I was teaching about what resonates in communicating a message to an audience to my students this week and one of the points they glommed onto was emotion. At this time of year, emotions run high. Eliciting an emotional response from a viewer, reader – whatever the medium, is the …
Read More »Captain Kirk’s Weekly Comic Review – 11/27/2019
Ever feel like you’ve got too much to do? Yep – me too. The great thing about fiction though, is that we can love the fact that so do our heroes, but for some reason, they get it done! That’s the theme we are looking at for this week – …
Read More »Captain Kirk’s Weekly Comic Review – 10/09/2019
This week, it’s the villains who come to our rescue as we consider the good … in being bad. Image Comics East of West #43 This book is always an intense experience to read. However, we have now entered what seems to be the endgame stage – of course, I’ve …
Read More »Captain Kirk’s Weekly Comic Review – 02/20/2019
The greatest obstacle to a sense of fulfilment is an overwhelming sense of futility. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. Sometimes part of a good story is the examination of the motivation behind that process because life is complicated …
Read More »Captain Kirk’s Weekly Comic Review – 11/21/2018
The absence of a strong central authority in a given situation makes for chaos. Now, I’m not an advocate for absolute despotism, but I do recognize that there has to be structure in all things for them to run smoothly, and comic stories are no exception to this rule. The …
Read More »Captain Kirk’s Weekly Comic Review – 10/17/2018
Revenge is like deep dish pizza. It tastes great in the beginning, but eventually, your stomach burns with regret. Still, it’s a powerful emotional motivator and so many stories are built around it. I’m okay with that though, because in the end, and I think a lot of people share …
Read More »Captain Kirk’s Weekly Comic Review – 05/02/2018
What’s the theme this week? Vengeance. Yep – straight up: that’s what really makes the world go ‘round, folks. That satisfying feeling of making someone pay for their crimes against you. These stories always find their mark with an appreciative audience because they have the right elements: justice, schadenfreude, and …
Read More »Captain Kirk’s Weekly Comic Review – 03/07/2018
Stories that emphasize the value of a character’s role in a story setting have always been enjoyable reads, to my mind. There’s something about the concept of an almost predestined character that is not only true to their inner-self and motivation but also to the flavour of the book they …
Read More »Captain Kirk’s Weekly Comic Review – 08/02/2017
My God, there’s a lot in this week’s list to get excited about. There’s an overwhelming amount of talent on display – enviable talent, and one of the problems I encounter in writing this column is that it’s easy to be stunned by that talent. After all, these are people who …
Read More »Captain Kirk’s Weekly Comic Review – 05/24/2017
Short and sweet this week, loyal readers! Yours truly will be off to a convocation of comic-con goodness this weekend in none other than sunny Orlando for MEGACON, 2017! I will have the good fortune to be moderating the likes of Bob Layton, Jason Aaron, Mike Zeck and other greats. MegaCon …
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