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superhero
Building an Altar to the Super-Hero Holy Trinity
As I was reading Lance Parkin’s Magic Words, a biography of Alan Moore, I looked to my right at the nightstand against my wall and came to the realization that it is, in fact, an altar.… [more]
Superhero Accessories: Part One: Masked Vigilantes
Perhaps the most damning criticism Alan Moore made about superheroes has been overlooked in all the controversy around the ‘Last interview’: ‘the origin of capes and masks as ubiquitous superhero accessories can be deduced from… [more]
The Long Walk Home
“Everyone calls me ma’am these days.” -Buffy Summers Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the TV series, was about many things, including being a profoundly human and true coming-of-age story. By the end of season 7, Buffy… [more]
“A Semi-Unhinged, Essentially Humourless Loner Struggling with Rage and Guilt”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 9
Continued from last week. Grant Morrison’s ambition was, it appears, to free the DCU from the constraints of both wonder-killing editorial dictats and the conventions of the Dark Age. Yet unregulated creative anarchy doesn’t seem to… [more]
Archetypal Fictional Universes and Hypertexts in Seven Soldiers of Victory
Introduction In his long career, Grant Morrison has written many different types of comics in numerous genres, but he is most known for his work on mainstream superhero titles. This article will attempt to explore… [more]
A Brief History of the Spirit
Many articles have been written about The Spirit, but the best man to recount his origins was his creator. “When we started,” Will Eisner told The Comics Journal in one of the many interviews he… [more]
Will Eisner and the Ethics of Care
Remembering Will Eisner – and borrowing from Michael Chabon – Art Spiegelman said that the Jews have always been known as the People of the Book, but now they were also the People of the… [more]
“A Will Eisner Reader”: Your Introduction to a Master
To me, he’s always “Mr Eisner”. I’m sure he would have told me to call him “Will”, but something in my upbringing would have prevented me from being so informal. He could just as easily… [more]
Frimme and His God: Eisner’s Meditations on Suffering
Will Eisner, like Walt Disney or Orson Welles, is a household name in his field of expertise. He pioneered his work with such love and dedication that few have contested his reputation as the man… [more]
The Master Builder: Lego Collides with Animal Man #19
If you haven’t seen The Lego Movie yet, you ought to. I found that the film lived up to its expectations, which included the usual kiddy fanfare. But what I was unable to anticipate was… [more]
Beware the Batman Episode 6 Review
While previous episodes of Beware the Batman delighted in giving us revamped or updated versions of Batman’s lesser-known villains, episode 6 instead gives us a new look at one of his lesser-known allies. In Toxic,… [more]
Black Adam, Orientalism, and The Marvel Family #1
Black Adam is a focal point of American fears about the Other, and contributes to the perception of American moral and mental superiority over the Oriental inferior. [more]
Chasing Amy: A Pioneering Film Featuring Female Comics Creators
It’s easy to forget in 2014 that there was a time when comics weren’t really that close to the center of the cultural zeitgeist. But, though someone under twenty may not believe it, there was… [more]
The Great Smallville Rewatch, Part 3
The Journey While emphasizing again that this series was not simply a Superman origin, it would be disingenuous to suggest that, at its core, much of the appeal of the series is the dramatic tension… [more]
A Thousand Batmen Blooming: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 8
Continued from last week. The superhero genre had become more and more susceptible to the myth of the definitive version. It was a fan-consuming fallacy which presumed that each character possessed an irreducible core of utterly… [more]
Unfinished Apocalypse: Doktor Sleepless
At times, reading Warren Ellis’ and Ivan Rodriguez’ unfinished story Doktor Sleepless, especially in single issues, can feel like showing up a day late to the party of the century. The vibrant community surrounding the… [more]
Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Six
In the immortal words of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, “And Now For Something Completely Different —” It’s my belief, dear reader, that we live in drastic times — and that we have been for some… [more]
This Review is Rated NC-17: Sex – The Summer of Hard
It feels so strange to see the “Man of Action” logo on the back of a book like Sex. Not simply because of the graphic nature of the work (we’ll get to that) but because… [more]
Pulling Out of the Dark Age?: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 7
Continued from last week. It’s only to be expected that Millar’s work on the JLA would mesh with Grant Morrison’s agenda. But it is remarkable how closely and effectively Millar’s contributions reflected his friend’s wider ambitions… [more]
Review of Arrow Season 2, Episode 12
I was excited when it was announced that Michael Jai White had been cast in a villainous role for Arrow’s second season. He’s a magnetic performer who hasn’t really had anywhere near the opportunities to… [more]
The Great Smallville Rewatch, Part 2
Tapping the Mythology One of the complaints that comics fans make about Smallville is that it took hours and hours of television simply to retell “the origin of Superman,” which has been done so much… [more]
“How Can You Possibly Live in a World Without Superheroes?”: The American Superhero Comics Of Mark Millar, Part 6
Continued from last week. Who was responsible for what in Morrison and Millar’s many collaborations? Credit boxes are often little help at all. Stories which carried the Morrison/Millar by-line were on occasion the product of an… [more]
The Foucault Gospel: Grant Morrison, French Philosophy, and One Mangy Coyote
William Shatner has said that one of the secrets to a fulfilling life is learning to say “yes.” Sure, you sometimes make mistakes, but if you say “yes” enough times you wind up recording albums… [more]
#SixSeasonsAndAMovie: Why Community, and the Meta-Geeks Who Love It, are Having a Moment
With an epic narrative to rival the trials of Odysseus and his men, any fan of Dan Harmon’s “Community” can recount its constant struggle to remain on the air. In fact, the current hashtag on… [more]
Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Five
Welcome back to 1993! Nice enough place to visit, although you might not want to live here — Actually, 1993 wasn’t a bad year at all for comics. The Invisibles got off the ground with a… [more]