Here are the latest reports form The Washington Posts ‘ Comic Riffs’.
‘Wait, why are Batman and Superman fighting?’: Your ‘Dawn of Justice’ primer
AHEAD OF the Dark Knight’s showdown with the Man of Steel in this weekend’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” the hashtag #whowillwin hit Twitter. But another apt hashtag for this film could be: #whyaretheyfighting? That’s because for every comics diehard who views “Batman v Superman” and sees the heavy influence of writer-artist Frank Miller’s classic […]
‘Tom Clancy’s The Division:’ A blockbuster that strings you along nicely, but won’t surprise
Tom Clancy’s The Division Developed by: Ubisoft Massive, Red Storm Entertainment, Ubisoft Reflections, Ubisoft Annecy Published by: Ubisoft Available on: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One As a game developer, Ubisoft places a premium on settings. Two of the biggest franchises in their stable, “Far Cry” and “Assassin’s Creed,” are known for their lush locations and […]
How cartoonists are tackling Obama’s historic trip to Cuba
A PRISONER hanging from the dungeon wall, or stuck in a stockade, is a stock situation in gag cartooning — a trope that can hold the reader captive. That comic premise takes on a much more biting tone, though, when deployed this week for cartoons about Cuba. President Obama, of course, is paying a historic […]
‘Batman v Superman’: How its ‘Man vs. God’ themes exert a gravitational pull on fans
“Black and blue, god vs. man, day vs. night!” — Lex Luthor TRAILERS FOR for the new “Batman v Superman” could not telegraph the symbolism more heavily. Superman seems to levitate above the earthbound Batman like a supreme being. while the Dark Knight, despite the Batsuit, appears to have his caped wings clipped by the laws […]
Today’s winning Google Doodle invoking Black Lives Matter was designed by high school sophomore
JUST LAST month, Akilah Johnson was “surprised and overwhelmed” when she learned that she was a national finalist in the “Doodle 4 Google” contest for grade-schoolers. Imagine how she feels now. Akilah, a sophomore at Eastern Senior High School in Northeast Washington, has just been named Google’s big winner in the national contest, topping the […]
‘Divergent: Allegiant’ lost the box office. Are we finally sick of young-adult dystopian movies?
HAVE WE reached the saturation level with dystopian young adult movies? The mammoth “Hunger Games” franchise (which grossed $3 billion globally) seemed to birth a new wave of copycat projects in which young, demographically ideal stars are contractually locked in for an entire trilogy or tetralogy at a time. Kid characters might die violently in these dire […]
Donald Trump will win in a landslide. *(The mind behind ‘Dilbert’ explains why.)
SCOTT ADAMS remembers just how the game turned. He was young and improving at chess, but the masterful kid across the board would outmaneuver Adams till the game seemed a runaway. Now, this kid didn’t want to just beat Adams; he wanted to embarrass his foe. “So after he’d picked away three-fourths of my pieces […]
So why isn’t there more excitement for this week’s ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’?
WITH “BATMAN v SUPERMAN” finally arriving this weekend, it’s easy to wonder: Just how did DC’s cinematic universe become the perennial runner-up to Marvel, like the kid brother who never quite catches up? It’s intriguing because, if you know your comics history, you know that DC Comics once led this two-horse race by a mile. […]
Batman versus Superman: Who has the advantage?
Two iconic characters in capes rocketed the comic-book industry into the American mainstream: Superman and Batman, twin pop-culture monuments who, though born in the late ’30s, still reign ageless. And on March 25, these Spandex heavyweights will go (Super-)mano a (Bat-)mano for the first time on the big screen, in director Zack Snyder’s “Batman v […]
‘The Simpsons’ predicted a Trump presidency 16 years ago tomorrow. The writer explains why.
