Discourse Chronicle

In Cell, struggling illustrator/author (and avowed cellphone non-user) Clay Riddell strolls along the fringes of Boston Common, celebrating long-sought success. He’s just sold his first graphic novel, plus a sequel, to a Boston publisher for a lot of money, and this might salvage his marriage. But at 3:03 p.m., just as Clay’s about to purchase […]

category: Popular Culture    

Sgt. Rock was introduced to readers in “Our Army At War” No. 81 in 1959. Although he was called “Rocky” in this story, the template had been set. Later stories written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Joe Kubert fleshed out these humble beginnings and turned Rock into comics’ longest running and most prominent war […]

category: Comics, Politics, Popular Culture    

Initial plans call for a three issue, prestige format miniseries shipping bi-monthly. Each issue will focus on one of the characters, with volume one, 100 Ways to Kill Lois featuring Stewie Griffen. The series format will be a hybrid, combining both prose and traditional comic book stories. For example volume 1 will begin with Stewie’s […]

category: Comics, Popular Culture, Television    

Seven Seas Entertainment announced today its agreement with Speed Racer Enterprises to release an all-new original color comic based on Speed Racer, the famous animated TV series from the 1960’s. Like Speed’s race car, the Mach 5, the series will zoom into stores monthly as a 5-issue mini-series starting July, 2006. […] In 2005, Seven […]

category: Comics, Popular Culture, Television    

Marvel and DC and every other comic book company that owns their characters have a vested interest in their well-being. These characters are their bread and butter and when a Frank Miller comes along and gives them a gift like Elektra– it’s no wonder that they want to keep playing with that gift even after […]

category: Comics, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics    

US author James Frey confessed to Oprah Winfrey today that he made up details about every character in his memoir A Million Little Pieces and the talk show host apologised to her viewers, saying she felt “duped”. […] In the call Winfrey said that even though the facts were being questioned, the book “still resonates […]

category: Rhetoric and Poetics    

One crucial act of nerdism is to obsess over cool stuff. On the technological side, cool stuff is usually gadgets. A new program, a new game, a new tool. If it’s cool, it demands your attention and nothing can get in the way. For educators who think they can appeal to nerdism by making college […]

category: Gaming, Pedagogy    

Mr. Mutawa’s Teshkeel Media, based in Kuwait, says that in September it will begin publishing “The 99,” a series of comic books based on superhero characters who battle injustice and fight evil, with each character personifying one of the 99 qualities that Muslims believe God embodies. […] In addition, “The 99” will piggyback on a […]

category: Comics, Politics, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics    

If you’ve been reading the business pages lately, you probably know that Viacom — the home company of Paramount Pictures and Star Trek — was split into two separate entities as of the first of the year: CBS Corp. and the “new” Viacom Inc. Under the terms of the separation, CBS took control of — […]

category: Popular Culture, Television    

An American Heart Association committee, after reviewing a decade of studies on the claimed benefits of soy, has cast doubt on the claim that soy-based foods and supplements significantly lower cholesterol. The panel also found neither soy nor the soy component isoflavone reduced symptoms of menopause, such as “hot flashes,” and that isoflavones don’t help […]

category: Health