2009

01 June

blog

Comics Bleeding Cool by Nick

Bleeding Cool: A new comics blog/magazine from muck-raking comics journalist Rich Johnston. Looks impressive, and the roll-call of talent includes the prolific comic writer Warren Ellis.

I think we can finally forgive Johnston for getting the identity of the next Doctor Who so badly wrong (got our hopes up, he did!)

2008

03 July

blog

Criticism More about that whole Boing Boing censorship thing by Nick

I’ve been following — with indecent interest — the Boing Boing OMG censorship! thing, so ably reported on by m’colleague a couple of days ago. (continued)

More

31 May

blog

Comics Freakangels by Nick

I’m correcting a terrible oversight by finally linking to Freakangels, Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield’s new free weekly webcomic. Jump to the beginning with the prelude.

Freakangels is a grittier update of the cozy catastrophe genre of science fiction beloved of English writers such as John Wyndham. In fact, it’s basically a punk revision of The Midwich Cuckoos, exploring what happens after the creepy kids grow up and have destroyed the world. In this scenario, they’re not quite as bad as you’d think. But they have purple eyes instead of bright blue.

Ellis’s script has his usual quota of sex, violence, and swearing, but it’s Duffield’s art that is truly extraordinary in its depiction of a partially drowned future London.

2007

29 November

blog

Art The Artistic Crimes of Rob Liefield by Nick

Progressive Boink takes noted comic book hack artist Rob Liefeld to task for his various crimes against anatomy, composition, taste, and gender equality.

The most important thing you need to know before reading about all the terrible things Rob Liefeld has drawn is that he has never seen or talked to a woman in his life and has no idea what they look like or how their bodies operate. If you asked Rob Liefeld to draw a diagram of the uterus he’d put on a pair of gauntlets and punch the shit out of your chalkboard. This is how the man operates, and though I know it sounds like a lot, you have to believe me. I don’t want you looking at the stuff he’s drawing and think he’s a conscious adult male with a creative job who can and has influenced the minds of young artists. The man is a pair of blue jeans with a face. He has on a backwards cap, and when he turns it around, it’s still backwards.

Highly recommended.

2006

18 November

reviews

Criticism Heroism with a Twist? by Nick

Two new US TV shows, Dexter (Showtime) and Heroes (NBC), offer a startlingly fresh take on the themes of comic-book superheroism.

More