Author Archives: I.M. Baytor

More thoughts on 21st-century spy shows: Cold War edition

Posted on May 23, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

When I wrote about the TV series Slow Horses, last month, I mentioned how one of the departures from the source novels was that the show didn’t take advantage of the potential of sleeper agents to act as metaphors for … Continue reading →

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (20 May 2024)

Posted on May 20, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

With the return of the Mad Max and Planet of the Apes franchises – and perhaps as a way to occasionally escape the present-day horror – my mind has been on futuristic fiction. Consequently, this week’s reminder that comic book … Continue reading →

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Why Commissioner Gordon hates Thursdays

Posted on May 16, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Black Condor #12 Turning Points #1 Batman Annual #21 JLA: Incarnations #2 Legends of the Dark Knight #95 Batman and the Mad Monk #1 Batman versus Predator #2

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (13 May 2024)

Posted on May 13, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Another week, another tribute to the captivatingly stylish sense of design you can find in comic book covers:

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Spotlight on Lucky Luke, 1958-1967 – part 2

Posted on May 9, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

As mentioned last week, I’ve been rereading the first decade of René Goscinny’s run on the Belgian series Lucky Luke, illustrated by Morris, and trying to figure out what made those comics work (and why they resonated so much with … Continue reading →

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (6 May 2024)

Posted on May 6, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Given the terrifying escalation of war, nationalism, and climate crisis, to which we can now add mass arrests of students protesting against genocide, it is not surprising that we’re in the midst of a surge of mainstream dystopias, from Civil … Continue reading →

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Spotlight on Lucky Luke, 1958-1967 – part 1

Posted on May 2, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Once again, it’s that time of year when I revisit Eurocomics that marked my childhood, now read through older eyes, and write about some of the dimensions I missed as a kid. Today, I’ll focus on the first decade of … Continue reading →

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (29 April 2024)

Posted on April 29, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

This week, a reminder that comic book covers can be FUN:

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Some thoughts on Alex Garland’s Civil War

Posted on April 24, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Just some loose thoughts on the Civil War film… No, not the MCU one, I’m talking about the one set in a dystopia where secessionist states are fighting against the US president. Matt Zoller Seitz has summed up the initial … Continue reading →

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (22 April 2024)

Posted on April 22, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Another reminder that comic book covers can be awesome… and another tribute to renditions of facial acting and the art of the close-up:

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