Destiny #15: It Turns Out Bird Is The Word…
Manifest Destiny somehow always seems to keep one toe in historical reality, and one toe in the wildest fantastic metaphors of the all-American mind. But it has generally erred on the side of realism: even… [more]
Orange is the New Black Season 3
Like many people this weekend, I marathoned the entire third season of the Netflix series Orange is the New Black. (Many of us are also working on Sense8, which is a much more complex and… [more]
Chrononauts Roars to an End in Issue #4
After four issues, which brings us to the end of the first story arc of Chrononauts, here’s the story in a nutshell: two irresponsible teenaged goofballs steal a hot car and proceed to have a… [more]
Descender #4: Is Driller a Killer?
The cover of the new issue of Descender is adorned by a character who is rapidly becoming the “Chewbacca” of the series, “Driller”. Driller is exactly what he says he is: a robot that drills… [more]
Jurassic Park III: A Retro Review
In summer of 1993, most of the world watched and fell in love with the Jurassic Park movie. But while I’m sure countless folks would have loved to make a dinosaur movie after seeing it,… [more]