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‘The Death Defying Dr. Mirage’ #1 is part spectral romance, part ghost hunt
4 hours ago
The Death Defying Doctor Mirage: Second Lives #1
Written by Jen Van Meter
Art by Roberto de la Torre
Colors by David Baron
Letters by Dave Lanphear
Published by Valiant
Dr. Shan Fong-Mirage is a PhD, who also happens to be able to see ghosts, which comes in handy because the man she loved, Hwen, died in the last Death Defying Doctor Mirage miniseries and is now a ghost himself. In The Death Defying Doctor Mirage: Second Lives #1, writer Jen Van Meter and artist Roberto de la Torre craft a new adventure for Shan as she looks into the dangerous “Vita Secunda” (Second Lives in Latin) scroll, which was commissioned by the diabolical Roman emperor Caligula to enslave the ghosts of his enemies and his ancestors, to find some way for Hwen to be able to seen and heard by people other than her. (This would be good for the ratings »
- Logan Dalton
5 Possibilities for Captain America’s Big Announcement
21 hours ago
Captain America is about to turn 75 and Marvel will celebrate in a big way. The entertainment giant recently announced that ABC will air Captain America: 75 Heroic Years on Tuesday, January 19 at 8 p.m. to commemorate Cap’s Hitler-punching debut from Jack Kirby and Joe Simon.
The special befits the character’s iconic status and prominence in both today’s comics and Marvel’s films. Actors, writers, artists, and others who’ve been involved with Captain America will appear throughout the celebration, but that’s not the most intriguing part.
“An exclusive announcement from Marvel comics” is promised as part of the special. Previously, the publisher has turned to The View (for the female Thor) and The Colbert Report (for Sam Wilson as Captain America) to announce major shifts for its characters. With no hint to what’s coming, examining the possibilities could help illuminate Marvel’s plans for everyone’s favorite patriot. »
- Josh Grant
The final pieces of the ‘Star Wars’ saga showed John Williams at his strongest and weakest
22 hours ago
George Lucas had a lot to answer for in 1983. Would audiences ever see Han Solo again? Was there any chance for Leia and the Rebellion to come back from such a crushing defeat? And was Darth Vader really Luke Skywalker’s father? As the third chapter in the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi would answer all of these questions, but not without controversy — even at the time.
Among Lucas’s three original films, Jedi is the turning point for the series’ creator and his subsequent kid-ification of a saga that had, up until that point, been accessible to both children and adults alike. Part of Jedi‘s scattered tone is artificially inflated by the “series of down endings” in The Empire Strikes Back. On the other hand, there’s something about the cuddly nature of the Ewoks and the broad hamminess of Jabba’s Palace that doesn »
- David Klein
New on Video: ‘Marquis de Sade’s Justine’
23 hours ago
Written by Harry Alan Towers (as Peter Welbeck)
Directed by Jesús Franco (as Jess Franco)
Italy/USA/Germany/Liechtenstein, 1969
Justine was the first of 30 Jesús Franco films I watched over the past year. While many have been quite enjoyable (and several have been quite deplorable), this 1969 feature remains my favorite. Others come very close, and there is a solid argument that Justine is in fact a mostly uncharacteristic Franco film, but as a movie that shows the genuine, often untapped talent that this eclectically erratic filmmaker possessed, it is exceptional.
Out now on a new Blue Underground Blu-ray, Justine—officially, Marquis de Sade’s Justine—bears the subtitle, “The Misfortunes of Virtue,” which is indeed the essential theme of the picture. Played by an 18-year-old Romina Power (the character is 12 in de Sade’s novel), Justine is “too good to be true,” according to her dubious sister, »
- Jeremy Carr
Classic joke RPG ‘Dungeon Lords’, now available on Steam
21 December 2015 10:30 AM, PST
A long time ago in an issue of a gaming magazine there was an email in their “Letters to the Editor” section that went along the lines: “Please help, I’ve accidentally purchased Dungeon Lords“. The response was telling the poor person to burn their computer, and the CD, and try and move on with their broken life.
That’s about how bad Dungeon Lords‘ reputation is in the gaming world.
Originally released in 2005 for the PC, with a canceled Xbox version as well, Dungeon Lords is well remembered for being a complete disappointment, like a terrible present at Christmas. It seems someone at Nordic Games has decided to re-gift this fruitcake, as Dungeon Lords quietly appeared on the Steam sales chart recently, including a tidy 20% sale until Dec. 28.
