A recent Internet brouhaha occurred when some feminists attacked Joss Whedon after the opening of Avengers: Age of Ultron claiming he was a misogynist, etc, for his portrayal of Black Widow in the movie. I haven’t seen the movie yet – I may be one of a handful in the world who hasn’t – so…
Well, our pal John is a bit under the weather. And, oddly, this weekend the weather is under John as well: he lives fairly close to the epicenter of yesterday’s earthquake in Michigan. John assures us he’s okay, just tired and probably a bit cranky. As for the earthquake, well, whereas it was felt by…
In a few days the new Avengers film, Age of Ultron, will be opening here in the States. It’s already opened in some overseas markets and, by all accounts, is doing very well. Seems like a good time to look back at the output in general of Marvel Studios. Not all of Marvel’s characters’ appearances…
“Earworm – A catchy song or tune that runs continually through a person’s mind.” – Oxford Dictionaries I am a child of pop culture. Phrases, jingles, songs, names and much much more pass through my brain and, on occasion, get stuck there. Sometimes it’s only for a few moments and sometimes it is for hours….
At MoCCA this past weekend – that’s one of my favorite shows, by the way – a surprising number of people asked me about how I felt about DC Comics Entertainment Periodical Publications moving to the Left Coast. It amuses me to note that only one of these people actually worked at DC, and he…
Last weekend, while my column was here, I was not. I was an invited guest at WonderCon out in Anaheim, CA, and I had a great time. It reminded me of San Diego Comic Con (who owns WonderCon) back before SDCC got so huge and overwhelmed with media stuff. WonderCon was mostly about comics and…
Last week, I wrote about plot and character and I applied Newton’s First Law of Physics – a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside…
Story reveals character through action – the plot. There are two primary ways that the plot works: 1) the protagonist initiates the action or 2) the protagonist is thrust into a situation and the plot reveals what happens. In each case, the character’s defenses are stripped away as we get down to who they really…
Yesterday I ran into a friend from high school as I was leaving the supermarket. He told me that he is moving to a smaller place and so heâs trying to sell off his comics collection, which runs into the thousands and thousands. Heâs going to keep some of them because he loves them, and…
My good friend and fellow ComicMix columnist Denny O’Neil and I were talking once upon a time about the necessity of comics. The point he made was that comics, certainly as we know them, are not something that needs to exist. He pointed out that early automobiles had, on the running board, a place to…
Another week, another kerfuffle. This one, involving a variant Batgirl cover for the “Joker Month” promotion at DC comics, is actually a little bit more interesting than most. (Please note: I actually find most of these events interesting, which is why I write about them so frequently.) In this case, the usual knee-jerk assumptions don’t…
Jake Gittes: How much are you worth? Noah Cross: I have no idea. How much do you want? Jake Gittes: I just wanna know what you’re worth. More than 10 million? Noah Cross: Oh my, yes! Jake Gittes: Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What could you buy that you…
