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Superhero Accessories: Part Three: Mo Bat-Money, Mo Bat-Problems
…continued from here. It’s worth noting that the original Klan and the fictional KKK seen in The Birth of a Nation were both begun by young rich white guys who lived in mansions. The hero… [more]
Review of Arrow Season 2, Episode 18
In just about any story, the hero has to be laid low before the climax. Doing so serves multiple purposes, it showcases that the hero is fallible and must struggle greatly to succeed while also… [more]
The Sandman Overture #2 Review
Written by: Neil Gaiman Art by: J.H. Williams, III Cover by: J.H. Williams, III Dave McKean Variant Cover by: J.H. Williams, III Dave McKean Rating: 9 (of 10) After two delays and much anticipation, the… [more]
Hannibal vs. Bates Motel: One Kills the Other
Sometime last year a friend of mine recommended I watch Bates Motel, a show about a young Norman Bates. For those of you who don’t know who Norman Bates is – we can’t be friends.… [more]
Twilight of the (New) Gods, Part 1
Introduction “This is the way the world ends…” William Blake. Ever since the moment humanity began to ask about its origins, we also began to wonder about our ultimate end, and what, if anything, comes… [more]
Thoughts on Amazon, Comixology and Digital Comics
The recent announcement of Comixology and Amazon merging has some people all in a flutter once again about the rise of digital comics. Other than the obvious advice (calm down), I think some historical and… [more]
Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Nine
If you wanted to define the visual aesthetic of Scarab in one word, that word would probably be ugly. Everything from Glenn Fabry and Tony Luke’s covers to the title character’s costume/second skin design to the look… [more]
Manifest Destiny #6: Lewis and Clark’s Dreams
The most important part of this issue of Manifest Destiny, by Chris Dingess, Matthew Roberts and Own Gieni, is the passage where we get to see Lewis and Clark’s dreams. In historical terms, Meriwether Lewis… [more]
Sandman #75: How It Ends, and Begins
What made Shakespeare famous was his ability to pen adaptations. This salacious fact draws from his purloining of content from long dead authors, incapable of making too much of a fuss, though some noticed. Gaiman,… [more]
Aronofsky’s Noah: The Shaggy Dad
“NOAH!” “What?!” -Bill Cosby Darren Aronofsky’s Noah is a pretty intense comic book. That shouldn’t be too surprising to anyone familiar with his other work, particularly his films. But it bears repeating that, unlike the… [more]
Buffy: No Future For You
The next story arc of Buffy Season 8 once again hits on the main theme of this season and indeed the later seasons of the TV series: what does it mean to be a Slayer?… [more]
On Your Left: A Review of Captain America: The Winter Soldier
ALERT: THERE BE SPOILERS HERE!! Let me be upfront: The Avengers is a fantastic movie. It is. If you haven’t seen it, you are missing out. But, it really missed an emotional core that left… [more]
“An Arrogant, Aristocratic Batman?”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 13
Continued from last week. But how were Morrison and Millar to explain away the Batman’s aloof and frequently contemptuous attitude towards even his fellow super-heroes? If the Dark Knight was to be cut away from the… [more]
Jodorowsky’s Dune: Where Trying Matters
Francis Coppola once said (while making Apocalypse Now) that to reach for greatness and not get there is the greatest artistic sin. A film that aims for the top and doesn’t get there is “shit!”… [more]
Alan Moore, Oscar Zarate, and One Killer of a Graphic Novel
I was reconnecting with some of my former professors at a reception this past weekend when one of them asked what I was working on. I said I had almost finished writing a book about… [more]
Review of Arrow Season 2, Episode 17
I didn’t take any notes while watching “Birds of Prey”. Not to say I’m a prolific transcriber of material when I’m watching TV, but generally when I’m watching something I intend to write about later… [more]
Capital Thoughts: Captain America #18
Cap #18 has our heroic team racing off to a top-secret SHIELD installation. But Mindbubble is already there and has used his psychotropic powers to convince Fury and his agents that Hydra has taken over… [more]
Review of Community Season 5, Episode 10
Season Two’s Advanced Dungeons and Dragons was one of the best Community episodes ever. It was a perfect melding of form and theme. The episode’s gimmick was telling the entire story through a Dungeons and… [more]
Perfect Chaos: Why the Joker is the Greatest Comic-Book Villain
Simply put: the Joker is the greatest comic book villain of all time. But before I get into the whys, let’s define “great”. The greatest villain doesn’t need to defeat all other villains in a… [more]
Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol #19, A Companion Reader
The first four issues of Grant Morrison’s run of Doom Patrol are rife with allusions to popular culture and the fine arts bound by a love of opposites. [more]
Manifest Destiny #1-5, or “Lewis and Clark vs the Vegetable Zombies”
The slug-line description of Manifest Destiny, a comic by Chris Dingess and Matthew Roberts, is “Lewis and Clark go west to fight monsters”. That would be interesting enough right there, but thing that gives this… [more]
X-Men: To the Outback & Beyond… Part 2
Writer: Chris Claremont Penciler: Marc Silvestri Inker: Dan Green Colorist: Glynis Oliver Letter: Tom Orzechowski Editor: Ann Nocenti continued With the eulogy to their previous lives delivered last issue in Deadly Games! , with this… [more]
The Crying of Timeline 919: Casanova
In the backmatter for issue #1 of Casanova, (Image, June 2006) Matt Fraction compares the story to Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound production technique—where hundreds of different instruments and sounds are compressed down to a… [more]
“This is Not a Dream, but a Plan”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 12
Continued from last week. There are other indications that Millar might have been a major contributor to the new JLA’s origin tale. In the Justice League’s own title, Morrison had scrupulously ensured that his innovations were… [more]
Moving Pieces into Place with Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #3
In the new Serenity comic, issue #3 of Leaves on the Wind, there’s a lot of ground covered in very little time. If there’s one issue where we can feel the story not exactly slipping… [more]