Figure 1. Dr. Manhattan working to isolate a "gluino." “…and he’s American” (IV.13).  His backstory comes straight out of a Marvel comic, a company famous for its heroes who are made so by exposure to some form of atomic energy.  He begins life as Jon Osterman, a ...

Figure 1. The film's take on Rorschach is nearly identical to the graphic novel's. Rorschach (aka Walter Kovacs) is easily one of the more (in)famous characters from Alan Moore’s world.  And Dave Gibbons’s visual take on him has become iconic to many comic fans.  Figure 1 demon...

by Dave Since Deathly Hallows release last year, I’ve been perpetually puzzled by Voldemort’s characterization in the last two novels. Half Blood Prince humanizes Voldemort in a way that lends HBP a sophistication most of the earlier novels lack — Voldemort’s backstory both e...

by Dave Harry is a hero. That Harry Potter draws from long established literary heroic traditions is well documented. Nearly every book length treatment or anthology concerning the series addresses this subject and examines the link between Harry’s more traditional literary roots in alchemical...

by Dave I’ve said before that Victorian Era novels (whether British or American) have always left me cold. It may be a failing on my part, but if you put passages from Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Henry James, or the Brontes in front of me, I’d have a difficult time distinguishing between...