“I think I was always controversial, provocative. But I can’t help it. I have to go there. It’s my nature. It’s my father’s nature, too..."
George V. Higgins’s 1974 crime novel 'Cogan’s Trade' is the 'Kiss of the Spider Woman' of 70s Boston crime novels, structured essentially as a series of...
When James Cameron made The Terminator in 1984, he included as a sort of nod to his own reference points in making the film a nightclub named ‘Tech Noir.’
With today marking 30 amazing years of the Judge Dredd Megazine, it's time to look back and appreciate the never-were publications that made that possible.
Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel 'The Day of the Jackal' is in many ways a natural work for the screen. Its plot is exclusively procedural in nature...
Stephanie Rothman’s 1971 film 'The Velvet Vampire' belongs to a subgenre I’ll call “desert horror,” the conventions of which are probably self-explanatory.
American cop movies in the 1980s had grown so popular and so numerous that they began to require an additional hook to get people interested. 1985’s ...
Four men take to the open sea in search of long-lost treasure, running afoul of bloodthirsty sharks and escaped convicts in the process...
In 1978, an actor named Harrison Ford was getting his first real taste of movie stardom. He had just portrayed intergalactic smuggler Han Solo in George...
What does it take for an audience to identify with an action movie hero? There are some generally accepted tricks of the trade that probably go back...
Burt Lancaster is one of the greatest actors to ever appear in films, but he didn’t hold all his work in high esteem. He is said to have looked down...
In 1942, horror movie audiences were treated to what with some historical hindsight now seems clear as one of the greatest horror movies ever made...
In 1985, famed screenwriter and novelist William Goldman released his novel 'Heat', introducing the world to Nick Escalante, Nevada’s only freelance...
“Believe Everything Except Your Eyes.” This arguably meaningless phrase was one of five similarly-themed taglines concocted to promote Brian De Palma’s ...
That is no country for old men. The young In one another’s arms, birds in the trees...
As far back as I can remember, director Martin Scorsese has been synonymous with wiseguys, mooks, goombahs, and spin-on-a-dime funny-how guys delivering...
Raging Bull is not your dad’s boxing movie. It’s certainly not a story of conventional redemption or hope overcoming the odds...
A friend of mine, an American painter living in London, had read the book and suggested that I look at it. I read it and thought ‘If I’m going to make a...
You think I’m crazy? You call me crazy, you think I’m crazy? You wanna see crazy?…
Meanwhile, the mystique of ‘Apocalypse Now’ lives on. The Marine Corps invited me to Camp Pendleton to watch a demonstration of an aerial ...
This story has to be on a big canvas. There’s no sense in my getting Bob De Niro and Joe Pesci and making a 90-minute picture about only one aspect ...
A must-see 1970s Mafia classic released in the wake of Mean Streets and an undeniable precursor to Tarantino
"Wake up and smell the burning corpses of your dreams, pal."
Writer and critic Gregory Paul Silber explores the Jewish-American influence on the comics industry and ironic lack of Chanukah comics during the holidays
A look into the subversive use of superhero imagery that infiltrates Jean-Michel Basquiat's art.
A prison convict called Joe Sullivan ends up behind bars after taking the fall for a mobster who owes him his freedom, but...
Only the amazing reaction that that picture has gotten, because at the time I was dreadfully unhappy with the fact that I was going to be doing another ...
A selection of hip hop album covers done by comic book artists featuring: Wu-Tang, EPMD, Jay-Z, De La Soul, T.I., Kid Cudi, Public Enemy, Pete Rock...
The thing that I love the most about Joe Kubert’s art is the speed with which it looks like it was made. Each mark embodies...
A gallery and brief overview of Joe Kubert’s seminal message “Make War No More” found in DC’s War Comics of the 1960’s and 70’s.
A deep dive conversation between author Michael Tisserand and Howard Chaykin, whose life and career offer an oral history of American comics.
Film writer and critic Matt Belenky discusses Christopher McQuirre's neo-western action film 'The Way of the Gun'
Independent filmmaker John Sayles made his feature debut with the 1980 drama "Return of the Secaucus 7"...
“Your old stuff was better.” The first time a cartoonist hears this—and be rest assured, all of us will hear or have heard this calumny—that cartoonist...
A glimpse into the story behind history's dirtiest comic books
In honor of Veteran's Day, NeoText takes a look back at the influence and evolution of American war comics throughout the century.
I had the Transformers Big Looker Storybook "The Battle for Cybertron" when I was a kid. Norem's paintings...
After writing and directing critically acclaimed films such as 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' (1958), 'Elmer Gantry' (1960) and 'In Cold Blood' (1967), Academy...
In 1993, filmmaker Renny Harlin and movie star Geena Davis were married. The union lasted less than five years, but it was pretty productive from an ...
With comic book movies in high demand by audiences, perhaps the best one to date isn't a comic book at all, but instead, Mad Max: Fury Road.
With 2020 coming to a close, it's time to take a look back on this year and pay homage to the incredible creators we've lost along the way.
Fractured narrative, skewed perception, compressed timelines—director/writer Christopher Nolan won’t lead his audience in a straight line…
The interaction between and among human beings is the only story worth telling.
Don Siegal's follow up to *Dirty Harry*, an adaptation of John C. Reese's *The Looters,* and a masterclass in character-driven storytelling
Trying to catch a break from all the Star Wars hype, in the spring of 1977, George Lucas was resting on a Hawaiian beach, building sand castles with ...
Few films permeate the gestalt consciousness like Star Wars (“I am your father”, “Use the Force”…
Chloe Maveal provides a comparative look into Judge Dredd as a predictor of unchecked contemporary police brutality.
