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Film

Celebrating William Gibson: A Look at Early Cyberspace in Film

By Rob Hebert on

William Gibson will always be recognized as the noir prophet who gave birth to the cyberpunk genre and, with it, introduced the notion of cyberspace to mainstream pop culture. In celebration of his new novel, Zero History — an intellectual adventure story about corporate espionage in the military apparel industry — we’ve rounded up a collection of popular interpretations of the internet in the years after Gibson’s seminal cyberpunk novel Neuromancer. … Read More

Books

A Chronology of Gay Comic Book Characters

By Rob Hebert on

Mainstream comics have had more than their fair share of homosexual subtext almost since their inception — look no further than Wonder Woman’s all-female homeland of Paradise Island or Bruce Wayne’s overly comfortable relationship with his ward Dick Grayson. But, until relatively recently, being “out” in comics had been a somewhat iffy subject. In honor of the news that Archie comics introduced its first openly gay character last week, here’s a look back at the evolution of open homosexuality in mainstream comic books. … Read More

Books

Five Fittingly Peculiar Author Tributes

By Rob Hebert on

Geeks everywhere got a “raging brainer” (thank you, Professor Farnsworth) last week when a photo surfaced of Ray Bradbury reacting to the bubblegum-pop send-up “Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury.” It’s a beautiful thing to learn that one of the greatest sci-fi writers of all time lived long enough to see his own tribute — even if it was foul-mouthed and tongue-in-cheek. With that in mind, here are five other (more SFW) tributes to some famous authors who are no longer with us. … Read More

Books

What to Read Where on International Read a Comic in Public Day

By Rob Hebert on

Saturday is the first annual International Read a Comic in Public Day, a pseudo-holiday that combines celebration with social activism. Activism to what end? Why, to normalize the idea that comics are for more than sweaty, nerdy shut-ins. With that in mind, we’ve selected titles to suit whichever public locale you choose to let your geek-flag fly. As always, feel free to leave your own suggestions in the comments. … Read More

Film

Tony Stark Battles Evil Again in Iron Man 2 with High-tech Armor, Sarcasm

By Rob Hebert on

In 2007, Jon Favreau had the audacity to make an Iron Man movie that was actually good. Two years later, we have our first glimpse of the inevitable sequel. What follows is a play-by-play breakdown of the new trailer for Iron Man 2 (or, as we call it, War Machine: Origins), featuring Mickey Rourke’s Burning Man-appropriate metal teeth, Scarlett Johansson’s laughable attempts at be-leathered badassery, and the brazen ripoff of a Dark Knight set-piece. For your pleasure, we’ve highlighted some of the best parts (Sam Jackson as Nick Fury) and some of the worst (basically all the parts that do not include Sam Jackson as Nick… Read More