ON COMICS CHARACTERS
ON SCI-FI FRANCHISES
ON GRANT MORRISON
ON TV AND MOVIES
OTHER BOOKS
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Search Results for:
superhero
The Super-Heroics of Frank Miller and Alan Moore, Part 2
Prime-Era Superheroes After a falling out with British Comics publishers, Alan Moore began working with DC Comics writing the horror-book Swamp Thing. Most of Swamp Thing avoided utilization of most superheroes sans some supernatural characters.… [more]
Frank Miller’s RoboCop: A Retrospective Review
I have to give it a hand to the Avatar people for pushing for Frank Miller’s original RoboCop 2 script to be adapted onto the comics’ page. The story of RoboCop 2 is always fascinating,… [more]
“It Would Have Made a Great Comic”: On Skrull Kill Krew #1-5 (The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 43)
Continued from last week. Yet whatever its strengths, Morrison and Millar’s 2099 proposal went to waste, with a far less sweeping and less nostalgic series of changes being introduced instead. As part of the ongoing… [more]
The Original Science-Fiction Hero, Part 2: Buck Rogers and the Art of the Reboot
In last week’s column, I wrote about the original novella from Amazing Stories that first introduced Buck Rogers. This week I want to look at two recent attempts to reboot the character. Whenever I talk… [more]
The Super-Heroics of Frank Miller and Alan Moore, Part 1
Introduction— Frank Miller and Alan Moore defined modern comics. While they were not the first writers to bring darkness, contemporary political issues or realism to comics, they helped shape the modern comics industry. For better… [more]
Akira Toriyama and the Japanese Superman: Son Goku and Science Fiction
There is a divergence between Eastern and Western fantasy in the modern age that is nascent but hidden beneath cultural barriers. Americans can watch an episode of Dr. Who and enjoy the languishing British empire… [more]
Conversations with Creators: Royden Lepp
Conversations with Creators is a collaborative interview series designed to understand the processes and inner workings of the artist, their creations, and how their work impacts the comic booking industry. Each meeting is candid and… [more]
“The Greatest and / or Worst Picto-fics of All Time”: The Multiversity: The Just #1
Three issues in and the Multiversity event shows no signs of slowing down or disappointing. One of the added joys of The Just for me personally was seeing more of Ultra Comics and that books… [more]
“A Fading 2099 Universe”: On Skrull Kill Krew #1-5 (The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 42)
Continued from last week. The problem with Skrull Kill Krew obviously wasn’t a lack of ambition on Morrison and Millar’s part. The same was true for several of their other substantial pitches to Marvel during… [more]
The Multiversity Interlude: Whatever Happened to the Supercontext?
“It’s only part of something much better that will be wonderful… To believe that things are going to get better and we will participate in things getting better… Is just us about to become something… [more]
“To Shoot Every Last Skrull On Earth”: On Skrull Kill Krew #1-5 (The American Superhero Comics Of Mark Millar, Part 41)
Continued from last week. Despite the precipitous collapse and subsequent flatlining of Swamp Thing’s sales in the second half of 1994, Millar’s career at the half-point of the decade still appeared to be in rude… [more]
Getting the Band Back Together: A Review of Q2: The Return of Quantum and Woody #1
When Valiant was reborn back in 2012 and returned to comic book store shelves everywhere, one question kept being asked at every convention the company made an appearance at: when were Quantum and Woody coming… [more]
“About Sixty Per Cent Happy”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 40
Continued from last week. The rest of Millar’s Swamp Thing tales shared the same weaknesses as River Run, although they only intermittently reflected the same strengths. The likes of Twilight of The Gods and Chester… [more]
Hipster in Gotham: A Review of Batgirl #35
One of the biggest problems with a character like Batgirl is that she can’t grow up. Since DC Comics already has a Batwoman, it’s not like Batgirl can graduate and mature. Due to the nature… [more]
Space Cannibals and Guillermo del Toro: On Gamera vs. Guiron
The influence behind Knifehead. And a whole bunch of nonsense in this surprisingly violent entry in the Gamera series. [more]
“So Many Questions are Left Unanswered”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 39
Continued from last week. For the third time in ten months, Millar’s Swamp Thing had presented abortion in a wholly negative light. Nothing that he’d write in the remainder of his tenure on the book… [more]
Obsession and Superhero Movies: Scenes from a Comics Convention, Part 2
If you read last week’s column, you know that I recently attended the second annual Nashville Comic Con. This week, I’d like to talk about one of the panels that made a particular impression on… [more]
Capital Thoughts: Captain America #24
Superhero families have always been something of a mystery. As most serious readers of comics know, the 1955 Comics Authority banned virtually all sexual activity from comics, and even within the bounds of marriage, sex… [more]
A Leap Forward: The Flash Pilot Review
One of the smartest things The Flash manages to do in its first full episode as a TV series is establish just about everything it needs to hum along as both a show and as… [more]
Truth, Justice, and Ferguson
The story of Ferguson, an image of small town USA torn apart, unfolded through the media in increasing complexity. First, there were the tragic reports of a black, unarmed teenager shot six times, twice in… [more]
The Politics of Batman, Part 5: Batman Returns, Enron, and the Buying of American Democracy
I first saw the film Batman Returns when it was released in 1992. I was young and didn’t understand it. I found the Penguin disgusting. I had a sense that the movie was condemning American… [more]
“Why d’You Think God Created Abortion Clinics?”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 38
Continued from last week. After abortion as a vehicle for laddish jokes and abortion as a means for evoking terror, Millar turned to abortion as a symbol of crass irresponsibility. (ST: 147/152/157) In Sink Or… [more]
Could Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam Contribute to Orientalism?
Dwayne Johnson will play DC heavy-hitter Black Adam in an upcoming Shazam film. Fans were either reviled or revitalized, but what has been rarely discussed is how exactly Black Adam should be adapted to the big screen. We just need to be careful. [more]
The Shatner News No One Covered: Scenes from a Comics Convention, Part 1
Recently, Denise Dorman, the wife of the great Star Wars artist, Dave Dorman, posted a blog where she described the financial difficulties faced by many of the comics creators who attend conventions. Hers was a… [more]