Brian De Palma’s 1993 crime drama Carlito’s Way, based on the 1975-set novel of the same name and...
Critic Jude Jones discusses the influence and respectability politics of Dwayne McDuffie's 1993 Milestone Media character "Icon".
On his 70th birthday, let's take a moment to sing the praises of the entirely unmatched talents of artist Brian Bolland.
Bridging the narrow divide between pop music, punk attitude, and art, artist Jamie Hewlett is a force to be recognized.
NeoText takes the time to appreciate cartoonist and activist Jackie Ormes, creator and artist behind "Torchy Brown" and "Patty-Jo and Ginger"
February, 1965: a snowy day in the Quantock Hills of Somerset. 32-year-old John Boorman was hard at work on his debut feature, 'Catch Us If You Can'...
The early years of Marvel Comics saw some of the best lettering comics has ever seen. It's time to give credit to the men behind the sound effects.
While the genre officially died in the 1970s, romance comics are back and have evolved to be stronger than ever.
Before his iconic work with the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, John Romita Sr. was breaking hearts in romance comics!
The story of filmmaker Phil Joanou’s breakthrough in the movie business is basically a pitch-perfect...
A retrospective on the laid back and exceptionally classic art of Darwyn Cooke.
Many a movie has been based on prolific writer Stephen King's works of fiction. And while quite a few of...
A reflection of Hugo Pratt's cartooning career on the 75th anniversary of his first comics, Asso di Picche
George Lucas’ Star Wars in 1977 led to a boom of hasty space opera knock-offs, but there had always been a dogged...
The stories behind director John Boorman and screenwriter Alexander Jacobs brilliant retelling of Donald Westlake's THE HUNTER
When you’re a teenager, there’s nothing like discovering a new writer or a new movie director – new to you, that is.
"It's a port city." It's not an opening as famous as, "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel," but it's an equally
“Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner."
Howard Chaykin pries into the secrets behind the legendary art of Neal Adams
An essay exploring the ways in which the Alien movie franchise exposes the horrors of the working class.
Artist and writer Nick Abadzis sits down to rehash the beginnings of both his career and his highly under-recognized British comic strip, Hugo Tate.
Published in January 1973, George V. Higgins’ crime novel The Friends of Eddie Coyle was well received by critics and the public, featuring a story ...
An explanation behind the delightfully unlikely origins of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Saga
What strikes me right off the bat looking at this series by Maroto is the design of each of the images. How the forms and forces are interacting with...
I love how readable these images are. All cover art should be this clear and narratively enriched.
I know Maroto mostly for his work as a painter, with a lush, full-color palette at his disposal. It's nice to see these works where he flexed his...
The thing that always struck me with Diabolik was his love and devotion for his lover, Eva. It was almost subversive for the time.
I can hear the sounds of disco music looking at these covers. Or maybe it's Black Sabbath.
My favorite image from this Manara series is the image depicting the crew of the opera prepping, cleaning, and building sets for the opera stage....
Manara never lets you forget that he's a master image-maker. I believe his collaboration with or inspiration drawn from Frederico Fellini...
Burne Hogarth started the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. He also is known for a number of instructional books on drawing.
When I look at Kaluta's artwork for comic book covers the thing that always strikes me is that the work doesn't...
Horror was an Italian comics magazine that was a contemporary of the Warren publications in the U.S. These covers are decidedly Italian feel to me.
The history of comics pivots on the career of Neal Adams. He ushered an era of naturalism illustration to comic books. It had...
These covers by Bill Sienkiewicz are a good chronology of his artistic development through the 80s and 90s...
Pulp art doesn’t get much better than Ken Barr’s work. Though his rendering of form is very much in the vein of naturalism, his color palette...
When I first saw Paul Gulacy's work I hated it. I think it was the Terminator: Secondary Objectives series he penciled...
Like a lot of fans, I often lament Steranko's truncated comics career. It's clear he had bigger ambitions than...
Fabian's forms are lyrical in their own sense. The curves are like the language...
I didn't know that Ken Kelly was Frank Frazetta's nephew until I started researching his work in earnest a...
I had an illustration professor who said book publishers back in the day believed they could...
Before Black Widow was humanized on screen in the MCU Gulacy did it here with this portfolio. She's not a...
I'm not familiar with John Pound's work. It is staggeringly good though. It's got the right level of...
Every time I look at images of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents I wonder why they weren't a bigger...
I'm not sure if these Swamp Thing images by Gulacy work if I don't know it's Gulacy who did them...
There's a lot of artwork for Dune out there that's been done since the book was published. A lot...
From Men's Magazines to Marvel, the Curtis Magazine covers of Earl Norem
A Bill Sienkiewicz portfolio: The Shadow, introduced by Benjamin Marra. "I'm not sure what the exact sequencing of these images is, or what order...
When I think of Will Eisner the first thing that comes to mind is not watercolor paintings. The first thing is heavy black-and-white drawings, deep dark...
I remember distinctly when I first saw Bisley's work. It was the cover of the first issue of the Lobo...
Acclaimed cartoonist Benjamin Marra introduces a gallery of Bill Sienkiewicz's Conan illustrations.
After the success of 'Raising Arizona', Joel and Ethan Coen were given the chance to do something a little more ambitious, with a budget of somewhere...
The Coen brothers’ critically acclaimed Miller’s Crossing can be easily studied in two distinct ways. Firstly, it’s one hell of…
From Aleister Crowley to the Gorillaz, writer Avery Kaplan explores the ways that numerology has influenced culture across the centuries.
It’s said that a movie is made three times: once through a script, once on set, and finally in the…
Having heard his friend complain about her boyfriend for what seemed to be a hundredth time,…