Dean Blumberg is a die-hard Red Sox fan, pop-culture junkie, freelance writer, and community college English instructor. He writes music reviews for www.10Listens.com. Contact him: deanblumberg AT gmail.com
Features
Wednesday, June 9 2010
It’s Not Easy Being Green: Swamp Thing, Ecology and the (Sometimes Slimy) Nature of Being
Continuing the critical analysis of the Swamp Thing character as it transitions from creative control of Len Wein and Berni Wrightson to Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and Jon Totleben.
Wednesday, June 2 2010
It’s Not Easy Being Green: Swamp Thing, Ecology and the (Sometimes Slimy) Nature of Being
New Swamp Thing scribe, Alan Moore evolved the character in the early 1980s by introducing stories around the frailty of human consciousness into a book which until then examined human/plant interaction.
Columns
Friday, April 16 2010
Backyard Fiction a.k.a. the Great American Myth of Suburbia
Suburban discontent in Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road, John Updike's Couples and Richard Ford's Independence Day. The idea or myth of suburbia is just as real as the actual shopping centers, schools, etc.
Reviews
Tuesday, November 16 2010
All Cut-Up: Charles Burns's "X'ed Out"
Rather than simply deconstruct the cultural engine that popularized Hergé's Adventures of Tintin, writer-artist Charles Burns relies on visualizing the cut-up technique of Beat writer William Burroughs in X'ed Out.
Tuesday, July 20 2010
'Scarlet #1': '80s Grim 'N Gritty... Now Available in 21st Century Female
With the creative team's first major collaboration since Halo it's clear that Alex Maleev has upped his game. But has Bendis?
Tuesday, July 6 2010
Fame: Lady Gaga #1, Robbie Pattinson #1
It is easy to feel cheated when reading Bluewater's Fame books, as one of the most groundbreaking performers of the generation is marginalized through inept comics.
Friday, June 25 2010
Stephen King's N #1-4
With persuasive writing from Marc Guggenheim and opulent art from Alex Maleev, Stephen King's N. is clear example of the richness that can be achieved when translating prose into comics.
Friday, June 18 2010
Tokyo Sonata Is Truly a Brilliant Film
Tokyo Sonata shifts between various narratives of a family in turmoil, as each person struggles to find happiness and solace in what has become a life of overwhelming structure and rules beyond one’s control.
Blogs
Tuesday, July 20 2010
If I Could Tell The World Just One Thing: Bizarro in Action Comics #856
How do you humanize the pre-verbal monster of the Superman continuity? If you're a gifted writer like Geoff Johns, it might mean pulling back and allowing the artwork to tell the tale.
Tuesday, July 13 2010
Catch Her in ihe Rye: Paul Pope's THB
With visual elements sampled from the recent past and a science fiction tomorrow, Pope presents a future as garish as it is plausible.
Tuesday, June 29 2010
Mirror Phase: "Casanova: Luxuria"
Spy, thief, dimensional traveler, and international sex toy, Casanova Quinn doesn’t have the time to understand the twists and turns his life continually takes.
Friday, June 11 2010
Am I Hard Enough: Beasts Of Burden #2
In Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson's Beasts of Burden #2, the implications of blood vengeance and care for pets is explored.
