We’re going to be talking about a few terms from the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, a 20th century Russian literary critic and semiotician. First of all, “heteroglossia.” Heteroglossia is: “the base condition governing the operation of meaning in any utterance. It is that which insures the primacy of context over text. At any given time,…
Over the last few months, us X-Fans have gotten accustomed to island life. Krakoa has become our home. We visit tiki bars, hang out on beaches, and enjoy a political system that is questionable. With the recent global pandemic, Krakoa has been taken from us. Comics aren’t coming out this week, we don’t know when…
It’s November 8th, 2016. My wife and I are at my father-in-law’s house picking up our ten month old son after seeing the film Doctor Strange. The anxiety of the last few weeks is washed away by an enjoyable, but ultimately empty, 115 minutes of popcorn and CGI. I’ve intentionally avoided checking my phone this…
We’re all acutely aware of the rise of Marvel as a brand over the past dozen years, powered by the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the company’s acquisition by Disney. However, growing in parallel with the superhero film industry has been the hobby board game one. With over 4000 games published in 2019,…
Ryan is currently a Senior completing a degree in Media and Cinema Studies at the University of DePaul, which unfortunately does not rest on top of a living island. In 2014, Wolverine died. The character, I mean. The moniker and title of Wolverine was readily stripped off Logan’s adamantium-coated corpse and taken on by a…
In September of 1998, millions of kids were racked with a decision. Pokemon Red or Pokemon Blue. The difference was 11 exclusive monsters to each version. You could still catch 139 unique little buggers, but those last few were lost to you. Cleverly, the marketing folks sold the game with a call to action for…
As the decade comes to a close it is a time to reflect. A time to look back at some of out most cherished memories of the years past and celebrate their achievements. So in that spirit, I have taken a look at the best stories from each of the past ten years. As comics…
This piece comes to us from Nir Revel & Stephanie Burt. Nir is an EMT and Israeli Citizen who’s just good at making friends and being at the right place at the right time. Stephanie is Professor of English at Harvard and the author of several books of poetry and literary criticism, most recently Don’t…
Luke Herr has never been one for half-measures. It’s apparent in the way he has decided to end Exiled, an actual-play RPG podcast based on the comic Exiles, which Luke DMs. Some would wrap-up a nearly three-year long story in a nice bow, giving the players a chance to say their goodbyes and save the…
This comes to us from Lincoln Crisler. Lincoln’ genre fiction credits include a contribution to IDW Publishing’s Robots vs Zombies anthology and editorship of Corrupts Absolutely?, an anthology of dark superhero fiction. A career non-commissioned officer in the United States Army, he currently lives and works in Europe with his wife and son. With our look back at the Age Of…
Marvel Comics puts out a lot of comics. While we can’t cover every book, every week, we can tell you where you can find your fan favorite characters around the Marvel Universe. There be spoilers. History Of The Marvel Universe #4 As long time denizens of the Marvel Universe, it should shock no one that…
On October 16th, 2019 Marvel Comics will release X-MEN #1. This will be the 5th comic to be called X-Men #1 (not counting things like the Taco Bell or Stridex promo comics which also bore that name). This is because readers like nice clean jumping on points for stories, and the sales data backs that…
This comes to us from Lincoln Crisler. Lincoln’ genre fiction credits include a contribution to IDW Publishing’s Robots vs Zombies anthology and editorship of Corrupts Absolutely?, an anthology of dark superhero fiction. A career non-commissioned officer in the United States Army, he currently lives and works in Europe with his wife and son. The Age of Apocalypse rushes in with a…
Note: This essay, published in 2019, has been updated to reflect that Grant Morrison is commonly referred to by they/them pronouns. In late 2000, writer Grant Morrison submitted a brief, typed essay to the senior editorial staff at Marvel – the ‘Morrison Manifesto’ – outlining what the X-Men would be under their pen. This manifesto,…
This comes to us from Lincoln Crisler. Lincoln’ genre fiction credits include a contribution to IDW Publishing’s Robots vs Zombies anthology and editorship of Corrupts Absolutely?, an anthology of dark superhero fiction. A career non-commissioned officer in the United States Army, he currently lives and works in Europe with his wife and son. Marvel’s X-Men…