green tea is green, shathley Q is shathley | shathley Q has a doctorate in literary and cultural theory. He works as a researcher and writer in the areas of popular culture and critical thinking | shathleyq@popmatters.com | @uu3y324rdry | his dark materialism
Features
Wednesday, May 16 2012
The Very End of Empire: PopMatters' Exclusive with "Shade's" James Robinson
James Robinson begins, and there's a kind of building-up. In my mind I imagine great machines powered by steam, machines of bespoke engineering from a bygone day, now already just slightly out of reach…
Friday, May 4 2012
"A Terrible Privilege…": Why It Needs to be "Joss Whedon's" Avengers
There's a reason Robert Downey Jr. refers so poignantly to his Iron Man armor as a "terrible privilege". But to understand that, you'll need the full backstory on not only the Avengers, but on Free Comic Book Day as well.
Wednesday, May 2 2012
The Ethics of Brand Extension: An Exclusive with MAD's John Ficarra
It's going to be an interview with John soon. Poor guy, he doesn't yet know it's going to be about the ziggurats. But he'll figure it out soon enough…
Wednesday, April 25 2012
No Invisible Gorillas Read HST in the Making of this Issue: "MAD #515"
MAD #515 is the summer issue, and it's exactly what you'd expect, "The Hunger Pains", Siri parody ads for the iPhone 4S, and "The 50 Worst Things About America"… wait, what now?
Thursday, April 12 2012
The Summer's for Distant Things: An Open Letter to Archie's Alex Segura
The last time we spoke, Alex Segura and I, we spoke about his having written Archie Meets KISS, already a critical piece of Archie Comics-lore. After yesterday's release of the hardback collected edition, I've had a few thoughts. About the summer, and about ourselves.
Reviews
Thursday, May 24 2012
Mark Millar and the Cage of Fame: "CLiNT 2.1"
The cage of fame that powers social media, was most arrestingly described by Lester Bangs in his obit for John Lennon. It's hard not to see it play out again here, with Mark Millar…
Tuesday, May 22 2012
Much Less Sleep Than Usual: "The Shadow #2"
I wasn't ready for Martin Amis' memoir Experience at the time it was first released. I needed to wait. Just as this Shadow is the Garth Ennis' we've been waiting for, perhaps without realizing it…
Monday, May 21 2012
The Harley on the Shore: "Winter Soldier #5's" Art of the Endless Epilogue
That image of the Japanese-tsunami Harley washed ashore in Canada, is irresistible. And as with Winter Soldier #5, it too points to the art of the endless epilogue.
Tuesday, May 15 2012
Getting N.O.W.H.E.R.E.: "Teen Titans Annual #1" As Defense of Social Media
It's some infinite underneath, some dark and warm somewhere, some ugly place that just goes on forever. "The Colony" is a hell built for teenagers, and the most striking thing about it, at least at first blush for me, is its very clear resemblance to the idea that caused the once-immortal friendship between 19th century psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung to simply run out…
Monday, May 14 2012
Evolving the "Versus": "Wolverine & the X-Men #10"
Amid the chaos and devastation of Avengers Versus X-Men, Cyclops arrives at Wolverine's school for mutants. But this is not the kind of battle you might expect…
Blogs
Thursday, May 24 2012
When Ideas Make Out: Rebooted "CLiNT" and the Dave Gibbons Art Card
I really love Matt Ridley's The Rational Optimist. Not least of all for his introduction to that book, the seductively titled "When Ideas Have Sex"…
Friday, May 18 2012
Writing to "Rain Dogs": Talking With Rob Salkowitz #2
In our soon-to-be-published exclusive with Rob Salkowitz on his groundbreaking Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture, Rob talks about the joys, and also the fears of the writing process…
Friday, May 11 2012
Generational Lag?: Talking With Rob Salkowitz #1
"Are we as fans prepared for a scenario where Joss Whedon's Avengers might have tanked?," Rob asks at one point… Talking with Rob Salkowitz is an education not only in fandom, but in the business of popular culture.
Friday, April 27 2012
Resources, and Recesses: The Exclusive Preview of "Animal Man #9"
A little while ago, I began to appreciate Jeff Lemire's entirely new take on Animal Man, and on the notion of freedom. This exclusive preview shows that Jeff Lemire getting in even deeper into the idea of choice as having a geography…
Wednesday, April 11 2012
Art of the Afterthought: The "MAD: 50 Worst Things" Exclusive Preview
It's an early summer for one of the most outrageous and most hilarious MADs. Time to dip your feet into the lake with an exclusive preview.
