Before their film and television studios became entertainment powerhouses, Marvel Comics sold the rights to their characters to a number of different studios. Over the years, those rights have reverted back to Marvel, allowing them to introduce and incorporate a number of fan-favorite characters into their ever growing Cinematic Universe. Last year, Marvel Cinematic Universe…
Daredevil is the new gold standard in superhero television shows. Hell, it's even better than some of the bloated big-screen films (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Fantastic Four reboot) that are beginning to water down the Marvel universe. Here’s the reason for its achievement: old fashion character development. Show creator Drew Goddard wisely knows that all…
The Holidays are supposed to be a time of peace on Earth and goodwill towards everyone, but as popular culture has shown us, some people view them as a season of sinister opportunity. So, some of the most fun and enjoyable Christmas tales are the ones where we get thrilling confrontations between valiant heroes and…
In celebration of the release of my new horror novel, Dead Ringers, I reached out to some of my favorite filmmakers to talk about our mutual love of the genre, formative influences, and what the future holds. After his work as director of the hugely successful film adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars,…
In the current storyline in DC’s Batman and Detective Comics, Jim Gordon’s shaved his mustache, ditched the overcoat, and done some serious body sculpting for his new job—the pilot of a new robotic Batman suit that is protecting Gotham, because the real Batman is feared dead from a final confrontation with the Joker. I thought…
Daredevil’s thirteen-episode season was a non-stop crime noir thrill ride populated by characters that stayed with me long after my binge watch ended. The bad news: a second season won’t happen until sometime in 2016. The good news: the comics listed below will help pass the time until then. It’s no coincidence that the first…
“You think you’ve been careful so far?” Lest we forget, Harvey Bullock repeats the phrase three times, each more incredulous than the last in the latest Gotham. It’s a perfect line, well-delivered by Donal Logue, and points out the single biggest issue with Gotham: Jim Gordon should be dead by now. But for plot reasons,…
If you’re a casual television viewer, you probably remember Jim Gordon as the bumbling commissioner on the Batman live-action television show. If you’ve seen the recent Dark Knight trilogy, you might have a more positive opinion of Gordon as a hero. But if you’re a reader of comics, especially Batman: Year One, then you know…
Noir has long been a male bastion in comics, from Frank Miller reimagining Daredevil and Batman to Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka creating Gotham Central, an inspiration for the upcoming Gotham television series. Female creators writing noir stories for comics have been few and far between. But that’s changing. Batgirl is being re-imagined by a…
Ah, 1989. It was a simpler time. Your faithful correspondent was 14 years old—amply pimpled, brazenly bemulleted, and already a devoted movie geek. The best thing that happened to me that year was that Lethal Weapon 2 came out. This was back when one could devote himself unequivocally to the hero worship of Mel Gibson.…
