Chris Braak's Blog, page 32

Comics, and How They'll Never Be Mp3s

Graeme MacMillan put up this piece about thoughts shared between Warren Ellis, Ed Brubaker and Brian Michael Bendis about the digital distribution of comics.  I think it's an interesting idea, likening the "trade" to an album and the single issues to individual songs, and suggesting the notion that, with the prominence of digital distribution then [...]

Scattered Thoughts on Swordplay, Part the Fifth

In these sections, I'm going to be writing a little bit about a fight that I've always had a bit of a problem with:  the duel in the Firefly episode "Shindig."  Upon closer consideration, I actually think I'm not really as troubled by it as I let myself be when I first saw it — [...]

Scattered Thoughts on Swordplay, Part the Fourth

So, a couple folks found my last three posts on this subject interesting enough that I think it merits a continuation.  Like I said, fencing is a subject that I'm fascinated with, and I can almost always talk about it.  I want to leave off talking about Lady Sabre (which I still recommend that you [...]

DC — The New52 Reviews: Justice League #1 (Braak's Take)

I, BRAAK!, have also read the new Justice League #1 and, as you might expect, I have some thoughts on it. Though, in fact, this is misleading — while I have some thoughts on the format, and some thoughts on the nature of digital comics and digital delivery, the most damning criticism of this as [...]

DC – The New52 Reviews: Justice League #1 (Holland's Take)

So what did I think of Handsome Geoff Johns' and Jazzy Jim Lee's opening outing with the Justice League? I'd love to tell you…in another five months, once the story's actually over. That should probably give you some indication right out of the gate, but let's talk about WHY. WHY I lacked the impulse control [...]

A Kind of Half-Hearted Defense of Game of Thrones

This has come up a couple times now, in which I've found myself inadvertently defending George R. R. Martin's series A Game of Thrones, based on the notion that there's a dramatic and important difference between a misogynist book, and a book about a misogynist culture. No ill will meant to anyone with whom I've [...]

Primer: Batman Comics

A friend of mine mentioned that her co-worker was starting to read Batman comics for the first time in his life, and that got me thinking about how I would approach reading Batman if I'd never done it before, and what I'd recommend to an adult new-reader (we are going to call him Seamus, because [...]

Some Scattered Thoughts on Swordplay, Part the Third

This is probably pretty boring for you guys, but it's been super-fun for me so far, so I guess you can all suck it. Anyway, last part on this fight from Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether.  If the mood strikes me, maybe I'll look at something else, later on.  Maybe I'll [...]

Some Scattered Thoughts on Swordplay, Part the Second

Because I like swords, and I want everyone to like swords as much as I do, I am offering up some of my own thoughts on the subject of swordplay, for use perhaps by artists interested in drawing good duels, or stage combat persons interested in choreographing fights, or writers who want to write about [...]

Some Scattered Thoughts on the Subject of Swordplay

Greg Rucka and Rick Burchett have launched a new Steampunk webcomic that looks pretty rad.  I am pretty excited for it, but I don't know if I have the patience to read just two pages a week; this was kind of the same problem that I suffered with Freakangels.  If all goes well, probably what [...]