Maybe not every game deserves to be saved from obscurity…
In fairness, the Steam version appears to be the re-released Dungeon Lords Mmxii, »
- Andrew Vandersteen
‘Into the Badlands’ lets bloodlust and solid drama run freely
21 December 2015 8:25 AM, PST
Into the Badlands, Season 1
Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar
Aired Sundays at 10pm (Et) on AMC
With The Walking Dead going six seasons strong and counting, AMC, an immensely popular and successful network, clearly has no qualms about getting its hands a little dirty. If there is quality television to be made out of material that would fit right in with good old-fashioned grindhouse motion pictures, AMC is ready and willing to capitalize on it. If the zombie apocalypse is not one’s cup of tea, then perhaps a trip Into the Badlands is. Taking several cues straight out of the old fantastical martial arts adventures that were all the craze in the 1970s, the show, created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, relishes in telling a reasonably large scale action-drama set in a world where severe punishment comes at the tip of a sword or the landing of a bone crunching kick. »
- Edgar Chaput
The Televerse Bonus Minisode: F is for Family Preview with Michael Price
21 December 2015 7:33 AM, PST
The Televerse is back with a special bonus mini-episode, as Emmy Award winner Michael Price returns to the podcast to discuss the new show he’s co-created with comedian Bill Burr for Netflix, the 1970s-set animated comedy F is for Family. Michael and Kate talk childhood memories and inspirations, and how the Netflix approach shapes storytelling.
Download — m4a RSS feed — mp3 RSS feed
Follow Kate on Twitter
Like The Televerse on Facebook
Rate/Review The Televerse on iTunes: m4a — mp3
Follow The Televerse at its new home, where this post originated
The post The Televerse Bonus Minisode: F is for Family Preview with Michael Price appeared first on PopOptiq. »
- Kate Kulzick
Cell by Cell: ‘Bitch Planet’ #5 (Part 9)
21 December 2015 7:11 AM, PST
Kelly Sue Deconnick (writer), Valentine De Landro (artist), Image Comics
In Cell by Cell, I look deeply into the panels of an issue, appreciating and analyzing the story and artistic composition.
Pages 19-20 Overview
This is it. The beginning of the end. The finale of the episode. Here comes the heartbreak.
Keeping the 2-page, symmetrical spread of the game scenes, these two pages kick off a 6-page action scene depicting the end of the scrimmage match between the N.C. team and the A.C.O. guards.
The antagonism continues to rise as a guard picks a fight with Penny. Unable to let the aggressions pass, Penny gets distracted from her defensive duty, allowing another team member to get double-teamed and escalating further violence with the guards.
Cell 1 is a close-up of a sweaty Meiko, smiling exactly like she was in the family picture at the end of the last page. »
- Erin Perry
Best Comics of 2015 (Part Two)
21 December 2015 6:35 AM, PST
5. Paper Girls (Image)
Paper Girls #1-3
Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Cliff Chiang
Colors by Matthew Wilson
Letters by Jared K. Fletcher
Only three issues in, Brian K. Vaughn and Cliff Chiang’s Paper Girls has already piqued intense fandom. Grounded in the recognizably familiar–1988 Midwestern suburbia–with its head in the clouds–aliens on dinosaurs, time travelers, mutant teenagers, Paper Girls engages both the heart and the mind. The four pre-teens on their paper route–Erin, Mack, Tiffany, and K.J.–are tough, mature, and can persevere through the toughest situations. They have to be, they’re paper girls. But they’re also only 12, so their innocence and relative naivety give them space to grow as characters. Littered with artifacts from the era, the comic is, in part, an authentic period piece, colored in the equivalent of retro sepia-tones for the late 80’s.
The characters speak in the parlance of the time, »
- Staff
Best Comics of 2015 (Part One)
21 December 2015 6:31 AM, PST
Two words could be used to describe comics in 2015: scandal and rebirth. The scandals happened off the pages at both companies large and small, and the rebirth happened in the comics themselves.
Graphic Policy reported that former Dark Horse Comics editor-in-chief Scott Allie bit writer Joe Harris (X-Files Season Ten) at the Boom! Studios party at San Diego Comic Con, and he was demoted to “executive editor” even though an assault of this kind would be grounds for dismissal at almost any other company. There was also another ethical breach at Dark Horse when The Rainbow Hub journalist Emma Houxbois reported that former Bleeding Cool editor Hanna Means-Shannon broke a Dark Horse-related story while it was under embargo and didn’t disclose the fact that she was taking a job with the company.
Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso’s dismissal of African-American comics fans and creators when asked why »
- Staff
10 articles