It’s the Toronto Comic Arts Festival this weekend and I was invited to partake in a Panel Discussion about the merits of comics on education. It’s a bit of a big deal to me. After all, I’m a teacher who loves comics and yes, I use them in my classroom. …

It’s the international day of Star Wars today! May the Fourth be with you all. Of course, I couldn’t let this day go by at school without treating my students to something special. Last period was devoted to a classroom round of Star Wars trivia that they all created and …

The Klingon language has been in the media spotlight due to the Axanar vs. CBS/Paramount lawsuit. I talked with the developer of the Klingon language, Marc Okrand, to see if some additional insight into the matter could be found.

I’m teaching my students about the concept of transformative media. You know, when stories exist in one form of media and then get spun off into other forms? Well, you have to be selective about thematic elements when you transform media into other formats and, depending on the format, some …

Supernatural mysteries, Magician and escapology performances and Sherlock Holmes references all framed within a historical context ripe for discussion make 'Houdini and Doyle' an exciting show to share and enjoy.

There’s a sense of mystery about Harry Houdini that isn’t easily dispelled. Even to this day, escape artists and stage magicians still revere his name and hold him as a benchmark figure in performing legerdemain and feats of, well,  magic; but few realize that he was as sceptical of the …

I’m a geek and I write about entertainment. This week I had a conversation with a PR specialist who was trying to categorize me for her company’s database. Admittedly, it does look like I mostly write about comics – I write a weekly column, after all. But I also write …

I have always been interested in seeing the way a storyteller crafts fear; the way it is customized in order to achieve the maximum amount of discomfort and terror. In a lot of successful cases, the creator will use relatable elements from childhood or growing up. That’s why seemingly harmless …

Ebbs and flows. Comics are cyclical, like everything under the sun. It’s important to remember that. Sometimes the writer has a good arc and then there are bad ones. Good reincarnations of titles occur and then are ones that force you to wonder just what the writer had for breakfast …

What’s Jonathan Frakes up to these days? You know, we tend to lose sight of the fact that Trek actors are professionals. Their Trek-related roles are not their lives – they’re part of their careers. Trek actors aren’t limited to those iconic characters that we fanatics eternally see them as, …

This has been a busy week. I mean, I have a full-time job as a teacher, which has to take priority, right? But this week saw a series of articles about Jim Shooter (generously praised by Mark Millar), my Epic, Illustrated article go out in Back Issue #88 and then a …

Dave Dorman’s a lucky guy. I mean, the talent notwithstanding, it’s the subject choice that he gets to work with that makes any card-carrying geek seethe with envy. Do you remember back the amazing cross-over event Marvel ran with its Star Wars titles just before the New Year? I’m not …

I met former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter… and I shut up, I listened and I learned. I didn’t meet him the usual way that I normally meet comic book celebrities. I didn’t go to a con, approach his table, shake his hand and then get him to sign something. No, for this one …

Time … it hold its own rule and it waits for no-one. We only have so much of it throughout the day. My time is taken up with getting my kids ready for school in the morning, working for the bulk of the day and ten coming home to the …

Small-town people and secrets – a familiar combination of factors that make the town of Waterbury comfortable and welcoming, as a small town should feel. But small towns have secrets … and when those start to come out, the blood begins to flow.