As ‘Game of Thrones’ demonstrates, the brutality of gritty realism can offer valuable storytelling possibilities to writers of fantasy fiction. But just because a little realism is necessary to engage audiences, it doesn’t mean that you have to keep doing terrible things to your characters.
The CW’s ‘Flash’ and ‘Arrow’ are children of the silver and dark age of comics respectively, but could their crossovers point the way to a stylistic renaissance of on-screen superheroes?
New York, 1962. A young man walks the evening streets, passing bars, clubs, liquor stores….and a giant neon swastika. Across the country in San Francisco, citizens take morning aikido classes while the image of a rising sun adorns shop fronts, billboards and traffic signs all over the city. This is the head-spinning world of Philip […]
Since his first appearance in Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing thirty years ago, John Constantine has become one of comics’ most popular antiheroes. That his solo title Hellblazer was the longest-running comic on DC’s Vertigo imprint (1988-2013) speaks volumes about the character’s enduring appeal, but up until now there’s only been one attempt to adapt the […]
Artist Charlie Adlard, best known for his epic ten-year (and counting) run on The Walking Dead comics, was in Edinburgh last week to discuss his work and inspirations at the International Book Festival. Interviewed by David Bishop, his former editor at Judge Dredd Megazine, Adlard spoke about collaborating with Walking Dead scribe Robert Kirkman, the thrill of […]
The landmark fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire is – in part – a response to the Tolkien imitators of the ’70s and ’80s, said author George R R Martin during his appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. A jovial presence at two warmly-received events during the festival’s first week, Martin said […]