In The Coming Storm by Mark Alpert, America is on the brink of collapse and devastated by a brutal government trying to silence its citizens. Crime fiction often explores the reasons why people break the laws that govern human behavior. What would happen though if science changed the definition of… Read more
Sins as Scarlet by Nicolás Obregón brings Kosuke Iwata to Los Angeles where he now works as a private detective. Crime stories are often about metaphorical underworlds populated by hapless underdogs and vicious, powerful elites. Our tour guides on these stories are usually detectives whose quests for truth, justice, and/or… Read more
This week’s guest columnist is Gotham City’s Dark Knight Detective, Batman. This time of year his shadowy city is illuminated with bright, holiday lights. Those lights are meant to usher in a happy season of peace and joy. He knows though that they can cast a metaphorical shadow on people… Read more
When the first season of Netflix’s adaptation of Marvel’s Daredevil hit the streaming service, I blew through it. It featured some pretty fantastic characters and casting in the form of Boardwalk Empire‘s Charlie Cox as the title character and Vincent D’Onofrio as the chief antagonist, Wilson Fisk, AKA the Kingpin of… Read more
A classic type of crime fiction tale is the hunt for the mysterious serial killer. It’s a subgenre that has inspired books, television shows, movies, and narratives in several other mediums. The serial killer is a staple of horror fiction as well. In fact, the entire slasher film subgenre embraces… Read more
Few storytelling mediums are better at delivering mood and tone than comic books. Every panel is carefully conceived by creators who are unhampered by things like budgets and designed to deliver a particular feeling. That’s especially true of horror comics, and with October now upon us, ’tis the season for… Read more
Paper Gods by Goldie Taylor is a political thriller where the mayor of Atlanta and a washed-up reporter investigate a series of assassinations and uncover a conspiracy that reaches into the heart of the city’s political machine. Power comes in many different forms. There’s the political power that comes from… Read more
I was late to the party on Sons of Anarchy, FX’s hit series that ran from 2008-2014. I watched the pilot and wasn’t super impressed by it, and I was also wrongly under the impression that a show about a biker gang wasn’t for me. Thankfully, enough buzz built up… Read more
Hello, and welcome back to my look at Season 2 of the Marvel/Netflix collaboration, Iron Fist. Since this season was (thankfully) shorter than the previous, I’ll bring this feature to a close today with an examination of Episode 8: “Citadel on the Edge of Vengeance”; Episode 9: “War Without End”;… Read more
Hello, and welcome back to my look at the sophomore season of the Marvel/Netflix show Iron Fist. Last time, we kicked things off with a look at episodes 1-4, which weren’t great but were still way better than anything from the train wreck that was Iron Fist Season 1. Can… Read more
