As the name implies, The Handmaid's Tale is the story of one woman's struggle to escape servitude. But the person now known as "Offred" isn't the only one forced to adapt in Gilead—one of the masterminds of the republic did too. Related Stories The Commander's wife, Mrs. Waterford, has always been a case study in […]
Wonder Woman hasn’t been my thing since the last time Lynda Carter laced up those high-heeled red-and-white boots, back in 1979. (I know they didn’t actually have laces, comic book nerds. It’s just an expression.) But the trailer came out for the new movie starring Gal Gadot, and I clicked on it. I agree with […]
My new novel, Walkaway, is about a world where the superrich create immortal life-forms (corporations) so effective at automating away labor that the rest of us become surplus resources. The ensuing battle—over whether humanity will finally, permanently speciate into elite transhumans and teeming, climate-wracked refugees—triggers slaughter and persecution. It’s a utopian novel. The difference between […]
Everyone knows that Batman fights for justice. Until recently, though, only die-hard fans knew about the grave injustice in the Dark Knight's own past. Artist Bob Kane, despite receiving sole credit (and payment) as creator, wasn’t the only person responsible for Bruce Wayne: writer Bill Finger had invented most of the crime-fighter's coolest stuff. The […]
We've always *kind of *known where the modern Star Wars movies were heading: When George Lucas launched the prequel trilogy with 1999's The Phantom Menace, viewers were well aware that it would include Anakin Skywalker's turn to the dark side and Luke and Leia's birth (though none of us could have predicted its forceful anti-sand […]
I’m married. Is it wrong to get a Tinder account and look at it, even if I have no intention of contacting anyone? As a matter of convenience—since your question is low on information—I’m going to make some assumptions about you before we proceed. First, I’m going to assume you are a male and straight. […]
Today's news that Tom Hardy will play Venom as part of the lamely branded "Sony's Marvel Universe" reminded me, in a very roundabout way, of the moment I checked out of Stan Lee's superhero stable for good: Summer 1990, the day the first issue of Todd McFarlane's new Spider-Man arrived at my Philadelphia-area comic book […]
Mystery Science Theater 3000 never really went away. Joel Hodgson's hyper-verbal, stupid-smart series—in which a group of space-marooned wiseacres riffed on atrocious movies—may have gone off the air in 1999, but by then, its wry, pop-culturally astute commentary style was already becoming the default language of the internet. Every sarcastic comments-section pile-on, every meme-filled live-Tweet […]
"What do you see?" That's a question put forth in the first trailer for this December's Star Wars: The Last Jedi—and trust us, you'll want to watch the above clip plenty of times, just to take everything in. Picking up where 2015's The Force Awakens left off, the Rian Johnson–directed Last Jedi clearly focuses on […]
If last week gets remembered for anything, it'll be former national security advisor Michael Flynn's request for immunity in the US government's investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the American election. But for a certain subset of the world, it'll be remembered as the week during which Buffy the Vampire Slayer celebrated its 20th anniversary […]