I recently watched disc 1 of Justice League animated series’ first season. I’ve been a fan of Bruce Timm’s other DC universe productions, but found myself sorely disappointed in this particular endeavor for one reason alone: lazy writing. How do I know the writers were lazy? Because they committed a cardinal sin of comic book [...]
Power levels fluctuating
Filed under Tips & Tools on July 28, 2009
Tagged: fantasy fiction, superheroes
Superhero stories without pictures seem less super
Filed under Writing Journal on May 5, 2009
Tagged: comic books, novels, superheroes
I’ve been reading comic books about as long as I have fantasy fiction novels. My dad bought me my first comic book, a Superman and Plastic Man team-up, when we moved from New Jersey to Iowa the summer after second grade. I spent many summer days after third grade with my face buried in a [...]
Superhero retirement plans
Filed under Trends & Tropes on December 30, 2008
Tagged: Batman, Bruce Wayne, comic books, superheroes
Bruce Wayne is hanging up the cape and cowl in 2009. I haven’t read comic books with any regularity since I got married, and only just heard about this event a couple months ago when it hit mainstream media. My immediate reaction was cynical, born of too many “death” events and the cold, hard business [...]
Fantasy gone graphic
Filed under Trends & Tropes on May 16, 2008
Tagged: comic books, fantasy fiction, superheroes
My apologies to everyone who was unable to post over the last couple days. It seems there was an issue with the anti-spam plugin. I’ve disabled the plugin until the I can get the issue resolved or regress to the last working version. Talking about superheroes naturally leads to a discussion of comic books. Comic [...]
Why superheroes are fantasy fiction
Filed under Soapbox on May 14, 2008
Tagged: fantasy fiction, science fiction, superheroes
One of the arguments I offered against the stagnancy of fantasy fiction was the proliferation of sub-genres. We’re all familiar with epic fantasies like Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, or the sword-and-sorcery of Conan. Urban fantasy has risen in popularity thanks to Anita Blake and her contemporaries, while Temeraire has lead the resurgence in historical [...]
