Comics & Graphic Novels

There are 97 Oscar nominations and 17 wins for acting among the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) cast

May 13, 2019 0 Comments

Avengers: Endgame is getting all the money, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as a whole has turned into a pop culture juggernaut so huge that if you told my 12-year-old self how big it would eventually be, I’d probably have thought you were drunk and delusional. I have no idea how Norse gods and red, white & blue heroes slinging shields ended up being bigger than Star Wars, but I sure as hell ain’t complaining. We can zero in on one way the MCU has come to dominate the box office, though: with excellent casting. It all began back in 2008, when the then fledgling studio took a chance on Robert Downey Jr., a guy who is now a global superstar but who at…
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Comics & Graphic Novels, Films, Geek Stuff

An interview with yours truly on The Walking Dead, from 94.3 The Point

September 30, 2017 1 Comment

I recently had an opportunity to sit down with Nicole Murray from 94.3 The Point, a radio station here in New Jersey. I was in to talk about The Walking Dead (’cause a few years back I independently published a book on the show, natch). If you want to take a look — and you should, because my shirt is a wonderful shade of blue — then you know what to do.

Comics & Graphic Novels, Geek Stuff, Television, Videos

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Neil Cavuto does not understand Captain America, or America

June 3, 2017 5 Comments

It’s perhaps unsurprising when a Fox news host misunderstands something simply because it wears red, white, and blue. Last night, Fox News host Neil Cavuto and guests said Wonder Woman had been rendered unpatriotic because her costume in the new movie is red, gold and blue rather than red, white and blue, and that there was “very little reference to America at all” in the movie. Nevermind that Wonder Woman is an Amazonian, not an American — finally, a birth certificate controversy with real meat on its bones! But what struck me were their passing comments about Captain America, long one of my favorite Marvel heroes and a character launched into new levels of amazing thanks to both the work of Ed Brubaker and the…
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Comics & Graphic Novels, Politics

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Why Are Marvel’s Blu-Ray Releases So Mediocre?

March 21, 2017 49 Comments

These days, Marvel Studios make THE tentpole action flicks. With a combination of fun characters, good direction, solid stories, huge spectacle, and a formula that just works, they’ve created an ongoing, interwoven geek movie franchise that has every other studio scrambling to catch up. Make no mistake, I’m an unabashed fan. I don’t pretend they are classic cinema — they’re just comic book movies — but they do something important: they consistently make me feel like I’m 12 again, only without all the self-loathing and zits. From the tense drama of The Winter Soldier to the charming adventure of Ant-Man to the hilarious space adventure of Guardians of the Galaxy, I love this stuff. So do a LOT of people. Marvel movies are YUGE. Four of them…
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Comics & Graphic Novels, Films, Geek Stuff, Random Musings, Rants

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Looking back at Neil Gaiman’s Sandman – part 11 of 11, The Wake

January 19, 2017 0 Comments

Eight years ago, Stephen Segal, then creative director at the legendary Weird Tales magazine, asked if he could use some modest writings I had been doing on Neil Gaiman’s Sandman for a 20th anniversary retrospective he was putting together. Naturally, I said yes. Sadly, the series was lost in a website revamp. Not wanting it to disappear into the ether, I’m now presenting it on my site in 11 parts (alas, without the benefit of Stephen’s editing; these are pre-publication versions). Hope you enjoy. Recurring Dream: An Anniversary Re-reading of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Part 11 of 11, The Wake Originally published on the Weird Tales website, January 2009 What is a wake but a time to remember and reflect? A wake is an ending. A closing of…
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Books & Authors, Comics & Graphic Novels, Geek Stuff

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