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superhero
We are the Heroes of Earth-Prime: The Role of the Reader in the Multiverse
You. Yes, you. Staring at us. Studying us. Picking over these words and looking for meaning. Did it not occur to you that you are the one giving this significance? Every word you read is… [more]
Send in the Third String: An Argument for the Importance of Less Popular Superheroes
It is difficult to choose your favorite superhero. Most fans of any universe or mythology will immediately select the one that is the most well known or frequently seen in comparison to those that are… [more]
Joseph J. Darowski on His Comics Scholar Career and The Ages of Iron Man
Marvel’s shared cinematic universe has been a series of movies that have generated several billion dollars at the box office. It is a franchise that owes much of its success to the Robert Downy, Jr.’s… [more]
“Through the Eyes of a Fan”: How Being a Fanboy Changes One’s Outlook Both In and Outside the World of Comics
I am not pessimist. Let me make that very clear before I begin this exposition. I am not some kind of troll who sits behind a computer screen, ready to pounce on the latest superhero… [more]
Jessica Jones and Netflix’s New Storytelling
SPOILER WARNING Jessica Jones has a lot going on. It’s about trauma, PTSD, rape, and domestic abuse. (Oh, and superheroes, and Hell’s Kitchen, and the Marvel cinematic universe MCU). The fact is that Jessica Jones… [more]
Superheroes: The American Mythology Part I
Beginning in 1938, two simple creators will develop an entire genre of entertainment that will change the world. The humble beginnings of superheroes as pure heroes to guide America through the Great Depression. [more]
Plutona #3: Want To Be A Superhero?
The Roman Empire had nothing on groups of kids when it comes to conspiracy, collusion, forming alliances and keeping secrets. That’s one of the great truths about young people that Jeff Lemire and Emi Lenox… [more]
Supergirl: Not the Feminist Superhero People Want
I admit to never knowing, or caring to know, much about Supergirl. While I can talk pretty confidently about the story arcs and history of Batman or Superman or Wonder Woman or even to a… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 37
Issue #46 “Falling into Hell” Writer: Garth Ennis; Pencils: Will Simpson; Inker: Mark Pennington, Mark McKenna, Kim DeMulder, Stan Woch; Colors: Tom Ziuko; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Cover: Tom Canty; As with any ongoing comic series,… [more]
Prometheus Eternal: New Reflections on a Classic Myth
Greek mythology is, it almost goes without saying, full of characters who incur the wrath of more powerful gods by violating their arbitrary rules. Most of those violations amount to stepping outside of the proverbial… [more]
Portraits In Alienated British Youth Circa 1989-90, Part Fifteen : Les Enfants Terrible
Debuting in the pages of the well-regarded (and, at least by some of us, much-missed) British comics anthology series Crisis — specifically in issue number 50, cover-dated September, 1990 — John Smith and Sean Phillips’… [more]
Sorting Through Tim Burton’s Promising Wreckage: The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?
We have all probably heard, even if just in passing, of the great lost Superman film of the 1990s, but probably only rumours of goofy costumes and questionable casting. The recent independent documentary The Death… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 36
Issue #45 “The Sting” Writer: Garth Ennis; Pencils: Will Simpson; Inker: Tom Sutton; Colors: Tom Ziuko; Letters: Gaspar Saladino; Cover: Tom Canty; In the comic medium, every character or series has moments that become paramount… [more]
The Flashback Paradox: How Comic Book Television Deals with Remembrance of Things Past
In the eight decades or so of American comic books, finding obscure things in dark corners to dust off and reinvent has become an industry unto itself. Indeed, one of the first known printed uses… [more]
The Goddamned: The Bible as You’ve Never Seen it Before
Anyone of a certain inclination who has read the Old Testament can’t help but come away thinking of it as pretty “metal”, to coin a phrase. Fights to the death, plagues, burning cities, vendettas, and… [more]
Looking Glasses: Sexual Dangers and Curious Responses in Carroll’s Alice Books and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, Part Two
Yet the Alice books do not celebrate our heroine’s change, as suggested by Alice’s several disturbing mirrorings with older women. Three of the four major women in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass… [more]
Remembering the Fifth of November: V for Vendetta
It’s the fifth of November, so I offer my humble thoughts on one of the true classics of our favourite medium. This is by no means an exhaustive analysis, simply a reflection on the book… [more]
Looking Glasses: Sexual Dangers and Curious Responses in Carroll’s Alice Books and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, Part One
The seminal Batman graphic novel Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, by writer Grant Morrison and artist Dave McKean, recontextualizes the themes and the motifs of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass… [more]
Reinventing Widescreen: Sorrentino’s Green Arrow
Fall of 2006, my freshman year of college, I sat in the television room of my dorm and watched Green Arrow make his live-action debut on Smallville. I remember the raw fanboy glee that swelled… [more]
Halloween Binge: Tag
I said two reviews ago that one of my favourite parts of this binge is stumbling upon films that catch me off guard and surprise me. Last night I went to see Sion Sono’s Tag… [more]
Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s Snakes and Ladders Gets a Film Adaptation
Alan Moore’s Snakes and Ladders was one of his first major works dealing specifically with his unique approach to magic, following his revelation in 1995 that he himself was, in a very real sense, a… [more]
And His Name Is Scott: Why Scott Snyder’s Work Exemplifies Magnificent Superhero Storytelling
There are numerous writers whose talents have lead to tremendous careers in the comic industry. With the greats ranging for Moore to Morrison, Miller to Pope, and Rucka to Brubaker, the list goes on of… [more]
Believe the Aquaman: Why the King of Atlantis is the Real Deal
If you consider yourself familiar with comic’s most popular super heroes than you are capable of identifying those that are considered the best: Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and… [more]
Plutona #2: In the Woods
Plutona continues to excel at assuming the point of view of children in a complex and difficult world. One of the great things about that particular point of view, especially with regards to this kind… [more]
Negative Space: Wonderful Comics Medicine
Like many other people who struggle with depression, I sometimes feel as if there is some sort of malevolent force lurking in the sky, consciously plotting to sabotage my happiness at every turn. This can… [more]