Oliver lives in Toronto. He has published several books, and worked as the Senior Front Page Editor at Yahoo Canada and MSN Canada. Currently, he works as a Manager of Communications at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. His website is www.OliverHo.ca.
Features
Thursday, May 12 2011
Transforming the Bard Finale: Daggers at Dawn
This is the final of a three-part series of articles about Kill Shakespeare, each featuring an exclusive interview with the comic's co-creators Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery. Read part one and part two.
Wednesday, April 20 2011
Transforming Shakespeare 2: The Bard and “Argentinean Knife Fights"
This is the second of a three-part series of articles about Kill Shakespeare, each featuring an exclusive interview with the comic's co-creators Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery. Read part one.
Thursday, April 7 2011
Transforming the Bard 1: The "Justice League" of Shakespeare
This three-part series examines the extraordinary Kill Shakespeare, and each part includes an exclusive interview with the comic's creators. This is part one.
Wednesday, January 26 2011
Ralph's Jet-Pack Theory, Muhammad Ali and "Last Son"
A reprint of a classic '70s comic triggers schoolyard memories of an odd kid, and reignites a personal interest in the “big blue boy scout”
Tuesday, August 24 2010
Swamp Monsters and Stoners: When Mainstream Comics Tuned In, Turned On and Dropped Out
Writer Steve Gerber's 39-issue run on Man-Thing exemplifies a crucial period in the development of comics: when the mainstream and underground collided.
Columns
Friday, May 18 2012
Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death
Britain’s pop culture knight, Christopher Frayling, offers the definitive biography and interpretation of the Spaghetti Western maestro, Sergio Leone.
Reviews
Friday, February 3 2012
Meditations on the Actual and the Imagined: 'Puppet: An Essay on Uncanny Life'
A series of poetic meditations on "the madness of puppets", this brief but dense book fascinates as much as its uncanny subject matter.
Monday, September 19 2011
The Horror of the Camera that Sees the Truth: Tobe Hooper and Alan Goldsher's 'Midnight Movie'
The Texas Chainsaw maestro pens a fun, self-referential novel about a haunted horror movie... or does he?
Friday, July 22 2011
'The Official Catalog of the Library of Potential Literature': Surprisingly True to Life
Literature abounds with collections of imaginary books. This whimsical and stimulating little book offers a glimpse at the blurbs on their covers.
Friday, February 25 2011
'AX Vol. One: A Collection of Alternative Manga' Is Full of Weird, Puzzling Beauty
A head trip that matches (and often surpasses) the weirdest of North America’s classic underground comix, this anthology introduces English readers to the wild world of alternative manga.
Monday, February 21 2011
'Best American Noir of the Century': 'Doom Is Fun'
This massive and potentially lethal anthology -- thick enough to stop a small-calibre bullet and heavy enough to knock somebody out -- presents a surprisingly varied collection of 'bleak and nihilistic' tales and establishes a powerful new definition of 'noir'.
Blogs
Tuesday, February 15 2011
Four-Eyed Stranger #20: I’ll Give It My All...Tomorrow
"Why do you go on living?” Slacker icon Buddy Bradley articulated his ambition in 1990’s “My Pad and Welcome To It”, the first issue of Peter Bagge’s Hate.
Monday, January 31 2011
Borderland Speakeasy #19: “Are you sure you were dreaming?”
With its conclusion possible in 2011, Sin Titulo stands as one of the year’s most anticipated comics.
Monday, January 17 2011
Four-Eyed Stranger #19: “A Brief Interlude in Daily Life”
Jiro Taniguchi celebrates the dreamlike and fleeting happiness to be found on a simple walk in a peaceful part of town.
Monday, January 10 2011
Borderland Speakeasy #18: "Do you have fish swimming in your forehead?"
Indie auteur's return to crime showcases taut storytelling and moments of film-influenced, surreal suspense.
