Tag Archives: noir

On The Spirit’s title pages – part 2

Posted on April 23, 2020 by I.M. Baytor

The Spirit (v2) #3 I tend to be quite distrustful of attempts to update Will Eisner’s The Spirit. Because most creators cannot begin to match Eisner’s experimentalism, the appeal ends up being little more than the curious, nostalgic exercise of … Continue reading →

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On The Spirit’s title pages – part 1

Posted on April 16, 2020 by I.M. Baytor

At its best, Will Eisner’s post-World War II work on the noir comedy series The Spirt gave us some of the greatest comics ever – not just groundbreaking stuff at the time, but a string of truly ingenious approaches to … Continue reading →

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On World War II adventure movies

Posted on March 26, 2020 by I.M. Baytor

Writing about The Unknown Soldier last week made me think that I should expand a bit more on the specific genre that is World War II adventure. In fact, I want to go straight to the source and actually talk … Continue reading →

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (March 2020)

Posted on March 3, 2020 by I.M. Baytor

Your noirish reminder that comics can be awesome…

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On John le Carré’s Circus novels

Posted on January 29, 2020 by I.M. Baytor

I won’t drift too far away and too often, but this year I want to widen the blog’s scope every once in a while. With that in mind, let’s shift gears for a bit and talk about John le Carré’s … Continue reading →

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Brilliant horror short stories

Posted on October 30, 2019 by I.M. Baytor

In theory, horror shouldn’t be an easy fit for stories of ten pages or less. For a narrative to be truly scary or disturbing, the stakes should be painstakingly set up, the atmosphere should breathe, the fearful anticipation should be … Continue reading →

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Spotlight on Denny O’Neil’s and Mike Kaluta’s The Shadow

Posted on October 4, 2019 by I.M. Baytor

Like I mentioned in the blog’s latest manifesto, Gotham Calling is no longer focusing primarily on Batman comics, but that doesn’t mean we’re moving too far way… For instance, this week we’ll have a look at another DC comic featuring … Continue reading →

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More brilliant sci-fi short stories

Posted on May 23, 2019 by I.M. Baytor

Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone has started off on the wrong foot. It’s not just that most episodes so far have been weaker than 90% of Rod Serling’s original series  (or, at least, 90% of the first three seasons, since … Continue reading →

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The looks of Vicki Vale

Posted on March 28, 2019 by I.M. Baytor

          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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2018’s book of the year

Posted on December 26, 2018 by I.M. Baytor

This is the time of the year when bloggers share their best-of-the-year lists. I don’t usually play along because I mostly read old stuff and don’t have enough of a grip on current publications to make any authoritative claim about … Continue reading →

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