Well, that was unexpected. I mean, we knew Pixar and ABC were working on a followup to last year's exceptionally great Toy Story Of Terror! Halloween special, this one called Toy Story That Time Forgot, but we really didn't anticipate Mike Mignola to be the one selected to make it official in an inescapably cool Comic-Con exclusive poster.
If Batman ended up in an Arkham Asylum cell, would he be deemed "normal," or would the Gotham facility known for housing the "criminally insane" keep him under lock and key?
In an episode of Batman: The Animated Series called "Dreams in Darkness," the Dark Knight's worst nightmare may have come true when he finds himself being evaluated by psychiatrist Dr. Bartholomew at Arkham Asylum. The doc asserts that Batman is very "ill" and that the one place where "costumed persons with delusional personalities come to find compassionate help" seems like the best place for him. Fighting the onset of paranoid delusions and vivid hallucinations, Batman struggles to reveal the real cause of his insanity: The Scarecrow.
In this episode of The Arkham Sessions, we discuss the experience of being hospitalized for psychiatric reasons, the dangers of labeling people with disorders, and the feelings of dehumanization sometimes perceived by patients in the mental health care system.
The early ’90s were spoiled for choice when it came to comic book adaptations. Not only was Batman: The Animated Series on the air, but X-Men led Marvel’s push to get on the small screen, diving right into the often convoluted continuity of everyone’s favorite mutants, luring in a generation of fans, and paving the way for cartoons to follow. That’s why we’ve set out to review every single episode of the ’90s X-Men animated series.
This week, Rogue attempts to lose her v-card and in what is definitely the weirdest episode of the series so far.
Just about one year to the day since Disney Television Animation's Phineas and Ferb enjoyed a visit from the heroes of Marvel Comics -- or an epic crossover event, if you like -- Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh' critically acclaimed and very popular musical comedy series will be the first to mashup with Star Wars since creator George Lucas' company was acquired by Disney last year.
Premiering next Saturday, July 26, on Disney XD, Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars takes place in what the studio actually terms "an alternate universe" in which the title characters and their supporting players inhabit the iconic roles of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
The promotional machine for Disney's big, animated fall film Big Hero 6 has really started ramping up with the announcement of the various voice cast members and a brand new trailer.
An odd quirk of the promotion for the film has been that it doesn't seem to mention Marvel Comics even one time, though the concept, characters and title come from a Marvel team that spun out of Alpha Flight and had a few mini-series over the years. Now it looks like Marvel's not even going to publish one of the comics that tie into Big Hero 6, a manga by Haruki Ueno. It's going to be in Kodansha's Magazine Special instead.
The boutique merchandise arm of the celebrated Austin movie theater the Alamo Drafhouse, Mondo's about to level up with its most ambitious music plan yet: a series of vinyl-only releases of Danny Elfman's music from Batman: The Animated Series.
I have some complicated feelings about Big Hero 6, the forthcoming computer-animated Disney movie based on an obscure Marvel superhero concept. It seems like a weird choice for a Disney movie to begin with; a lot of the Japanese characters are no longer Japanese; and wasn't the whole deal with white comic creators appropriating Japanese culture to make Japanese superheroes sort of weirdly fetishistic to begin with?
But I've set all that aside for a couple of minutes to judge the new Big Hero 6 trailer on its own merits, and here's the good news; it's enormously charming. Surprise surprise, the people who brought you Frozen and the people who brought you The Avengers have a potential smash hit on their hands.
Disney has finally confirmed the voice cast for Big Hero 6, its big feature-length animated release for the year -- and also released a new TV spot for the movie. Big Hero 6 is notable for being the fifth film in 2014 to be based on Marvel superheroes -- though it's an even more fringe concept than Guardians Of The Galaxy.
In the comic, Big Hero 6 is a Japanese superhero team created by Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau, and first brought to the page in their own mini series by Scott Lobdell and Gus Vasquez. The movie moves the characters out of the Marvel Universe -- and out of Japan, kinda.
The early ’90s were spoiled for choice when it came to comic book adaptations. Not only was Batman: The Animated Series on the air, but X-Men led Marvel’s push to get on the small screen, diving right into the often convoluted continuity of everyone’s favorite mutants, luring in a generation of fans, and paving the way for cartoons to follow. That’s why we’ve set out to review every single episode of the ’90s X-Men animated series.
This week,
Sailor Moon is inescapable. There’s the new anime of course, and the new musicals, the merchandise, and the retranslation of the manga. But it’s the emblem of a wider renaissance as well, a resurgence of love for mahou shoujo, or magical girl anime and manga — a movement led by women well out of their childhood years. A quick stroll through Tumblr reveals Sailor Moon cupcakes, punky Sailor Moon jackets, heartfelt essays about what the portrayal of lesbianism in Sailor Moon meant to the reader, dozens of artists working together to reanimate an episode of the anime, Sailor Moon nail art tutorials, cats named Luna, Beryl, Haruka and everything in between, hand-sculpted figurines, ornate embroidery projects, and an endless avalanche of fanart. Sailor Moon as an Adventure Time character. Sailor Moon cheekily clutching a Hitachi Magic Wand. Sailor Moon as a vicious biker chick. Sailor Moon protesting the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby ruling.
Sailor Moon fans have not so much rediscovered their love for Naoko Takeuchi’s sword-and-sparkle epic as they have elected her queen mother of their imaginations and ultimate aspirational self. She is, simultaneously, symbol, cause, and leader.
This resurgence is animated by more than typical fannish passion. This is a need to return to a world where young women are in charge. This is an anger at the pabulum of Good Role Models for Girls, at boob windows and “fridging" and “tits or gtfo.” This is 15-year-olds covering their notebooks in “MERMAIDS AGAINST MISOGYNY” stickers, yet also gravely serious grad students applying bell hooks to Takeuchi’s use of Greco-Roman myth. This is a collective invoking of spirits, made more potent in their absence — Usagi Tsukino and all her friends as saints and saviors, carrying the light of childhood optimism to an adulthood in sore need of it. This is nostalgia as a weapon. “Pretty soldiers” indeed.
