Read this previous post to get background on my history with comic books. Suffice to say that I’m not reading a lot of new books right now and there’s only one that’s a monthly must-read for me: The Boys, written by Garth Ennis and (largely) illustrated by Darick Robertson.
The setting of [...]
The Boys, by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
The Long Con
Last month, I was out in California and my friend Larry told me he was exhibiting at a small convention in Burbank. I decided to check it out and ended up staying there for hours.
“Cons” have been a part of the science fiction/fantasy scene for a long time (like 70 years). It’s [...]
Rachel Maddow on Comic Books & Graphic Novels
The organization I work for held its national conference this past week in Washington, DC. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow dropped by NBC Universal’s booth and I felt that was an ideal opportunity to try to land an interview with her. I kept it low-key; all I really wanted to do was ask her a question: [...]
Themes of Watchmen
Since the film adaptation of Watchmen open Friday, and since it’s looking highly likely that it won’t measure up to the original graphic novel, I thought I’d offer a few thoughts.
Shopping for Astro Boy couture
Back in October, I was in Hong Kong. On a trip to the top of Victoria Peak, I found this display with Astro Boy advertising a store. I went nuts. This video documents the results.
Tags: Astro Boy, anime
The Lost Ones: Steve Niles & Gary Panter
This is definitely catch-up weekend, with posts I meant to put up weeks and months ago.
In July, Zune Arts ( a division of Microsoft) announced the release of The Lost Ones, “a graphic novel written by celebrated writer Steve Niles” and illustrated by “visual artists Dr. Revolt, Gary Panter, Kime Buzzelli and Morning Breath.”
Niles is [...]
The limits of comics
I still haven’t written anything about The Dark Knight, a movie I loved. This has been a good summer for comic book fans, what with Iron Man and Hellboy II. I’ve been thinking a lot about the themes of The Dark Knight, but before I get to that, I have to respond to this idiotic [...]
Comic Lit: A View of New York
I’ve been re-reading a bunch of old issues of The Punisher. Forget about the 2004 film. Definitely forget the 1989 movie.
The Marvel comics character was created in 1974 and is clearly a rip-off of The Executioner (a.k.a. Mack Bolan), Don Pendleton’s pulp hero. (And let’s not forget the 1972 novel Death Wish; gee, [...]
Comic Lit: Groovy, Man
Nothing heavy here, man. Just a couple notes on some righteous comics from the past.
Comic books have a mixed record on dealing with current events. I would argue that they did a pretty good job just before and during WWII. You may know that most of the major superheroes ended up fighting [...]
Comic Lit: What’s Wrong with Superman?
When I discuss comics, I don’t want to make a specialty out of talking about superhero books, but let me say a word about one of the most popular characters.
Superman was the first true superhero comic book character. The Man of Steel was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and was first published [...]