I’m a huge sucker for subgenres, niche branches of cultural production that are quite specific in their parameters but nevertheless spur a fair share of outputs, with variations that are mostly of interest to devoted experts/fans, usually capturing a momentary fixation, whether it’s the cycle of distinctively post-Pulp Fiction crime comedies (including Jon Watts’ recent throwback, Wolfs, whose title is a cheeky nod to Harvey Keitel’s iconic character) or the recent strand of op eds explaining Trump’s electoral victory (which have been as formulaic and predictable as any other mass-produced literary subgenre, even as authors put their own preconceived ideological spin on each interpretation).
And so, today’s reminder that comic book covers can be awesome is yet another tribute to one of my favorite esoteric subgenres: superhero/horror hybrids.
