A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans
Pastiche Perspective is a new monthly column taking a look at pastiches of popular works, ideas, and characters in pop culture, and how they reflect back on their roots. We’re going to be exploring various works, from superheroes to superspies, and more! This first installment kicks off by taking a look at Barbalien: Red Planet
Editor’s Note: In Part 1 of this series, Ritesh explored Matt Fraction, Steve Lieber and team’s DC Comics series Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, which led to an exploration of Fraction’s “American Fiction” trilogy released over the last few years. Today, the journey concludes with Adventureman, the Pulps, and circling back to the comedy of Jimmy Olsen!
[Read more…] about Matt Fraction, American Fiction, and Jimmy Olsen! (Pt. 2 of 2)
I made Casanova and I’m telling you, I could never match the psycho-sexual Jungian underpinnings of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen as presented by Mort Weisinger. By wife-beating, child-hater Mort Weisinger. – Matt Fraction
I must confess at this juncture:
I’ve never particularly been a Jimmy Olsen fan.
Now, now, put your pitchforks down, folks. I like the goofy ginger as much as the next person, always have. But he was never a character I was particularly obsessed with or enthralled by. You get me? He was fun. He was cute. He was charming. And you know what? That was enough. I didn’t think he necessarily needed to be more. [Read more…] about Matt Fraction, American Fiction, and Jimmy Olsen! (Pt. 1 of 2)
Historia is a brand new bi-monthly series that will be examining The Amazing Amazon’s rich history. The feature will span the war-haunted Golden Ages in which she was forged, through the sweeping currents of The Silver Age, the shifts of The Bronze Age, the trials of The Dark Age, all the way to The Renaissance and The Prismatic Age of the modern century.
We’ll be looking at and discussing the various influences and archetypal antecedents that underlie the Wonder Legend, the power of the conceits it upholds, the politics of the whole enterprise, the terrifying nature of myths and narratives, and how the character and property have changed, evolved, or even regressed. What is this curious little experiment that began under a polyamorous polymath psychologist that became an icon of the feminist movement and a vital corporate symbol? Let’s dig in.
[Read more…] about Wonder Woman Historia Part Nine: Fables and Falls
Welcome! Historia is a brand new bi-monthly series that will be examining The Amazing Amazon’s rich history. The feature will span the war-haunted Golden Ages in which she was forged, through the sweeping currents of The Silver Age, the shifts of The Bronze Age, the trials of The Dark Age, all the way to The Renaissance and The Prismatic Age of the modern century.
We’ll be looking at and discussing the various influences and archetypal antecedents that underlie the Wonder Legend, the power of the conceits it upholds, the politics of the whole enterprise, the terrifying nature of myths and narratives, and how the character and property have changed, evolved, or even regressed. What is this curious little experiment that began under a polyamorous polymath psychologist that became an icon of the feminist movement and a vital corporate symbol? Let’s dig in.
[Read more…] about Wonder Woman Historia Part Eight: The Regeneration