Monthly Archives: March 2013

On The Manhattan Projects 1-10

Jonathan Hickman decided to create a comic book that told the secret history of science in the United States. The Manhattan Projects tells this story, but with an injection of fiction. I don’t mean “it is fictionalized,” because obviously it is, but … Continue reading

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Post-American Elf American Elf

James Kochalka posted a new American Elf strip the other day. As you may know, American Elf was Kochalka’s more-than-decade long daily comic book diary. He ended it when 2012 went out the door, and has now been working on other things (a graphic … Continue reading

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On Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto

Before anything else: Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto is a book written by David Kushner that sets out to tell the story of the Grand Theft Auto franchise from its beginning to its end. It succeeds in that if “succeeds” means … Continue reading

Posted in Video Games | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Nick Briz’s Apple Computers

Ben Syverson: That’s part of getting yourself in another ecosystem. It’s about adapting and the constraints and they force you to do this thing that you don’t necessarily want to do but you have to do it because if you … Continue reading

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On Astrid’s Animation

There aren’t many positions for characters to be in when you are playing Skyrim. They’re walking, they’re standing, they’re fighting. The Jarls, basically the lords of the different holds, have an pose where they lounge far back in their chairs. But … Continue reading

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Some Preliminary Thoughts on Spawn

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to read the first fifty issues of Todd McFarlane’s Image series Spawn. You might be familiar with the material through its strange saturation into American culture via action figures, anime, … Continue reading

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Parikka on material incompatibility

Forget smooth, start with the rough. What if we assume a fundamental incompatibility? What if we assume that by their nature, things don’t fit in? Not with the world, not with themselves; incompatibility is not a contingency or if it … Continue reading

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You Buy It I Write It: Secret of the Magic Crystal

There comes a time when language fails, when the very concept of putting meaning into symbolic utterances is not sufficient or even a possibility in light of something that occurs to us. I feel this way about Secret of the Magic … Continue reading

Posted in Video Games, You Buy It I Write It | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

On The 3 Snake Leaves

Emily Carroll is probably my favorite working comics author right now (only surpassing James Kochalka because American Elf is over and I have no interest in J.K.’s other work). His Face All Red is the pinnacle of horror comics, and Margot’s Room absolutely destroys me in … Continue reading

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An Update on the Blog and a Great Comic Book Moment

As you may know if you follow me on Twitter, I finished a journal submission today and so I am pretty beat (this has been the reason there is less ‘original writing’ going on here at the blog over the … Continue reading

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