As someone who grew up with the nickname Oscar the Grouch (thanks Dad!) it is fair to say that “happy” is not a descriptor that is often used when people describe me. I do get a lot of para-happy comments like “laid back” and “calm” and “easygoing”, but not “happy”. Since being happy seems like a good thing, I have been working for a few years to have a better outlook on life. Cognitive-behavioral therapy has been very helpful in addressing anxiety and depression caused […]
The Darkness that Serves the Light
This review includes minor spoilers of a twenty year old zeitgeisty comic that you probably already know about. On its face, Batman: Knightfall is the novelization of the (in)famous storyline in which the Caped Crusader suffers a broken back at the knee of the villain Bane and must temporarily cede the batsuit to another. Moviegoers will recognize the major plot points from the final movie in the Nolan Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. Comic nerds will be familiar with the storyline for its supremely awesome […]
Calling All Sellouts
In high school, I did my best to morph from shy wallflower into mysterious guitar-slinging writer. Not as a pose, but because I felt the most ME when I was jamming with friends or banging out a story. I thought I found myself and my group. I wanted, more than anything, to ring true. I wanted to surround myself with people who wanted the same thing. That was my ideal life. Fast forward fifteen years. I’m an attorney walking downtown, lost in thought about some […]
The Best of the Dini/Timm Batverse
Growing up, Batman was my guy thanks to Batman: The Animated Series. I loved the look and the mood of the show. Two guys largely responsible for that landmark show are writer Paul Dini and illustrator Bruce Timm. The third member of that B:TAS trinity is voice director Andrea Romano, who gave us our definitive Batman – Kevin Conroy. The success of the animated show translated well back into comics, many of which have been collected and reviewed by me in The Batman Adventures. Dini […]
SNIKT
This is one of the comics that makes me love comics. Wolverine is a collection of Wolverine’s first solo series. It was written and illustrated by comic titans Chris Claremont (Days of Future Past) and Frank Miller (The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil). The writing is terse and largely comprised of Wolverine’s stream of thought. The art is simple yet moody. As Claremont explains in the introduction, the book elevates Wolverine from an animalistic berserker to a complete and compelling character. While I love Hugh Jackman […]
Heinlein’s Starship Troopers Meets Kafka’s The Trial Meets Heller’s Catch-22
“All of the characters in this book are fictitious,” the legalese in the front of Bill reads, “and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and, besides, they aren’t even born yet.” So begins Harry Harrison’s often absurdist and sometimes bludgeoning satire of war, bureaucracy, and humanity in general. Titular Bill is a Forrest Gump-like character in the beginning of the story; he is a gentle bumpkin content to live a quiet life in a rural part of his planet. However, circumstances […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- …
- 76
- Next Page »