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Akira (1988) D: Katsuhiro Otomo. S: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Takeshi Kusao, Tessyo Genda. Misanthropic cyberpunk anime epic about a teenage biker gang who coincidentally figure into an ongoing military plot to exploit post-nuclear mutant kids. The gang’s beta becomes the worl read more

The Awakening (2011) D: Nick Murphy. S: Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Shaun Dooley. Classy enough melodrama about post-Great War ghost hunter Hall going to investigate a boys’ school with a possible killer poltergeist on the roster. She meets various pos read more

Superman: Lost (2023) #1 W: Carlo Pagulayan, Christopher Priest. A: Carlo Pagulayan, Michael Jason Paz. Portentous, if not actually big, concept SUPERMAN limited. He and Lois are happy workaholic marrieds until he disappears on a Justice League mission. Except he reappears–twenty years later& read more

Blue Beetle (1967) #1 W: D.C. Glanzman, Steve Ditko. A: Steve Ditko. Fun first issue for BEETLE; however, the QUESTION backup ends up overshadowing it. The feature’s fun, with some great art–Ditko’s doing a ballet–but the much shorter QUESTION has more plot and more characte read more

36 Hours to Kill (1936) D: Eugene Forde. S: Brian Donlevy, Gloria Stuart, Douglas Fowley, Paul Fix, Jonathan Hale. Relaxed cheapie thriller about gangster Fowley taking a cross-country train to escape a dragnet, only to run into somewhat nosy reporter Donlevy. They then get into a love triangle wit read more

Big Driver (2014) D: Mikael Salomon. S: Maria Bello, Ann Dowd, Will Harris, Olympia Dukakis, Joan Jett. Tonally concerning, poorly written adaptation of Stephen King novella about cozy murder mystery novelist Bello surviving a sexual assault and attempted murder. Way too many exploitation vibes for read more

Will Eisner (editor, script, pencils, inks) Joe Kubert (colors) Sam Rosen (letters) Balkan Ball is an Ebony strip, which means there’s lots of racist caricature to negotiate, amplified by Ebony getting a sidekick, Pierpont, who is also visualized in racist caricature. Scarlett appears, too. So it’s read more

Paul Levitz (script) Joe Staton (pencils) Jack Abel (inks) Cory Adams (colors) Jean Simek (letters) Al Milgrom (editor) It’s one issue-long story this time, no backup, which is both good and bad. It’s bad because this issue’s a letdown from the previous two “Earthwar!” entries, but it’s read more

Will Eisner (editor, script, pencils, inks) Joe Kubert (colors) Sam Rosen (letters) The Tale of the Dictator’s Reform is not Spirit’s biggest creative swing to date, but the strip is definitely the wildest. Hitler coming to the United States on a fact-finding mission—only to have a change of heart read more

Will Eisner (editor, script, pencils, inks) Joe Kubert (colors) Sam Rosen (letters) Dusk and Twilight is, no pun, a dark strip. The splash page introduces us to Dusk, who may look like he’s in a carnival act, but he’s actually a murderer with hands of steel and a gentle disposition. We learn these read more

Paul Levitz (script) James Sherman (pencils) Bob McLeod (inks) Cory Adams (colors) Ben Oda (letters) Al Milgrom (editor) Once again, the feature story opens with Wildfire being a jerk. Last issue, he was going to let a Science Police officer die because her spaceship wasn’t well-maintained, and thi read more

Will Eisner (editor, script, pencils, inks) Joe Kubert (colors) Sam Rosen (letters) Five Passengers opens on a moody airstrip with an unlikely cast. A local schoolteacher’s favorite assignment is to bring the youngsters to watch the flight to Washington D.C. Each student gets to pick one of the pas read more

Will Eisner (editor, script, pencils, inks) Joe Kubert (colors) Sam Rosen (letters) And, now, Killer McNobby takes the crown for most formal flexing Spirit strip. They do the narration entirely in rhyme, with accompanying illustration. It’s almost like Eisner and studio realized if they didn’t do read more

Paul Levitz (script) Joe Staton (pencils) Joe Giella (inks) Adrienne Roy (colors) Ben Oda (letters) For the last few issues, Dr. Fate, then Hawkman, have had C-plots involving shadow messengers who come to collect them for a higher purpose. On the splash page, we discover this higher purpose: to pr read more

Will Eisner (editor, script, pencils, inks) Joe Kubert (colors) Sam Rosen (letters) Spirit’s been overdue for a nice, wholesome story, so when Thomas Hawkins starts the strip getting out of prison and the guard says, “Once a killer, always a killer,” it’s concerning. The strip turns around immediat read more

Will Eisner (editor, script, pencils, inks) Joe Kubert (colors) Sam Rosen (letters) After the strip’s big creative adventures last week, Marta is a seemingly more conventional Spirit versus criminal-of-the-week strip. The slight deviations from the norm, such as the Spirit doing Sherlock Holmes-sty read more

The opening story, Prologue to Earthwar, is an all-time Legion banger, despite a bit of weaponized misogyny and classism. And Wildfire being okay with manslaughter on his conscience. Oh, and weird racism against the bad guys. They’re green and slimy, so the Legionnaires call them slime-related slur read more

Black Panther (1998) #32 [2001] W: Christopher Priest. A: Bob Almond. The art’s great and the writing, when Priest takes a breath, is fine, but the issue’s a rapid mess. One thread starts, then another, then another, then another. One gets resolved, another, then another starts. Instead read more

Dolemite Is My Name (2019) D: Craig Brewer. S: Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, Tituss Burgess. Good, not great biopic of DOLEMITE creator Rudy Ray Moore. In traditional Karaszewski and Alexander biopic style, the movie just doe read more

Dull Week is Spirit’s biggest formal swing to date. Ebony, Spirit, and Ellen are all (individually) on the prowl for adventure, and their stories all get tied together, plotting-wise, but also in rhyming, whimsical narration. It’s constantly delightful and Eisner and studio do well in how they dole read more