May 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"…
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…
Something’s Wrong with the Black Widow!
Those searching for the more traditional Marvel Black Widow in The Avengers will be disappointed. This film, with the help of Scarlett Johansson, beats the imperturbable superhero out of Natasha Romanoff. But something entirely new, possibly better takes its place…
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.
April 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…
A Marvelous Collision: “Archie Meets the Punisher”
In 1994, the Punisher and his fixer Micro stormed into Riverdale, believing that such a squeaky-clean town must be hiding its own special breed of hell…
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.
March 2012
Coalition Forces: The “Red Lanterns #8” Exclusive Preview
It's not that writer Peter Milligan is able to weave high drama from evolutionary theory, it's that Red Lanterns #8 is a turning point that pushes the book beyond the familiar Shakespearean dynamic of uncontrollable events opposed with deeply meditative, non-acting characters.
Friendship in the Apocalypse: Brian Wood’s “The Massive” Exclusive Part 2
How do you ensure the high-quality comics production? On the cusp of his new project, The Massive Brian Wood confesses in a PopMatters exclusive that the answer often is friendship
Compression: Falling Down Standing Up & the Blackhawks #7 Exclusive Preview
If emotionally, we all have the need to decompress, we must all be subject to acts of compression. It takes a medium the size of comics and an writer the caliber of Mike Costa to remind us of this in a PopMatters exclusive preview of Blackhawks #7.
