Watchmen isn’t the last word on the superhero genre. Neither is The Dark Knight Returns. Superhero comics aren’t just places for gritty “realism”, anti-heroes, and moral compasses damaged beyond repair. They can be full of wonder, optimism, and act as an escape from a world that is becoming full of darkness and evil without insulting readers’ intelligence. So if you’re tired of election ads or the 24 hour news cycle, here are some superhero comics that are… Read more →
Because they are bound codexes or digital texts instead of a moving picture, like a film, TV show, or video game cut scene, comics have almost unlimited rereading potential for almost unlimited meanings. For the most part, reading a comic again introduces new nuances and details ranging from the mundane (seeing the 10th Doctor in the background of a Buffy Season Eight panel) to the important (all the twins in Asterios’… Read more →
Think about some of your favorite comics writers and artists: Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Garth Ennis, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, Simon Bisley. What do they have common besides being citizens of the UK? All of these comics creators cut their teeth writing for the British science fiction comics anthology 2000 AD. 2000 AD has come out every week since February 26, 1977 with a blend of eight… Read more →
A reason that superhero comics stories can be hard to get into are their long running nature. For example, if you’re a Superman fan and want to get into his comics, where do you start? Do you begin with Action Comics #1 from DC Comics’ recent New 52 reboot or Superman #1 or Superman Unchained from the same reboot? Or do you go further back and start with Grant Morrison and Frank… Read more →
Even though I speak like I’m from California, prefer Brit-Pop to country, Earl Grey to sweet tea, and haven’t set foot in a church in God knows when, I would consider myself a Southerner. I love college football, ribs, fried okra, and walking in old Confederate graveyards in West and MiddleTennessee. There are a lot of positive things about the South.… Read more →
In recent years, The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck has overtaken The Yellow Kid as the first American comic book. It was originally published in Switzerland in the 1820s by Rodolphe Topffer and translated into English and published in the United States in 1842. Some might even consider it a “graphic novel” as it contains a sequential story about the misadventures of the titular protagonist… Read more →