Hundreds of movies are released every year, and for every movie that’s released, there’s a movie poster to go along with it. While these movie posters typically do a great job of advertising the film for a few weeks prior to release, very few of them end up being remembered for more than a few …
Artist/writer Jill Thompson has one of the most idiosyncratic bodies of work in contemporary comics ranging from important arcs on legendary comics series The Sandman and The Invisibles to more traditional superhero work like a run on Wonder Woman as well her own creator owned comic/children’s book/film series Scary Godmother. She has drawn everything from dying stripper gods to Romantic poets, Batman to Bart Simpson and even an all animal cast in her Eisner winning Dark Horse series Beasts of Burden with writer Evan Dorkin. She is also one of the few creators not named Neil Gaiman allowed to write The Endless in her Li’l Endless stories.
Even though it is riddled with plot inconsistencies and even some slasher film/supernatural show cliches, Constantine starts to find itself as a show in its final three episodes as it embraces being a mythology lite, episodic show with a few season finale reveals and plot threads that could expand its universe and heighten the threat level of the Rising Darkness from being a silly name that occasionally, almost does something bad every other episode. But its biggest strength going forward is its small, morally ambiguous ensemble cast that really benefited from showcase episodes like “Quid Pro Quo” (for Chas) and “Angels and Ministers of Grace (for Zed and Manny) down the stretch. If it continues (either on NBC or as SyFy’s Hellblazer), Constantine has a solid foundation with these characters and actors along with sense of atmosphere and setting in most episodes.
With all the exposition and origin story trappings out of the way in last week’s pilot, “The Darkness Beneath” show readers what exactly John Constantine (Matt Ryan) does, other than con people, go to pubs, and chat with Chas (Charles Halford). This could be a typical case of the week type of episode, but writer Rockne S. O’Bannon manages to connect the monster to John’s past life, as well as some of the socioeconomic critiques that characterized early Hellblazer issues. He also introduces a new, improved female lead in Zed Martin (Angelica Celaya), who has an almost sultry chemistry with Constantine, and shows she can handle herself in a fight with the supernatural and then some. O’Bannon also doesn’t reveal his entire hand when it comes to her character, and the mysterious nature of her powers and connection to Constantine will be a intriguing mystery to follow throughout the season. “The Darkness Beneath” showcases Constantine as more of a con man than a pure spell caster, as well as someone who uses others to further his ends, even though they are positive in this case. He’s no hero. A few criticisms of this episode are that the citizens of the town exist as ciphers to move the plot, including a skeptical preacher (James Le Gros) who has some substantial screen time, and the director’s focus on pyrotechnics instead of terrifying imagery and chills.
As some of you may know, the American Library Association has chosen to focus on banned comic books for this year’s Banned Books Week. For those of you who are unaware, Banned Books Week is a celebration of the freedom to read. The week-long celebration was first set up by the American Library Association in …
Trillium #1-8 Written by Jeff Lemire Art by Jeff Lemire Colors by José Villarrubia Published by Vertigo The preeminent accolade bestowing body in comics, the Eisner Awards, has just released its list of nominees, a long, disparate collection as diverse as the medium itself. More so, considering it doesn’t have to look at comic books …
Even though she was never a writer or artist, Karen Berger is one of the most influential people in comics. She has won three Eisner Awards for Best Editor and singlehandedly created the Vertigo imprint for DC Comics while recruiting some of comics’ greatest talents to work for DC (Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman). …
Laurent Durieux has been creating some of the best screenprints over the past few years, and he isn’t slowing down. In fact he is getting better with each and every new design. We recently showcased his Back to the Future 2 poster art, and now The Collider has premiered a few of Durieux’s Mondo screenprints …
The Filth #1-13 Written by Grant Morrison Penciled by Chris Weston Inked by Gary Erskine Colored by Matt Hollingsworth Published by Vertigo Comics The world of Grant Morrison and Chris Weston’s The Filth is a perverse one, a world hardly worthy of saving. The good guys fight for the status quo of a bland existence …
“Animal Man” (1988) #1-26* Writer: Grant Morrison Penciller: Chas Truog, Tom Grummett, Paris Cullins Inker: Doug Hazlewood, Steve Montano, Mark McKenna Letterer: John Costanza, Janice Chiang Colourist: Tatjana Wood, Helen Vesik Covers: Brian Bolland *The specific details of #20-26 will not be discussed in the below article. If you’ve never read this comic before, don’t …
Since relaunching last year, the now Vertigo-published “Astro City” has largely been cruising along on a series of single-issue stories, often to its detriment. But Busiek and co have finally decided the time has some to tell a larger story, one that finally gives some attention to critically under-exposed Astro City heavy hitter Winged Victory in the process, and issue two of the story recently hit the shelves.
