Last month, I bit the bullet and downloaded the simulation video game that is at the center of much controversy at the moment because of its performance on older generation console systems. The game in question is Cyberpunk 2077, a game that takes place fifty-seven years in the future where ...

Masked, Unknown Characters

Fiction, certainly in the movie/TV/comics visual mediums, are full of characters whose identities are hidden by masks.

On The Mandalorian, the title character follows a strict creed that says he is not supposed to let another living being see his face, so he always wears ...

When a character the story's cast and audience identify and are familiar with dies, the effect is, or should be, monumental.

Not only because that effectively ends that character's journey (and arc), but also because as an event it has immediate ramifications for all the surviving characters.

First ...

I couldn't have been older than 11 when I read The Flaming Heart of Danko by Maxim Gorky. And boy, did it cut me with the finest of fine glass. Even now thinking about the short story hurts somewhere deep in my soul.

And yet, I love it so ...

When constructing your world, be it in fantasy or within a realistic/historical/existing place, the names you pick are very important.

They are important for suspension of disbelief and immersion: how consistent the names are, how congruent with what reality the audience reasonably comes to expect within the framework ...

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What is the most definitive version of your character? Where does it pop up in your comic? What part of your work most defines your main character ...

On our last Quackcast I had a realization about one of the recurring elements that shows up in a lot of horror I like.

It's the hidden nature of horror. When someone, or something, appears normal or even extra sweet or appealing, but hides nasty stuff beneath.

It's ...

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This week we're talking about cultural appropriation, cultural adaption and adoption, also stereotypes and all sorts of related stuff. It was inspired by a newspost from ...

I was surprised and saddened to learn just the other day that Rene Auberjonois passed away at the end of last year. Even before the upheaval of the pandemic hit us, I think life was busy and a bit chaotic, and I just missed it.

I'd been a fan ...

It is hard to predict when new content for television shows and the big screen will start rolling out. I jokingly once thought that we might all turn back the clocks and bring back old fashion radio shows where candy wrappers were used to imitate crackling fires and beans in ...