There must have been something in the water. Or maybe the ink.
When I think of how the Silver Age changed comics, I usually think of Julius Schwartz, then Marvel, putting their distinctive stamps on the superhero genre. Rereading the Silver Age …
Tag: DC Comics
My strange fascination with DC’s Tomahawk
Tom Hawk — Revolutionary War scout, “Indian fighter” and “America’s favorite frontier hero” intrigues the hell out of me. Not that I have a burning urge to buy up some …
True confessions: I like Gunfire.
No, not the sound of bullets, I like Gunfire the 1994-5 comic book and its eponymous protagonist. I’m aware that’s a minority view. Gunfire is usually, and not unreasonably dismissed …
A world without superheroes: The birth of the Silver Age
Intellectually, I’ve known for years that between the Golden Age ending and the debut of Barry Allen in Showcase #4, superheroes were mostly dead in the water. My recent rereading …
After the Crisis: Comic Books on DC’s Post-Crisis Earth
Crisis on Infinite Earths not only upended DC’s continuity, it upended the Earth-One and Earth Two comic-book industries. In the aftermath of the multiverse merging, comics changed radically and ended …
Finding Elseworlds on the small screen
The Elseworlds (or ‘imaginary story’) concept is a tried and tested formula in comics, but it also exists in other media, although nobody calls it that. In particular, it has frequently appeared in (mainly American) serial television productions since the 1960s at least.
When Arkham Asylum was comedy gold: The Joker, Clown Prince of Crime
Until I reread the 1975-6 The Joker series (now collected in the Joker: Clown Prince of Crime TPB) I’d forgotten that Arkham Asylum was once a fun place to be …