SOMETIMES “The Simpsons” is like a Magic 8-Ball that can seem to hold all the answers. Peer deeply enough into the long odyssey of Homer, say, and a certain warped wisdom can float to the surface. One example resurfaced early this year, when it was remembered that David Bowie and Alan Rickman, who died within days […]
From Elektra to the Punisher: Our 5 takeaways from today’s striking new season of Netflix’s ‘Daredevil’
NETFLIX HAS made the ideal deal with Marvel’s devil. Last year, “Daredevil” launched Netflix’s fruitful collaboration to build a section of Marvel’s live-action entertainment universe. Today, the show that started it all is back for a second season (now streaming), with new producers at the helm and a faster pace in the offing. The vigilante […]
Jennifer Lawrence’s last go-round? ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ trailer teases the universe’s feature
THE HIT FILM “Deadpool” has set the stage for 20th Century Fox’s next X-Men project to enjoy a trampoline effect. Now the X-franchise needs to realize a box-office bounce. And in the new “X-Men: Apocalypse” trailer released today, we get to see a bit more deeply into how these characters hope to engage a summer audience. An ancient […]
How the nation’s humorists had the last laugh at Marco Rubio’s presidential bid
AS “Goodbye Rubio Tuesday” was trending this week, some of the nation’s cartoonists were ready to hang a name on him. And — to continue to strain the lyrical Stones vein here — some satirists still are going to miss him. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) ended his bid for president Tuesday after losing even his home state. But the […]
How Charlie Cox works faster, harder, tougher for the new season of Netflix’s ‘Daredevil’
SUCCESS, Charlie Cox is learning, doesn’t beget a chance to relax. Instead, the hit status of his Marvel/Netflix show “Daredevil” only increases expectation. “It’s almost like because of the response from the first season, the pressure is on to maintain a quality and keep the show as interesting and as unique as it was in the […]
This ‘Daredevil’ actress used her karate skills to play one of TV’s toughest characters
“IF you get in my way, I’m going to kill you.” These are the words spoken by French actress Elodie Yung, in character as Elektra in the latest trailer for Netflix/Marvel’s second season of “Daredevil,” which begins streaming Friday. That dialogue is meant as a warning from Elektra to Daredevil (Charlie Cox) that things are […]
Gene Luen Yang took on Superman. Today the writer exits with a ripped, new creative muscle.
TODAY, GENE LUEN YANG ends his 10-issue run on writing the Man of Steel, as Superman’s 50th issue hitts newsstands virtual and physical. The writer and two-time National Book Award finalist (“American Born Chinese,” “Boxers & Saints”) said that the experience of writing a monthly superhero book was demanding, particularly because he comes from the world […]
‘Secret Wars’ goes hardcover, just the way this smashing Marvel event was meant to be read
Despite a few scheduling shifts and hiccups, Secret Wars — the galaxy-blasting moment that made the Marvel Universe whole again — indeed deserved to be called a comic-book “event.” The nine-issue miniseries, written by Jonathan Hickman and illustrated by Esad Ribic (with covers by Alex Ross), has been collected in a hardcover edition that’s newly available […]
‘Doonesbury’s’ Trudeau on timely Wounded Warrior Project scandal strip: ‘Sometimes I get lucky’
IN JANUARY, when I wrote about a publisher’s creative team-up involving Wounded Warrior Project, I immediately heard from some readers who questioned the nonprofit’s financial doings, just hours before the New York Times ran a story about the organization’s alleged lavish spending. And one cartoonist who certainly seems to have his drawing hand on the […]
‘Daredevil’ actress grows into her Netflix character, even as she braces for dark turns ahead
DEBORAH ANN WOLL is braced for the dark fate that might await Karen Page, her character on Marvel/Netflix’s “Daredevil.” Woll did a deep-dive into Karen’s various comic-book storylines, and though some of those pages led her to brutal, even fatal places, she became convinced that there are endless possibilities for her role on “Daredevil,” […]
’10 Cloverfield Lane’s’ success proves it: The J.J. Abrams brand name is nearing the ‘Spielberg’ zone
HAVE YOU heard of the biggest new film in the land? Odds are if you’re reading this, you have, and “10 Cloverfield Lane” blipped onto your radar even before its impressive domestic debut over the weekend. Now — quick — had you heard of “10 Cloverfield Lane’s” director before this month? Odds are, unless you’re […]
Elektra and the Punisher report for new ‘Daredevil’ duty. But how will they fit in at Netflix?
