Films based on Marvel Comics superheroes have made billions. Yet the artists and writers who created these characters get a pittance, if that.
superheroes
Posted inFilm
Zack Snyder’s Justice League, an Invaluable Historical Document of the Age of the Fan
The result of a years-long fan campaign, the massive reedit of 2017’s much-maligned Justice League holds many lessons about contemporary film culture, production, and editing.
Posted inFilm
WandaVision Grapples with Grief in Sitcom Style, But Falls Short
Despite its laugh tracks and various winks and nods, the Marvel superhero series is lacking in its homage to iconic television.
Posted inFilm
HBO’s Watchmen, Politically Uncertain But Magnetic In the Moment
If the show’s analysis of racial tensions ends up falling apart, it will definitely be a case of too much liberalism on the brain.
Posted inArt
Revisiting Watchmen and the Lessons We Have (and Haven’t) Learned From It
One of the defining texts of the superhero genre, the graphic novel also broke the genre in such a way that, after more than 30 years, it still hasn’t fully recovered.
Posted inFilm
The Strong Parallels Between Avengers: Endgame and 9/11
This film is not just the culmination of 11 years of storytelling within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but also of Hollywood using action films to reenact 9/11.
Posted inComics
Thank you, Stan Lee!
A tribute to a man who had more of an impact on our culture than many people realize.
Posted inOpinion
It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Another White Superhero!
The American white superman is a myth. When we insist on upholding the idea that he’s real, we all suffer.
Posted inArt
Whether Gotham or Metropolis, New York Is the City of Superheroes
Superhero stories mesh easily with New York, whether it’s the new Jessica Jones series, which follows its super-strong private investigator around a noir Manhattan, or the first appearance of Batman, in 1939, soaring over the city.
Posted inArt
The Many Comic Faces of Tibet
Something about Tibet has always seemed very mysterious to the West. Maybe it’s the terrain of the towering Himalayas possibly inhabited by savage yetis, the legends of the heavenly Shangri-La, or the ancient traditions of Tibetan Buddhism embodied by the reincarnated Dalai Lama. All of these impressions, founded on fact or not, have naturally made for great comic book fodder, where the exotic and mystical image of Tibet fits in perfectly with superheroes and mad villains. The Rubin Museum of Art’s Hero, Villain, Yeti: Tibet in Comics is now presenting over 50 comics related to Tibet dating back to the 1940s.