Greenflame
Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture, photography and faith from the Aotearoa New Zealand
Category: Comics
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This time we’ll look at two comic-based films based on Japanese manga set on post-apocalyptic contexts. Firstly, Akira directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, set in a future Neo-Tokyo, and then, Alita: Battle Angel, set in a similar environment. Both of these, as well as a slew of other Japanese manga turned into film and television, del…
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In this installment of comic-based films we turn to the (now) venerable Marvel character, Blade, and how the Blade films provided the much needed life for the flagging Marvel empire enabling the later development of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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This week I had a chance to talk with some colleagues in Australia around theological and religious reflection on science fiction, dystopias, and popular culture. One of the questions that came up were what comics I’d suggest might engage with that topic, so I’ve put together a selection of recent (and some not so recent)…
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The previous two posts () focused on films with a live-action vibe, albeit often augmented by various forms of computer animated graphics. In this post we’re going to go for a fully animated film, which means that we’ll be going with a big, cuddly robot, some action and emotions, and connections to US and Japanese…
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Last time we did Greeks, gangsters and gargoyles. Today we turn to some pulp heroes of yesterday, namely The Spirit, Dick Tracy, and Modesty Blaise for a blast of nostalgia.
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After a longish break from blogging, it’s time to start again. First up, a series on films that came from comic and graphic novel-based properties. Everyone knows about the films based on comic books like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and the Avengers, but what about other films that you might not know were originally based on…
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A few years back I started thinking about the relationship between popular culture and contextual and public theologies. Firstly, how popular culture might serve as a site for doing contextual theology and, secondly, how popular culture might provide avenue for for public theological engagement. My initial thinking in this area can be found in the…
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If you’ve followed the DC animated movie scene over that past thirteen years or so, you’ll know that alongside the main features released primarily on DVD and Bluray there are sometimes additional short films released alongside those features. These are typically branded as part of the DC Showcase series (referring back to this anthology series…
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Over that last few days in the evenings I’ve caught up on a couple of comic narratives that play with thems of religion, power, and empire. I finally got around to reading Jonathan Hickman’s Pax Romana which involves the Roman Catholic Church, time-travel, and attempting to rewrite history for a “better future”, as well as…
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I’m currently thinking about Batman in dialogue with Christian theology, but over the weekend I had the opportunity to read the 2015 re-rebooted Omega Men series from DC featuring the then White Lantern, Kyle Rayner. I’m most familiar with the Omega Men connected to the Silver Age Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, in the 1980s but…