Tag Archives: Tom Mandrake

COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (18 November 2024)

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 … Continue reading

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (22 August 2022)

I hope to be back with longer posts next month… Meanwhile, this week’s reminder that comics can be awesome pays tribute to covers that spotlight Batman’s unrivalled Rogues Gallery:

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (11 July 2022)

In the turn toward the 1970s, Batman comics grew moodier, with more realistic designs and a less campy feel than the stuff coming out in the previous decades. Creators like Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams, and Frank Robbins clearly sought distance … Continue reading

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (12 April 2021)

Your terrifying reminder that comics can be awesome: Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian #6 The Spectre (v3) #27 John Constantine Hellblazer #12

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John Ostrander’s expanded Batman

John Ostrander has written more cool comics than most of his peers. Some of them feature Batman and other Gotham citizens, although those projects don’t always play to his strengths, since they tend to be short fill-ins or mini-series. Ostrander … Continue reading

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The looks of Vicki Vale

          Among the fascinating things about Batman comics is the fact that, because they have been going on for eight decades, you get to trace social and aesthetic evolutions on all sorts of fronts. One of those fronts is the … Continue reading

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (November)

Whether you’re celebrating or crying over the recent electoral results, here is your monthly reminder that comics can be awesome: The Spectre (v3) #50 Captain Atom #56 The Demon (v3) #15

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Essential Batman stories every fan should read – part 2

If you read the last post, you know what’s going on. This is the second part of my list of essential comics that serve as the best possible gateway into grasping the overall Batman meta-narrative. This week, I’m highlighting post-Crisis … Continue reading

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Doug Moench’s literary Batman

Doug Moench is up there as one of the most prolific writers of Batman comics ever. From an unforgettable 1983 tale about tentacle sex until the 2009 mini-series Unseen – in which the Dark Knight battles the Invisible Man – … Continue reading

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3 blackout sequences by Adrienne Roy

Much of this blog has been devoted to writers and artists of Batman comics but, like many other fans, I don’t talk nearly as much about colorists. With that in mind, this week Gotham Calling pays homage to Adrienne Roy, … Continue reading

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