HEADING INTO the second season of Netflix’s “Daredevil,” new producers Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez know they are working with an impressively stacked roster of superheroes. Under producer Steven DeKnight (who has moved on to the “Transformers” franchise), “Daredevil’s” much-lauded first season worked at a slow and steady pace as it built toward the transformation […]
Here’s how the rest of the world views Trump and campaign nastiness
LAST NIGHT, at the GOP debate at the University of Miami, CNN moderator Jake Tapper asked Sen. Ted Cruz whether he cared about how the rest of the world views the United States, given the nastiness of the current presidential campaigning. “Colin Powell this week said that the nasty tone of this of this presidential election is hurting […]
‘Captain America: Civil War’: How Marvel Studios just saved Spider-Man
FAN ANTICIPATION has been rewarded. Living up to expectation, Spider-Man has made his first official Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance, however briefly, in the new trailer for “Captain America: Civil War.” Spidey’s debut is preceded, of course, by so much more. In the 2 1/2-minute trailer, we get our first extensive look at the battle between friends-turned-enemies and fellow […]
New ‘Captain America: Civil War’ trailer gives a first look at the new Spider-Man
THE MARVEL filmmakers, trailers geniuses that they are, hold the biggest glimpse for last. The superheroes are picking sides in this battle over cooperating with the government, as Team Cap and Team Iron Man get ready to face off. And then suddenly, in the final seconds of the new two-and-a-half-minute trailer, a webshooter comes out […]
As the presidential election field narrows, political cartoons go deeper
THE SHARPER the presidential races come into relief, the more pointed, too, becomes the comic relief. The intensifying of the satire feels palpable. We’re ever so slowly moving past the easy clownish labels and short-fingered distractions. It’s now not enough to paint a candidate as pure cartoon or buffoon. As real numbers continue to roll […]
The New Yorker’s latest cover is a very moving view on racial tension in America
THE COVER commands you to stop, but not just because of the sign. The acclaimed cartoonist and illustrator Chris Ware (“Building Stories,” “Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth”) is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker, rendering scenes that feel layered in meaning. And for this week’s issue, Ware again pulls in the reader with an […]
And the winner of the Comic Riffs 2016 Valentine’s Reader Caption Contest is….
LAST MONTH, we asked readers to share their captions for a new Valentine’s Day cartoon by our own Nick Galifianakis, and the creative entries came in by the quiverful. As Galifianakis judged this year’s caption contest, he noted that there were many variations on “stealing” the heart. There were, naturally, reams of references to the current […]
Exclusive: Rep. John Lewis on unity, Trump and his new graphic memoir, ‘March: Book Three’
REP. JOHN LEWIS, as an activist, speaks not just about “the movement,” but also in the language and sense and unshakeable cadence of movement itself. It’s the diction and conviction of moving forward; this civil-rights icon doesn’t believe in going backward. He does believe, however, in going back. Today, more than a half-century after the historic […]
‘Superhot’ review: A shooter game that’s impossible not to love
Superhot Developed by: Superhot Team Published by: Superhot Team Available on: Mac, PC, Xbox One For many, video games are more than a form of recreation. When people aren’t playing games, they’re often forming social bonds or hierarchies around them based on temperament and individual skill. (Noobz, griefers, casuals, pros — I salute you all.) […]
The story behind the art for Rep. John Lewis’s latest graphic memoir
NATE POWELL calls it “the most intensive thing I’ve ever done for a book cover.” Yet every step in a the five-month process, he says, was worth it. The art in question is the cover of the forthcoming “March: Book Three” (IDW/Top Shelf), the latest installment in the RFK Award-winning trilogy and civil-rights memoir by Rep. […]
What does it mean for the new Spider-Man movie now that Zendaya has been cast?
AHEAD OF the new Spider-Man’s debut in the forthcoming “Captain America: Civil War” (due out in May), Sony and Marvel have begun announcing who will appear in the franchise’s third reboot opposite the latest Peter Parker (Tom Holland). The new name out of the gate is Zendaya, an actress who could make a significant leap […]
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