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Delivering the 20th Century, Part 3: Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell
In re-reading From Hell, it’s hard not to marvel at the liberation Alan Moore seems to be enjoying. Despite the brilliance of his earlier superhero and horror stories, there was often still a sense of… [more]
“A Narrative Structure in Which Despite a Series of Ridiculous Mishaps, All Goes Well”: On Multiversity: The Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of the Counter-World #1
Nearly a month ago the Multiversity event kicked off in grand fashion. Not long after that I took a lengthy and in depth look at the first issue. With the release of The Society of… [more]
X-Men: To the Outback & Beyond… Dying of the Light
After putting them through the wringer with Inferno, Chris Claremont gave our merry mutants a two issue break filled with shopping and drinking while simultaneously broaching the fallout of the event and introducing Jubilee. Now… [more]
Thoughts on Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
“There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the… [more]
American Comics, Literary Theory, and Religion by A. David Lewis: A Review
One of the markers of modernity is the concentration on, as well as the definition of, self. How the self is created, defined, and the limits of this identity are all modern questions that seem… [more]
Discovering McGruder’s Black Jesus: “I Gave at the Playground,” Episode 4
Fighting the struggle to unite a broken community in Compton, Black Jesus seems to meet his match in Black Jesus, episode 4 “I Gave at the Playground.” This complicates McGruder’s construction of Jesus more so… [more]
More Fascinating Storytelling in City on the Edge of Forever, The Original Teleplay
Before I get into my discussion of issues #3 and 4 of this excellent IDW Star Trek comic series, City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay, I should correct a factual error I… [more]
ZomBeing and Nothingness: Part 1
“A Zombie movie that never ends” Like a lot of people, I love reading The Walking Dead and I’m not always sure why. Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, and Tony Moore’s book is ludicrously successful, not… [more]
You Can Keep Snyder’s Wonder Woman; I’ll Just Watch Buffy
A comment I often see among fans of superhero movies is “Why can’t they make one with a female lead!?” or often simply, “Why can’t they make a Wonder Woman movie?” The answer is complicated.… [more]
Brian’s Comic Book Grab Bag: Shi: Heaven and Earth Volume 1 #4
On Christmas Day 2013, my brother gave me a booster pack of random, non-sequential issues from a variety of popular comic book titles that syndicated in the late eighties to mid nineties. The nineties was… [more]
Oh, My Aching Cranium!: Jack Kirby’s OMAC Deconstructed And Reconstructed, Part Four
“Man, that cover scared the shit out of me when I was a kid!” You have no idea how many times I’ve heard or read various iterations of that same statement made in regards to… [more]
Is Having No Wonder Woman Movie Better than Having a Bad One?
A recent clip of Fox Newsbots prattling on about superheroes without any tangible connection to reality has been making the rounds this week, just as has happened many times before. Among the many idiotic things… [more]
On The Act of Killing
I suspect The Act of Killing is going to be eternally seared into my memory. Anwar Congo’s smiling face isn’t going fade soon. The last article I wrote I included this quote from Russian director… [more]
Overcoming the Status Quo: Wonder Woman, Superheroes, and the American Criminal Justice System (Part 3)
In this three-part series, I explore where superheroes fit into popular conceptions of criminal justice in the United States, and the potential for Wonder Woman to help improve those conceptions. In Part 1, I looked… [more]
“Her Deepest, Hidden Secrets”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 36
Continued from last week. As so often before, Murder In The Dark saw Millar indulging in two of his greatest fascinations: body horror at the expense of helpless female victims and the tradition and dogma… [more]
Colloquium #8: Orange is the New Cape — CW Cooke on Solitary
Markisan interviews CW Cooke on Solitary, his upcoming superhero prison drama from Devil’s Due Entertainment. CW talks about the challenges of working on a creator-owned indie series, the politics of prison, what makes the mixture… [more]
Delivering the 20th Century, Part 2: Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell
Last week’s column looked at the origins of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell. This week it’s time to dive into some of the highlights from the first half of the book. The Prologue,… [more]
Smorgasbord #2: The Ubiquitous Charles Soule
Welcome to the Smorgasbord Podcast, where Tom Shapira (Curing the Postmodern Blues) and Shawn Edri talk about little of everything comics related. In this episode we talk possible new live-action superhero shows, the new novel… [more]
What Makes a Great Movie?
Ever wondered how I would define a great movie? No. Um… Maybe give this a read anyways? I explain how I would define a great movie, if you couldn’t guess. [more]
The Politics of Batman, Part 4: Sex, Sexism, and the Dark Knight
[Note: The following is reprinted from the book War, Politics and Superheroes] One of the main problems Batman has had from the outset of his career as Feudal Lord crime fighter is that he cannot… [more]
Death Grips: Niggas on the Moon
Throughout their three year history, Death Grips thrived on confrontation. Their first record, 2011′s ExMillitary, was a messy, puzzling, and delightfully primal stew of industrial rap, featuring what sounded like a shouting hobo plastered on… [more]
Revival Interview with Mike Norton and Tim Seeley at Boston Comic Con 2014
Nick Ford: I’m Nick Ford at Boston Comic Con and I’m here with Tim Seeley and Mike Norton of Revival, which is a comic for Image. Tell me a little about yourselves as comic creators and… [more]
Manifest Destiny #10: Enhanced Solutions
In the afterward for issue #10 if Manifest Destiny, Chris Dingess writes that the men on the boat are becoming a genuine threat to the monsters they encounter, rather than the other way around. That’s… [more]
Laugh it Up: Two Perspectives on Humor in Guardians of the Galaxy
Part I “The next real literary “rebels” in this country might well emerge as some weird bunch of anti-rebels, born oglers who dare somehow to back away from ironic watching, who have the childish gall… [more]
Failing to Defend Anita Sarkeesian
Can you debate a critic of Anita Sarkeesian? Is discussion even possible on the topic? As a casual fan of Sarkeesian and her well-constructed, well-argued, and entertaining Feminist Frequency videos, I’ve been appalled to read… [more]