[This is the launch of a three-part series chronicling the creation and release of director Zack Snyder’s DC Comics film adaptations starting with 2013’s Man of Steel. Our focus will lie on the forces at play in developing these films and the arc of Zack Snyder’s overtures towards asserting creative control in the realm of a blockbuster […]
“The Adventures Of Supergirl” Tells A Lot And Mostly Succeeds
The Season 2 premiere of Supergirl, “The Adventures of Supergirl,” has a lot of stories to tell. I don’t just mean the handful of plot threads it barrels through from last season and all the new ones introduced but also the three meta-stories it has to convey. Those stories are: Supergirl, having moved from CBS to […]
DC REBIRTH: Judge A Cover Not, Lest Ye Be Judged
For Rebirth (a relaunch that Geoff Johns, Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics, describes as an attempt to “give back [a] sense of hope and optimism” to their output), DC Comics plans to release a series of one-shot specials for most of their ongoing books that begin launching this June. The edict for the covers of these […]
Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman Takes Place in a Universe We Already Know
In this essay, I will establish that Zack Snyder’s latest movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is actually a continuation of the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher Batman films. Needless to say, spoilers will follow. Batman v Superman opens up on a scene we know all too well: the death of Martha and Thomas Wayne. We […]
Lights, Camera…Action?: A Dialogue That Asks “Are Superhero Movies, Action Movies?”
Shea Hennum and Christopher M. Jones spend a lot of time arguing the rules of genre. So instead of letting them continue to distract us here in the imaginary Loser City offices, we forced them to get together and attempt to settle one of their biggest semantic conflicts: are superheroes action movies? Shea Hennum: So, […]
The Truth Redefined: Superman and Passing in America
As part of DC Comics’ new DC You initiative, the publisher is seeking to diversify their books and send their tentpole titles in inviting, new directions. Batman is now a former police commissioner in a robotic suit, Wonder Woman is just a run of the mill bad book, and – most intriguingly – Superman has […]
Double Consciousness: Mad Men is the Superhero Show We Need Now
Here’s a trick: Find a person you love and offer them something no one has ever seen, that no one will ever see again. Admire their astonishment. Then, produce a peanut. It could be anything in a shell—an oyster, say, but that’s messier to share. Crack it open, and each eat one of the nuts. […]
