The Cultural Gutter

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"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." -- Oscar Wilde

RIP, Carmine Infantino

Comic artist Carmine Infantino has died. Infantino is most famous for his work on Barry Allen, The Flash, as co-creator of Batgirl and on the 1980s Star Wars comics, but he also worked as an editor, freelance artist and teacher.  Comics Alliance, The AV Club and Robot Six have obituaries. Gary Groth interviewed Infantino in [...]

“Uncanny Avengers, X-Men, Rick Remender, and Oppression Comix”

“[T]he X-Men are a lot of things to a lot of people, but one of the most important things they are—I’m talking top two, right after “sexy people with cool powers”—is an oppression metaphor. You cannot escape this. It is built into the X-Men’s DNA….The oppression metaphor is a vital piece of the engine that [...]

A Conversation with Kieron Gillen

The first of Colin Smith’s two-part interview with Kieron Gillen, the writer of comics such as Phonogram, Journey Into Mystery and the new Young Avengers. In this part, Gillen discusses Kid Loki and Journey Into Mystery: “I resisted defining myself as a fantasy writer because fantasy tends to be iffy. I became fine with it [...]

“Welcome To Black History Month”

At Comics Alliance, David Brothers takes us on a walk through Black history in comics from Krazy Kat; Orrin C. Evans’ All-Negro Comics; Billy Graham’s Panther’s Rage; Hardware and Milestone Comics to now.

“Outrage Deferred: On the Lack of Black Writers in the Comic Book Industry”

“[T]wo major initiatives over the past 18 months from the two biggest comic publishers in this country [were] meant to update their brands in an attempt to better reflect the world we currently live in. Yet somehow, from the angle of a black writer trying to break into comics, this current era in the industry [...]

Framing Stan Lee

Some pretty sweet portraiture by Joel Kimmel for “The Inquisition of Ms. Marvel.”

A League of One

A documentary about Milestone Media co-founder, comics creator, screenwriter and director Dwayne McDuffie.  

Avengers Theme on One Violin

Taylor Davis plays 6 parts of Alan Silvestri’s “Avengers Theme” on her violin.

Summer Fun Time Reading ’12

Summer’s come early this year, with the hum of air conditioners and fans in the air and the grass peacefully brown beneath my feet, the fireflies rising into the trees and all around the internet, Summer Top Ten lists are in bloom, from the Top Ten YA Summer Reads to the Top Ten Summer Eggplant Recipes [...]

Spider-Man and Torture

Colin Smith and Mark White write on Spider-Man, torture and character in response to Spider-Man’s torturing Sandman.  Colin has more on the response to his piece as well.

Disassembled!

Junaid Chundrigar made a charming and funny series of shorts about Marvel heroes. (Thanks, Mark!)

Jack Kirby’s Collage

Imprint Magazine puts Jack Kirby’s collage in an art history context.

Leaving DC and Marvel

At Comics Alliance, David Brothers details why he decided to stop reading DC and Marvel comics. Meanwhile, The Comics Journal interviews Chris Roberson on why he decided to stop writing for DC.

Avengers ’78

Avengers ’78 is the finest Marvel movie that Marvel never made!

Interviews with Dwayne McDuffie

Remembering Dwayne McDuffie on the anniversary of his death with an interview from an unfinished short on Milestone Comic by the makers of  the documentary, White Scripts and Black Men:  Black Masculinities in American Superhero Comics. And Dwayne McDuffie explains the secret history of  Luke Cage’s exclamation, “Sweet Christmas!” (Update: McDuffie discusses the “rule of [...]

The Avengers and Philosophy

The first chapter from the book, The Avengers and Philosophy, is available online–for free!

Idie’s New Hair Cut

At Digital Femme Online, Cheryl Lynn thinks about Idie Okonkwo’s change from an afro to a pixie cut in Wolverine and the X-Men, and is sad that ” no other character is willing to address what is a glaring problem with this child in regards to her mutancy and her appearance is difficult to accept. [...]

The Least Amazing Spider-Man Possible

The Substream has a description of The Amazing Spider-Man written by PR execs. Caution: Do not operate a vehicle or heavy machinery after reading. Press release may cause drowsiness, excitability or blurring of vision.

End of the Year at Too Busy Thinking About My Comics

Colin Smith exhaustively examines the best and worst in comics in 2011 including thoughts on comics such as, Thor: Mighty Avenger, Journey Into Mystery, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969, as well as pondering “The Death of Narrative Comics” and the DC reboot. A deeply thoughtful read.

RIP, Joe Simon

Comics writer and artist Joe Simon has died. Simon created Captain America with Jack Kirby and, according to Michael Cavna at Comic Riffs blog, “Virtuoso though he was, his most iconic image from 80 years in the industry will remain the introduction of Captain America socking Hitler in the jaw in 1941.” Comic Riffs has [...]

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  • Of Note Elsewhere

    The Black Girl Nerds Podcast discusses Black girls and women in the Heavy Metal industry with author and journalist Laina Dawes and Ursula “She-Wolf” Parson from Hear Evil News.

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    The Hollywood Reporter interviews director Takashi Miike about his new film, Shield of Straw: ” In Japan now, films are very safe. When I was young and went to old cinemas, they had a distinctive feel, an adult smell about them. As you got in your seat and the lights went down, there was a feeling of excitement: What if the film is scarier than I thought it’s going to be? You’re taken into that world. Nowadays, you can sit in the theater and know it’s going to be safe. That’s good for business, but not for filmmaking.”

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    The Atlantic profiles Spectral Motion, creators of monsters, “effects, and other mechanical grotesqueries that have since become household nightmares, if not names.”

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    A novelist takes revenge on writers he doesn’t like via wikipedia. Slate has the story. “Qworty’s edits undermine our trust in this great project. Qworty’s edits prove that Wikipedia’s content can be shaped by people settling grudges and acting out of spite and envy. Qworty alone, by his own account, has made 13,000 edits to Wikipedia. And Qworty, as the record will show, is not to be trusted.”

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    Diane Dooley writes about Mars’ need for women and ways to subvert it.

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    “[T]he mainstreaming of Jane Eyre as a vanilla romance, or even as an exploration of a woman’s pure, uncompromising, and uncomplicated (and religious! and feminist!) integrity, says all kinds of things about our inability to speak honestly about violence and sex.” More on Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, consent, sex and submission, here. (via K.A. Laity)

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