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superhero
How to be a Super-Hero in Five Minutes Flat
J. Michael Straczynski and Esad Ribic’s Silver Surfer: Requiem is one of the best comics I have read in recent memory.
Super-Hero Comics and Reader Textualization: Participation and Narrative Construction
This is a piece that explores the idea of textualization in super-hero comics and how these stories are constructed. More than that, it is an introduction to exploring purpose — why are super-heroes so engaging… [more]
“Ultimatum”, “Crisis On Infinite Earths” & “Onslaught” & The Thinning Out Of The Superhero Herd A Touch:- “The End Of All Flesh Is Come Before Me”
“Ultimatum” 14. “Ultimatum” was designed to affect an extraordinary culling of super-folks from Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, a somewhat-ailing if still successful component of the companies multiverse. Like “Crisis” and “Onslaught”, it was a project designed… [more]
O Captain, My Captain (Part 1)
Captain America and Superman are pretty much universally recognized as the superheroes who best exemplify the values of justice and freedom that have been held up as our nation’s greatest achievements and still elusive goals since… [more]
On Feeling Compelled to Boycott Greg Land’s Uncanny X-Men
I can’t do it, I just can’t. It doesn’t matter how much I admire Kieron Gillen as a writer, and admire him I most certainly do. He’s undoubtedly one of the best half-dozen writers currently at… [more]
Why Continuity Matters
Continuity. The word alone strikes terror into the hearts of editors everywhere. When you disregard it, people will want it back. When you keep it, new readers complain it’s too much to ask of them.
Mark Millar’s The Ultimates, Part 2: Something More Traditional
After the first six issues of Millar’s The Ultimates had established the team as a group of celebrity soldiers with little ethical or moral backbone (except for Thor who is considered insane by the others),… [more]
Justice for All
Fourth Age of Comics is an excellent blog site that examines modern comic book storytelling with a particular focus on the types of issues superheroes can effectively be used to address.
Behind the Mask
At Halloween, superhero costumes are a popular choice for many Trick-or-Treaters. (We had two Iron Men and a Spider-Man come to our door last year.) This is a departure from the original concept behind Halloween… [more]
The Origin of the Punisher and the Narrative Power of War
I do not think it is entirely unfair to suggest that the commonly agreed upon origin for the Punisher is focused on the idea of vengeance over the death of Frank Castle’s family. This is… [more]
Interview with Peter Laird
Peter Laird is an indie comic sensation. Together with Kevin Eastman, the two created the most successful independent comic franchise of all time, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Laird also started the Xeric Award — a… [more]
All for One, One for All — The Super-Hero Story
I had originally planned to write this article at a later date, but after reading Cody Walker and Julian Darius’s columns this past week, I couldn’t resist the temptation to jump ahead. I’ve been brewing… [more]
Colin Smith on Comics Criticism
As a medium, comics are in a strange place. In many ways, we as comics scholars and advocates have achieved the respect we long sought.
Captain Britain and the Comforting Myths of Englishness
In Paul Cornell’s Captain Britain and MI:13 #1, the eponymous Captain is killed by a Skrull missile during an alien invasion of Britain. As is the way of super-hero comics — and as was something of a habit… [more]
Roundtable on Current Super-Hero Comics, the Problem of Nostalgia, and the Genre’s Future
Depending on whom you ask, current super-hero comics are either sub-competent exercises in nostalgia or exciting, dynamic explorations of heroism, adapted for contemporary times.
The Future of Super-Hero Comics
With comic sales on the decline and the DC Relaunch looming on the horizon, the question of “what does the future hold for super-hero comics?” is an incredibly important one to consider. Before we consider… [more]
He’s Not a Super-Hero, He’s Not Even a Very Naughty Boy: The Case Against Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell’s Zenith
He’s a bad one, that Zenith, and we can be sure about that badness because the people who know assure us that it’s true.
Flashpoint: Hal Jordan and the Strange Askew Culture of Comic-Book Excellence
It’s impossible to believe that DC Comics was careless where it came to Flashpoint: Hal Jordan. They must have known exactly what it was that they were doing. The powers at 1700 Broadway, NYC, must… [more]
Why I (Don’t) Hate Bat-Man, Part 2
In which we continue our look, begun here, at the first year of the Batman’s existence.
The Pop Manifesto
It’s not the responsibility of a manifesto to make sense. It’s the job of a manifesto to make it appear that the things which it claims to oppose don’t make sense.
Why I Hate Bat-Man, Part 1
The Bat-Man was not a bad-ass. He was an idiot.
On Flashpoint #1: Sex, Gender, and the Superhero Crossover
We’ll talk of the value of Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert’s Flashpoint #1 solely in the context of a superhero comic at another time, but it’s worth saying in passing that it’s in many ways a… [more]
Event Fatigue
If you hate event comics, then you don’t really like comics. There. I said it.
The Mighty Thor, the “Frail and Feeble” Donald Blake
What are we to make of the hero and his alter ego in “The Mighty Thor and the Stone Men from Saturn,” from August 1962?