Previously, I discussed Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X series and how the protagonist’s poor tradecraft set up superior scenes. The series demonstrates that you don’t need perfect tradecraft to create a superior story. However, if you throw authenticity out the window altogether, you won’t have a believable story. Case in point: Marcus Sakey’s Brilliance trilogy. In […]
Between Tradecraft and Thrills: Orphan X
New York Times bestseller Gregg Hurwitz blew into the writing scene with his debut Minutes to Burn. With his Timothy Rackley series, Hurwitz hit his stride, solidifying his position as a top-shelf thriller author. In his latest series, Orphan X, he has reached new heights, producing a magnificent blend of pulse-pounding action, complex characterisation, powerful imagery, […]
Comic Analysis: Batman: White Knight
What if the Joker became the hero and Batman is a villain? It sounds like an awesome concept, but in the hands of Sean Murphy and Matt Hollingsworth, it is merely a superhero story without heroes. (Unmarked spoilers ahead!) Batman: White Knight opens with a scene familiar to Batman fans. The Joker is fleeing the scene […]
Appendix N: Robert E Howard, Masculinity and Morality
Robert E Howard stands astride the world of American literature as a forgotten titan. With hundreds of stories and poems to his name, he built a bibliography that dwarfs any ten modern writers by the age of thirty. He wrote in a vast array of genres, from Westerns to spicy romances, light-hearted humourous tales to […]
Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Harem
Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata is an anime all otaku can resonate with. Season 1 follows the ups and downs of a high school indie game development group, with a mix of humour, harem hijinks and character interplay. Season 2 exchanges the humour for drama, with interpersonal tension and conflict threatening to tear the group apart. […]
The Dark Tower Movie Won’t Come Close to the Dark Tower Novels
Watching the Dark Tower movie trailer, I understood immediately that Hollywood had once again taken a beloved franchise and warped it into something barely recognisable. Part of these changes are necessary. Adapting a novel into a movie requires requires the filmmakers to make massive changes to fit the new medium. It is a difficult process […]
Anime Retrospective: Record of Lodoss War
Record of Lodoss War belongs to a different era of Japanese anime, and indeed of storytelling. There are no obligatory fanservice moments, no in-jokes aimed at the audience, no audience surrogates in the form of bland high school otaku protagonists, no injections of unnecessary modern political messaging. Record of Lodoss War does one thing, and one thing only: […]
Anime Analysis: GATE – Thus the JSDF Fought There!
GATE – Thus the JSDF Fought There had all the ingredients for awesomeness: modern military technology, high fantasy setting, magic, politics, war. And squandered everything. The anime started promisingly enough. A mysterious gateway opens in Ginza. An army of legionnaires, orcs and dragons pours out. The Japanese Self Defense Force responds decisively, defeating the invasion. […]
Anime Analysis: Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
Party wipe in the first five minutes. If the anime adaptation of Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash were set in a realistic and unforgiving world, the main cast would have been slaughtered in the first fight scene. Fortunately for them, they somehow blunder their way out and live to fight another die. Unfortunately, the sequence […]
Martial Analysis: The Knife
Knives are brutally effective at killing people and terribly ineffective for self-defence. To understand this conundrum, we need to understand the properties of a knife. First, the pros. Knives puncture and sever. With a properly sharpened knife, it doesn’t take a lot of force to penetrate flesh and open veins. Smaller knives can be easily […]