I’m seeing a bunch of memes and comments repudiating the idea that Wonder Woman represents a breakthrough for women in movies, and they do so by comparing Gal Gadot’s Diana to Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley (Aliens). Essentially, ‘Ripley got there first, your argument is invalid, redo from start.’ This idea misses the point. Misses it like […]
Again and again, I struggle to describe Gotham to people who haven’t seen it. In theory, nothing could be easier. It’s Gotham City before Batman arrives on the scene. It’s the rise of (not yet) Commissioner Jim Gordon. It’s the origin of Bruce Wayne’s most archetypal villains. All of these things are true, and yet […]
In a previous life, I was never that bothered about being credited. So much of what I did was collaborative, at editorial direction or straightforward revision of pre-existing text, that it often felt odd to put my name to it as a ‘written by’ credit. (This, of course, became ironic as the one book I […]
The better part of a year and half ago, I wrote a wee blog about how popular sci-fi and fantasy handle feminism. If you’ve not read it, you can find it here, but my woeful conclusion was ‘not very well at all.’ Well, eighteen months on, things are better, right? I’ll have to go with […]
Batman v. Superman. It’s not a great title, is it? In fact, it doesn’t get a hell of a lot better when you add the subtitle Dawn of Justice. Nevertheless, I find the idea of Bats versus Supes interesting. Oh, not in how it plays out on the big screen. Every crossover comic ever […]
The subject of continuity (a consistent setting and history over a series of works) always lingers around genre fiction like a bad smell. Regardless of the medium, works of sci-fi, fantasy and the like are often accused of having labyrinthine backstory. This, in turn, is then blamed for raising a barrier to entry so high […]
