The October Speakeasy: Comics Special!

speakeasylogo October

THE OCTOBER SPEAKEASY: COMICS SPECIAL!

We love comics. We read comics. And in this edition of the Speakeasy, we talk about comics. At length.

We review the best new books that The Dice Of Fate allowed us to look at in Spetember, and take an extensive look at the career and works of Frank Miller: the good, the bad and the very, very ugly.

Plus we amp up the geeky with a D100 and generally do what we do. Read along, whydoncha?

Hootin’ Holleration! It’s the Funnybook edition of the X&HT Speakeasy!

A few bits of housekeeping: in an attempt to bump our professionalism quotient up from  “endearingly ramshackle” to “barely competent” we are now available on iTunes! Click here to subscribe, and have our dulcet tones lick at your eardrums whenever you choose. 

As a knockon from that, and in an attempt to keep the cashflow out of Hosepipe-ville, we’re moving away from Soundcloud. This blog is now the home of the Speakeasy, and we’ll be migrating the earlier shows into a cohesive archive in the immediate future. Hope you like our new direction.

The Death Of The Dandy

It was sad, but not really surprising, to read about DC Thomson’s decision to finally shutter The Dandy. It must have been a decision that the normally pragmatic Scottish publisher was putting off, knowing just how unpopular it would be. Was it coincidental that the announcement came out the day after the end of the Olympics, when everyone was still in hangover mode? No, I like to think they chose their moment well.

The sad thing is, of course, that with the exception of a small core of comics nerds and nostalgists, it’s unlikely anyone really cared. As for The Dandy’s target audience–the ugly truth is that they moved on years ago.

Continue reading The Death Of The Dandy

All Rise: X&HT Saw The Dark Knight Rises

Right-wing radio host and all-round screw top Rush Limbaugh thinks that the new Batman film has an explicit anti-Republican message. His reasoning? The villain of the piece is called Bane, and Presidential nominee Mitt Romney made his fortune through a company called Bain Capital. It's just all so clear and simple.

We shouldn't laugh too loudly at Limbaugh, easy as it might be. In some ways he's on the money. The Dark Knight Rises has plenty to say about power, corruption and lies. But as with all of Christopher Nolan's films, things are never as straight-forward as they appear.

The spoilers after this point are numerous and mighty. Be warned.

Continue reading All Rise: X&HT Saw The Dark Knight Rises

A Swinging Time: X&HT saw The Amazing Spider-Man

Comics are soap opera. Characters don’t change. If they die, it’s hardly ever permanent. Their origins are constantly retold, reinforced, raked over for any new tiny scrap of resonance. Some critics have griped that The Amazing Spider-man, the fourth movie about Peter Parker and his penchant for going out in red Underoos, is a rehash of Sam Raimi’s 2002 film.

They’re missing the point. This kind of thing happens in the funny papers all the time. 

Continue reading A Swinging Time: X&HT saw The Amazing Spider-Man