Content warning: Discussions of rape. Not many people can tell you that much about DC Comics’ Apollo. Those that do tend to know him as Midnighter’s boyfriend or husband, the second father to Midnighter’s daughter, or the Superman to his Batman. Created in 1997 by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch for Wildstorm Productions’ Stormwatch, he…
On Being In a Bad Relationship with The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead has gone from being the show I could wax poetic about for days to being the equivalent of that feeling you get when an estranged ex shows up unannounced and drunk to a holiday party and all you can think is, “Oh, it’s you.”
“Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for Prez!” Re-Electing DC’s First Teen President
Like many Discman-clutching mall goths lurking in Waldenbooks in the early 2000s, I first discovered Prez Rickard, First Teen President of the USA, in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Issue #54, “The Golden Boy,” is the standout story in the seventh trade paperback, elevating an obscure footnote in DC Comics’ vast library to an acid-soaked Christ allegory….
Navigating Towards Home: Fresh Off the Boat’s Season 3 Premiere
so, here you are too foreign for home too foreign for here. never enough for both. —”diaspora blues” by Ijeoma Umebinyuo It didn’t take more than two minutes of Fresh Off the Boat‘s season 3 premiere before I got goosebumps from three sentences of dialogue.
Black Heroism and “The Man” in Luke Cage
So now—Luke Cage is a hero. The arc of his heroism passes from the (messy) pilot into the end of the fourth episode, when he announces to the press that his name is Luke Cage. For some reason, I suppose. On the one hand, the rationale for his involvement with Cottonmouth is quite clear: Cottonmouth…
The Calling of Witchcraft: Witch Movies and Teenage Girls
If you ever hang out with 30-something pagans, you will quickly learn that The Craft (1996) was a lightbulb moment for many of them. When The Craft came out, it had a significant impact on the witch community, because it based the practices in the movie in real life practices. Pat Devin, a Dianic High…
The Life and Times of Marya Zaleska, Dracula’s Daughter: Part Three
Having discussed the 1936 film Dracula’s Daughter in the first and second posts in this series, I shall now conclude with a look at the film’s afterlife in adaptations and derivative works. Dracula’s Daughter: The Novel The novelisation of Dracula’s Daughter was published by Berkley Books in 1977. Its author was credited as Carl Dreadstone;…
Varney the Vampire: A Penny Dreadful Pioneer
When it comes to the vampire fiction of nineteenth-century Britain, four works in particular are sure to be mentioned during any in-depth discussion. One, of course, is Bram Stoker’s Dracula, published in 1897. Another is Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, serialised from 1871 to 1872, which continues to inspire writers and filmmakers today. Predating either of them…
The Life and Times of Marya Zaleska, Dracula’s Daughter: Part Two
Having taken a look at the plot of the 1936 film Dracula’s Daughter in my previous article, I shall now discuss the origins of the film and make a closer examination of its themes. The Birth of Dracula’s Daughter The film started life as a proposed adaptation of “Dracula’s Guest” by Bram Stoker, a short story…
The Life and Times of Marya Zaleska, Dracula’s Daughter: Part One
The classic horror films made by Universal had no shortage of monstrous men, such as Bela Lugosi’s Dracula and Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein’s monster. Monstrous women, on the other hand, were few and far between. The Bride of Frankenstein, iconic as she is, appears so briefly in her self-titled 1935 film that she can scarcely be…
Wonder Woman and the Silver Screen
In less than one year, we will finally see Wonder Woman in a solo live action feature film! The road was long, and winding at times—two decades of rumors and speculations to be exact. And it’s important to look at the history of what could have been and why it took so long.
Supergirl’s White Kryptonite
There aren’t many shows I really love these days. For every Jane the Virgin or Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, there seems to be a corresponding amount of hard-boiled police procedurals headlined by square-jawed and serious men. Still, it’s not a leap to say that I love Supergirl.
