Thursday, September 22 2011
The Leap: Jason Burns Is the Woody Allen of Web TV
With the launch of his first web-based TV show, Adults Only, Project Fanboy Award winner Jason Burns makes his visionary expectations of entertainment available to a much, much wider audience.
Monday, September 19 2011
Choice in DC Comics’ New 52
With DC's New 52 reboot of their entire universe, the comicbook company is evolving a greater media savvy and a far deeper cultural relevance than ever before. But has DC simply borrowed from more adaptable publishers like BOOM! Studios?
Wednesday, September 14 2011
“Potter’s Field” Retells the Drama of America
The learning curve is steep, but it breaks down like this; Potter's Field is the story of patriotic values set to detective fiction, and the medium of comics. Mark Waid displays true genius in sculpting the kind of tale he has.
Wednesday, September 7 2011
*See Issue #129, -Ed: “Spider Island” and the Art of Social Media
At the dawn of the 21st century, some of us are only now beginning to feel the wave of super-connectedness that comes from emerging social media technologies, some of us have lived in NYC all our lives, and some of us just read Spider-Man.
Friday, September 2 2011
Talking With David: Radical’s Visionary Chief Marketing Officer
How does Radical enter the digital economy in a groundbreaking way that both redefines the entertainment industry and yet remains true to core values of support for creativity and precision of user-driven environments?
Wednesday, August 31 2011
The Real Story, But Not All of It
Perhaps more than a long, critical gaze at DC's history, Secret Origins makes the incredibly savvy move of rendering the company's 70-plus years as both heartwarming and resilient.
Thursday, August 25 2011
West Coast Sound: Is Disney Victim to the “Decision Illusion”?
Is Disney's decision to let go of its subsidiary Marvel's entire West Coast marketing team a sound one? The question is certainly nowhere near as interesting as what this decision signals about the entertainment industry as a whole.
Thursday, August 18 2011
Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern Finally Buried in the Light
With the series coda to Geoff Johns' six-year run on Green Lantern just completed, the once bright Silver Age hero's adventures leave a bitter taste, more because of magical promise of Johns' early work.
Wednesday, August 10 2011
The Nouveau Retro of The First Avenger
At first glance, Captain America seems dated. But viewers are quickly reminded that WWII was as much an ideological conflict as a military one. On the battle of ideas, icons matter.
Monday, August 8 2011
Kirby v. Disney: Wanting to Want More
In the wake of the recent ruling against the Kirby Estate what is at stake may no longer be simple creator rights, but a deep psychology entwining creator, company and fan.
Thursday, July 28 2011
We Can Be Heroes: Talking ‘Supergods’ with Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison’s ability to make connections between seemingly humdrum events and grandiose ideas becomes infectious. Reading Supergods and immersing in his ideas gives one as much kick as a radioactive spider bite.
“Fame: Conan O’Brien” & the Fact-based Circus of the Unforgettable
In perhaps the savviest move for a print-vs-digital environment Bluewater has re-inscribed their August release of Fame: Conan O'Brien with the core values of emerging social media. Download a free exclusive preview of the book.
Wednesday, July 27 2011
Daredevil: Tragic Hero or Anti-Hero?
After the debacle that was "Shadowland" incoming Daredevil scribe Mark Waid brings a carefree exuberance and a psychological depth that was rarely glimpsed in the last 30 years of the character's publication.
Wednesday, July 20 2011
The Crater-less Impact of Daredevil’s Shadowland Hits the Big Apple
In 2009 writer Ed Brubaker left Daredevil on a high note, with the character literally ready to take on the world. But incoming writer Andy Diggle failed the test of both New York as an idea and Daredevil as a character. What can Mark Waid's Daredevil, released today, look like in the wake of past misfirings?
Friday, July 15 2011
Animated Part 2: The PopMatters Exclusive with Full Clip’s Schwarz Brothers
The real story of the Schwarz brothers isn't their improbable and meteoric rise in Hollywood after being marginalized by the Australian film industry, but the generational shift they bring to staid thinking in the media of both comics and film.
Wednesday, July 13 2011
Inherited Soil: The PopMatters Exclusive with Robert Venditti
Robert Venditti arrives at the comics medium as a fully formed artist, vested in the act of making a critical choice of medium. But he enters the popular psyche like Tom Waits or Harry Houdini, an artist in the midst of transitioning into becoming a performer. Perhaps this is what makes his recent Homeland Directive spellbinding.
Tuesday, July 12 2011
Talking Animals and Harsh Realities: An Interview with Kazu Kibuishi
Despite its target audience -- middle grade, or 10-12-year-olds, Amulet has a lot of crossover appeal. But Kibuishi doesn’t consider adult, or even teen readers, during his process -- beyond himself, that is.
Friday, July 1 2011
Animated Part 1: The PopMatters Exclusive with Full Clip’s Schwarz Brothers
The real story of the Schwarz brothers isn't their improbable and meteoric rise from being marginalized by the Australian film industry to Hollywood. But the generational shift they bring to traditionalist thinking in the media of both comics and film.
Wednesday, June 29 2011
Afflicting the Comfortable: An Interview with Terry Moore
The comic industry's great humanist talks about the end of Echo, his new series, Rachel Rising, and ponders ideas such as, "What if you mate the China syndrome with a collider?"
Friday, June 17 2011
The Writing on the Wall: How ‘The Unwritten’ Fails to Meet Its Own Hype
When The Unwritten first appeared in print, it promised to be unique and endearing if for nothing other than its peerless high concept. Ironically it's writer Mike Carey's reliance on this high concept that provides savvy readers with insight into the dangers of the high concept in general.
