It all made sense. Well, it made sense when I discovered that WETA Workshop, the company that designed and manufactured many of the props for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, announced the release of several statues from the movies. I’d already accumulated a hefty collection of comic book statues that I proudly exhibited in two glass IKEA display cases, … [Read more...]
Off the Wall, Episode #002: Sociopaths, Detective Animals, and Herb Trimpe
Item of interest #1: Savage Things, #1 Like many collectors, the amount of comics I buy often ebbs and flows on foolish tides, or tides of necessity, or tides of convenience or inconvenience. When my kids were little and most of my so-called disposable income went towards pesky items like formula and diapers and I'd find myself cutting back to one or two titles a … [Read more...]
Reviewing Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad
Justice League vs. Suicide Squad is a comic book mini-series done right. I approached this event with a bit of trepidation. With a Suicide Squad movie this last summer and a Justice League film coming soon, there was a part of me that suspected that this was a cynical, synergistic cash grab. But I was very happy to be wrong. In the story, the Justice League, the … [Read more...]
Comics and Philosophy, Episode #001: The Spider, the Symbiote, and the Id-Machine
Throughout charted geekdom, there are multiple instances of id-machines, from the mysterious planet in Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972) to the Mirror of Erised in the Potterverse. Id-machines are instruments which grant a character the usually fleeting appearance of achieving their greatest desire, whether being reunited with a long-lost lover or with estranged parents or being able … [Read more...]
What’s the Score, Episode #002:
The original movie score for X-Men: First Class (2011) was composed by Henry Jackman (not to be confused with the Wolverine actor, Hugh Jackman), who is one of my favorite action movie composers. He’s also scored the music for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Kick-Ass. Despite the cinematic X-Men universe being exciting, action-packed, … [Read more...]