Trillium Written by Jeff Lemire Art by Jeff Lemire Colors by José Villarrubia Published by Vertigo Trillium embraces the medium of comics, physically engaging the reader like no other book. Anyone who’s read David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest will know the feeling: turning a book over in their hands to get to the endnotes until …
Astro City # 6 Written by Kurt Busiek Art by Brent Eric Anderson Published by DC/Vertigo Comics Since returning to stands earlier this year under DC’s Vertigo imprint, Kurt Busiek’s Astro City has been fluctuating up and down in quality with more fervor and energy than the needle on a seismograph placed next to a …
The Sandman: Overture #1 Writer: Neil Gaiman Artist: J.H. Williams III Colorist: Dave Stewart Letterer: Todd Klein The art on The Sandman was always one of its biggest strengths and potentially greatest weaknesses. As an early book that treated artists as interchangeable parts, the book succeeded on how well the artist for an issue or …
The Witching Hour Writers: Steve Beach, Lauren Beukes, Brett Lewis, Annie Mok, Emily Carroll, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Matthew Sturges, Ales Kot, Toby Litt, Mariah Huehner Artists: Steve Beach, Gerhard Human, Cliff Chiang, Annie Mok, Emily Carroll, Ming Doyle, Shawn McManus, Morgan Jeske, Mark Buckingham, Victor Santos, Tula Lotay Colorists: John Kalisz, Giulia Brusco, Jordie Bellaire, …
Sandman #6 Writer: Neil Gaiman Penciler: Mike Dringenberg Inker: Malcolm Jones Colorist: Daniel Vozzo Publisher: Vertigo The early issues of Neil Gaiman’s magnum opus Sandman are very different in tone than his later stories which deal with Morpheus’ attempts at change and the struggle between a family of very powerful anthropomorphic entities. The first arc of Sandman “Preludes …
Astro City # 3 Written by Kurt Busiek Art by Brent Eric Anderson Published by DC/Vertigo Comics Like a tumescent, throbbing perfect batting average, a good streak of comics is hard to keep up. Oh sure, it’s easy to put out one awesome comic, and probably to put out two, but to keep that level …
Astro City # 2 Written by Kurt Busiek Art by Brent Eric Anderson Published by DC/Vertigo Comics The first issue of the triumphant return of “Astro City” to comic store shelves, now under the umbrella of DC’s Vertigo imprint, felt like a step in a new direction for the series. “This is a new day” …
The last couple years have been quiet for Vertigo, the DC imprint for mature-comics that published many of the most influential, renowned, and strangest comics of the 1990s: “The Sandman”, “Swamp Thing”, “Animal Man”, “Hellblazer”, “The Invisibles”, “Doom Patrol”, “Preacher”, and “Shade, the Changing Man”, among others. For many years Vertigo was the place-to-be for …
John Constantine: Hellblazer Written by Garth Ennis Art by William Simpson and Steve Dillon Published by DC Comics, Vertigo Imprint John Constantine is one of those comic characters a lot of people have written, but relatively few have really gotten right, like Wolverine or Paste Pot Pete. Originally cooked up by our old friend …
Arrow Season 1, Episode 12 ‘Vertigo’ Directed by Wendey Stanzler Written by Wendy Mericle & Ben Sokolowski Airs Wednesday nights at 8pm ET on The CW Arrow‘s been a bit of a frustrating watch through its first season: for every moment of tautly shot action or great character interaction, there are melodramatic scenes filled with contrived plot …
As Sound on Sight’s Western month reaches its conclusion, two of the hosts of your favorite Disney movie podcast, Mousterpiece Cinema, Josh Spiegel and Gabe Bucsko met in the show’s vaunted and secretive HQ to discuss and debate what many people would claim is the greatest Western of all time: the 1956 John Ford film The …
How do you measure the value of art? Influence, innovation, inspiration… Every ten years since 1952, the London based magazine Sight & Sound has compiled the lists of the best critics and filmmakers in order to compile the ten best “greatest” films of all time. The 2012 edition marks the first time since 1962 that …