Hell Here

Scenes and dialogue from Batman Returns (1992) play in constant rotation in my mind. It’s the weirdest, most unique superhero movie ever made, in my estimation, and it’s also a delightfully subversive Christmas movie, too. It has everything going for it, from outrageously over the top characters to sumptuously gothic set designs, from a pitch-perfect … Continue reading Hell Here →

Coffee, ADHD, and Me

As a friend of mine said recently, decaffeinated coffee is really just brown water. For hardcore coffee lovers like him, and like me, that’s real talk. I know, many of you can’t drink coffee after dinner unless it’s decaf. Otherwise you’ll be tossing and turning in bed all night. Caffeine does this to most people, … Continue reading Coffee, ADHD, and Me →

Happy 90th, Julie Newmar

One of these days I’m going to turn more of this blog’s attention to the 1960s Batman television show. Obviously, my pop culture loves range far and wide, so it’s hard to squeeze them all in here, but Batman was critical to my childhood, my love of comic books, and my development into a scholar … Continue reading Happy 90th, Julie Newmar →

From Screen to Page: Catwoman Returns

I finally got around to reading the six-issue miniseries Batman ‘89. Originally published by DC Comics between August 2021–July 2022, the comic was written by Sam Hamm, beautifully illustrated by Joe Quinones, and sumptuously colored by Leonardo Ito. Hamm, you might remember, wrote Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), so it’s fitting that he continues the story … Continue reading From Screen to Page: Catwoman Returns →

Super Threads: Five Best Live-Action Super Costumes

When lifelong comic book fans get together they are prone to go down rabbit holes, like, “Name the best X-Men artists of all time” or, “Give me your best Batman stories ever.” I’m as guilty as any comics geek when it comes to this tendency to go list-crazy. Recently I was thinking about a comics … Continue reading Super Threads: Five Best Live-Action Super Costumes →

Honey, I’m Home: Batman Returns at 30

Earlier this week it was Grease 2 turning forty. June is a big release month for epic Michelle Pfeiffer performances and pfilms, so today we celebrate Tim Burton's phantasmagoria of gothic opulance Batman Returns, which turns thirty. In a world full of people willing to claim that the recent The Batman is the greatest Batman … Continue reading Honey, I’m Home: Batman Returns at 30 →

Bad Girls We Love: Selina Kyle/Catwoman from Batman Returns

Michelle Pfeiffer's performance in Tim Burton's deliciously twisted-Christmas-gothic-phantasmagoria Batman Returns (1992) is the best comic book movie performance of all time. This is not just my opinion; it's a fact, so let's not argue, okay? It's an astonishing piece of film acting, the kind that transcends mere performance and instead reaches a cosmic level of … Continue reading Bad Girls We Love: Selina Kyle/Catwoman from Batman Returns →