A typical feature of the many (recent) blockbuster superhero movies is the concept they all share; they are not simply a continuation or reinterpretation of stories from comic books published decades ago. But there is more than meets the eye, according to author Ezra Claverie, a writer who for some years has published in Journal […]
Mario Bava: The Artisan as Italian Horror Auteur by Leon Hunt (2023)
One of the big names of Italian movie art, or in this case the horror and crime movie genre, Mario Bava (1914-1980) is the subject of this study on European “auteur-cinema” of the 1960s and 1970s. Without Bava, there would be no such genre masterpieces as Danger: Diabolik (1968), Kill Baby … Kill (1966), Baron […]
Out of the Blue: Life on the Road with Muddy Waters by Brian Bisesi (2024)
Brian Bisesi, an Italian-American guitar player from New Jersey who was part of the Muddy Waters Band from 1978 to 1980 in Out of the Blue shares a very vivid and often rough but real portrait of how life was when on tour with this blues master. Bisesi, today still a musician and a music […]
To Boldly Go. Marketing the Myth of Star Trek by Djoymi Baker (2023)
The stories, myths, and colossal spheres and regions (and timelines) the Star Trek franchise has generated so far, to a large extend are based on the show’s clever usage and reinterpretation of ancient Greek myths, epic stories of exploration, warfare, politics, and adventure often already familiar to audiences from (classic) storytelling or archaic tales. It […]
Captain America and the American Journey, 1940-2022 by Richard A. Hall (2024)
When the powerful alliance of superheroes called The Avengers were called by Marvel Comics (or rather, by S.H.I.E.L.D.), each member represented certain traits, powers, mindsets and even ideologies. The “Sentinel of Liberty,” a nickname (turned nom-de-guerre at various occasions on countless missions) for Captain America, unlike other superheroes of the Golden Age not simply existed […]
The Dark Interval. Film Noir, Iconography, and Affect by Padraic Killeen (2023)
Pedric Killeen, a media scholar, arts journalist and lecturer on film and digital cultures from Ireland, brings some fresh ideas to the field of film noir research. His basic idea here is to approach the individual/main protagonist and read him and his actions in terms of a certain paralysis or state of shock he experiences […]
Watching the World Die. Nuclear Threat Films of the 1980s by Mike Bogue (2023)
Already in the 1950s, apart from science-fiction movies following aliens from outer space invasion plots, disaster films or creature horror, another genre was equally prominent in the list of sensational productions: the nuclear threat films. Those were a familiar feature of popular culture, and audiences could watch new movies of the kind until roughly the […]
Asian Monster and Science Fiction Poster Art. Cinema posters … 1956 – 2021 by Detlef Claus (2023)
Monster movies from Asia and the US ever since the 1950s drew audiences to the cinemas. With the dawn of the atomic age and space exploration, also science fiction films quickly established as a genre. To promote such films made in Asia worldwide, and to keep national movie distributors curious, lobby cards and film stills […]
Marvel Comics Library. Spider-Man. Vol. 2. 1965–1966 by Stan Lee and Jonathan Ross (eds.) (2023)
The latest addition to Taschen’s XXL Marvel Comic Library has the focus on the later adventures of Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man, in New York City. And what action awaits there! In the years 1965 and 1966, the extremely successful collaboration of Marvel’s mastermind Stan Lee (script and editor) and legendary Steve Ditko (drawings, […]