Tag Archives: Todd Klein

10 noir short stories

Given the ongoing heated discussion over police reform and how to rethink public safety, I guess this is an appropriate occasion to highlight one of my favorite genres: crime fiction. As far as comic books go, although there were precedents, … Continue reading

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (10 August 2020)

Just another reminder that comics can be awesome, science adventure edition…  

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On Batman’s title (and logo) pages

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been spotlighting one of the trademarks of The Spirit, namely the way Will Eisner and later creators kept adjusting that series’ logo to fit the title pages, ingeniously inserting new designs into each … Continue reading

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10 Alan Moore short stories in others’ sandboxes

The conversation in the comments section of The Tempest’s post back in January got me thinking about how much of Alan Moore’s career was spent playing with other creators’ toys, providing some of the greatest gun-for-hire work in the medium… … Continue reading

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2019’s book of the year

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Gotham Calling’s 2019 book of the year is The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest. There were other strong contenders, most notably the first volume of Chris Ware’s Rusty Brown, with its geometric … Continue reading

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Spotlight on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – part 1

If Master Race and other stories was Gotham Calling’s 2018 book of the year, this time around that questionable honor goes to The Tempest, the collection that marks the ending – twenty years after the first issue came out – … Continue reading

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Batman comics on drugs – part 2

If you read the last post, you know I’ve been looking at Batman comics about drugs. Today I want to briefly discuss two stories from the early 1990s that approached this topic in extreme ways. In his many adventures, the … Continue reading

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (June 2019)

Your June reminder that comics can be awesome… Man-Thing #1 The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot #1 The Invisibles (v2) #19

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3 striking uses of red by Greg Wright

I don’t write much about colorists in this blog. Coloring is one of those ungrateful tasks that, while absolutely vital to the feel of a comic, tends to go unnoticed when it’s merely done well. According to mainstream coloring conventions, … Continue reading

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My ideal deluxe omnibus volume – part 2

If you read the last post, you know what’s going on. Here are another ten stories that would definitely be included if I had a chance to put together a giant Batman omnibus collecting personal favorites: ‘The Underworld Olympics ‘76!’ … Continue reading

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