Batman Returns

Batman Returns

Tim Burton's first Batman movie was a classic black swan event. Like Star Wars, it was a genre film by a fledgling director whose quirky vision inspired little confidence in the corporate office and the press. Also like Lucas, Burton defied expectations to create a genre-redefining cultural landmark that launched…
October 14, 202019 Comments
Vicki Vale Popcorn

Batman 1989

Back in the 80s, an action movie by a young director with only two films under his belt was shot at a venerable British studio with a motley cast of Oscar winners and veterans of 60s schlock from Hammer/American International. Dismissed as B movie camp by the press, and even…
October 12, 202035 Comments
Fixing Frank

Fixing Frank

As a follow up to yesterday's postmortem on Penny Arcade, I thought I'd address some of the comments about how the comic lost its way by showing how it could be fixed.Comics being a visual medium that capitalizes on a picture speaking a thousand words, the best way to explain…
September 23, 20209 Comments
Web Comics Autopsy: Penny Arcade

Web Comics Autopsy: Penny Arcade

Pop culture trends come in cycles. A new property shows up on the scene, gains traction, and explodes in popularity. Entropy always gets a vote, though, and the IP holders inevitably turn to milking the brand. A consequent decline in quality follows, and the brand--sometimes the whole genre--goes moribund. The…
September 23, 202020 Comments
The Marvel Heresy

The Marvel Heresy

Another day, another beloved IP despoiled by woke corporatism. Last night, Mister Metokur broke the following cringeworthy yet inevitable news: Read more on the impending Marvel heresy here. The second paragraph is the most telling, as it's an unabashed piece of brand management. It's Marvel's megacorp owners trading on the…
October 1, 201935 Comments
The Corporate IP Death Cycle

The Corporate IP Death Cycle

As a fitting follow up to yesterday's post about how shortsighted corporatism killed American comics, YouTuber David V. Stewart recommended his insightful video The 5 Phases of Corporate IP Ownership. In his video, David breaks down the corporate decision making process that runs franchises across all media, not just comics,…
September 24, 201915 Comments
Amazing Spider-Man #666

What Really Killed Comics

Everybody has a theory of how the American comic book industry died. "It was the early 90s investor boom," some say. "The glut of variant covers and similar sales gimmicks created a bubble, and when it burst it took out the direct market." Others lay the blame on publishers driving…
September 23, 201940 Comments
Did Normies Ruin Comics?

Did Normies Ruin Comics?

A cherished reader passed along this video by David Stewart, wherein David addresses the theory that an influx of normies ruined the comics industry. From the transcript: I don't think that normal or mainstream people ruined comics at all. I actually think it was the opposite. Comics were taken out…
July 29, 201936 Comments
It’s All on You

It’s All on You

Best selling author Jon Del Arroz delivered an urgent plea for sanity on the part of comic book fans in a recent Periscope. Here's a sampling of Jon's wisdom, somewhat redacted for time and clarity. Be attentive! Marvel made this announcement about...they're giving JJ Abrams and his son a miniseries…
June 24, 201912 Comments
The Curse of Fandom

The Curse of Fandom

There are those who describe the fandom phenomenon as the circuses part of the bread and circuses of our age. That's not entirely accurate. Ancient Roman plebs didn't worship the gladiators sent out to distract them from their empire's fall. In the crumbling American Empire, geek culture has been deployed…
March 29, 201921 Comments