Tag Archives: Cold War

Spotlight on The Unknown Soldier, 1988-1989 – part 1

Posted on March 3, 2022 by I.M. Baytor

At a time when pavlovian pundits and politicians seem keen to revive Cold War rhetoric and imagery, (mis)applying it to the conflict taking place in Ukraine, perhaps it is worth remembering that even during the Cold War itself there were … Continue reading →

Posted in SPYCRAFT & WARFARE | Tagged Carl Gafford, Christopher Priest, Cold War, Denny O'Neil, espionage, James Owsley, John Costanza, Phil Gascoine, politics, Unknown Soldier, Vietnam | Leave a comment

Spotlight on The Adventures of Tintin – part 2

Posted on February 3, 2022 by I.M. Baytor

If you just look at the artwork in The Adventures of Tintin, it’s hard to deny the series’ ethnocentrism, since Hergé’s drawings – as was usual at the time – tap on recognizable stereotypes. If you look closely at the … Continue reading →

Posted in FANTASTIC ADVENTURES | Tagged Bob de Moor, Cold War, Hergé, movies, politics, science fiction, Tintin | Leave a comment

Animal war comics – part 1

Posted on December 23, 2021 by I.M. Baytor

Once again, the folks at Dead Reckoning have sent me one of their graphic novels to review: Four-Fisted Tales: Animals in Combat, in which Ben Towle spotlights the historical role of different creatures in various wars. Like last time, I … Continue reading →

Posted in SPYCRAFT & WARFARE | Tagged Art Spiegelman, Brian K. Vaughan, Cat Shit One, Cesar Lopez-Vera, Cold War, Dodderio, Enemy Ace, Joe Kubert, John Wagner, Juan Arancio, Motofumi Kobayashi, Niko Henrichon, Pat Mills, politics, Ramon Solá, Robert Kanigher, Shako, Vietnam, World War II | Leave a comment

Gotham Calling’s top 50 westerns

Posted on December 16, 2021 by I.M. Baytor

This is Gotham Calling’s 500th post! I like to mark these round numbers with humorous tours of Batman’s quirkiest villains but, since I’ve already done one of those earlier this year, this time around I’ll go for something more original … Continue reading →

Posted in WILD WEST | Tagged Cold War, David Lapham, horror, movies, politics, Quentin Tarantino, western | 5 Comments

COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (8 November 2021)

Posted on November 8, 2021 by I.M. Baytor

This weekend, I too went to see Dune: Part One, Denis Villeneuve’s majestic – if largely monochromatic and, despite the heat, coldly assembled – adaptation of the first half of the first book of Frank Herbert’s heady space opera. Given … Continue reading →

Posted in FANTASTIC ADVENTURES | Tagged Boy Commandos, Cold War, Dune, horror, Jack Kirby, Louis Cazeneuve, movies, politics, science fiction | Leave a comment

Top 12 foreign-language film noirs

Posted on October 21, 2021 by I.M. Baytor

When I ranked my top 50 noir thrillers last month, I only included movies spoken in English. It was an easy way to curb the size of the list. However, this type of gritty, atmospheric crime stories has found an … Continue reading →

Posted in HARDBOILED CRIME | Tagged Cold War, movies, noir, politics, World War II | Leave a comment

Gotham Calling’s top 50 film noir

Posted on September 15, 2021 by I.M. Baytor

Today is Gotham Calling’s seventh anniversary! I usually mark these occasions with a compilation of fifty images from Batman comics, showcasing the Dark Knight kicking people in the head or breaking through windows. Since the blog’s identity has been shifting … Continue reading →

Posted in HARDBOILED CRIME | Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Cold War, Frank Miller, Graham Greene, movies, noir, politics, The Spirit, World War II | 4 Comments

Another 12 cool sci-fi short stories

Posted on July 15, 2021 by I.M. Baytor

This year there was no entry into Gotham Calling’s winter tradition of spotlighting sci-fi war comics. I’ll compensate with yet another list of short stories that similarly treat science fiction, not so much as a challenging, head-scratching experience, but as … Continue reading →

Posted in FANTASTIC ADVENTURES | Tagged 2000 AD, Al Feldstein, Alan Moore, Bernie Krigstein, Bill Gaines, Christian Gossett, Cold War, David Lloyd, Del Close, Dezi Sienty, Edmond Hamilton, Epic Illustrated, Frank Frazetta, Gardner Fox, Geoff Johns, Harvey Kurtzman, Howard Nostrand, Jack Potter, Jerry Grandenetti, Jim Wroten, Joe Giella, John Higgins, John Ostrander, Jordie Bellaire, Lee Mars, Marie Severin, Martin DeMuth, Metal Hurlant, Mystery in Space, Nat Barnett, noir, politics, science fiction, Sid Greene, Snakebite, Steve Craddock, Strange Adventures, The Spirit, Time Warp, Tom Fowler, Tom King, Wasteland, Weird Fantasy, Weird Science, Will Eisner, Witches Tales | Leave a comment

A couple of mind-bending novels

Posted on June 17, 2021 by I.M. Baytor

It’s been a while since I’ve discussed books without pictures in this blog… And since the world seems to be struggling to return to a form of normality these days, let’s have a look at a couple of remarkable novels … Continue reading →

Posted in FANTASTIC ADVENTURES | Tagged Angela Carter, books without pictures, China Miéville, Cold War, politics, science fiction, The City & The City, The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman, The War of Dreams | Leave a comment

Collected war comics

Posted on June 3, 2021 by I.M. Baytor

The folks at Dead Reckoning sent a copy of Garth Ennis’ and Carlos Ezquerra’s The Tankies for me to review, so I figured it would be fun to put the book into context by discussing it together with other collections … Continue reading →

Posted in SPYCRAFT & WARFARE | Tagged Alan Hebden, Alex Toth, Battle, Battlefields, Cam Kennedy, Carlos Ezquerra, Charles Biro, Cold War, Dave Berg, espionage, Fighting Mann, Frontline Combat, Garth Ennis, Gene Colan, Harvey Kurtzman, Hector Ezquerra, Joe Kubert, John Severin, Johnny Craig, Marie Severin, Mike Western, politics, R.C. Harvey, Reed Crandall, Ric Estrada, Russ Heath, The Tankies, Tony Avina, Two-Fisted Tales, Vietnam, War Dog, World War II | Leave a comment