This site is updated Thursday afternoon with a new article about an artistic pursuit generally considered to be beneath consideration. James Schellenberg probes science-fiction, Carol Borden draws out the best in comics, Chris Szego dallies with romance and Ian Driscoll stares deeply into the screen. Click here for their bios and individual takes on the gutter. Our Guest Stars shine here
While the writers have considerable enthusiasm for their subjects, they don't let it numb their critical faculties. Tossing away the shield of journalistic objectivity and refusing the shovel of fannish boosterism, they write in the hopes of starting honest and intelligent discussions about these oft-enjoyed but rarely examined artforms. Contact us here.
Recent Features
Summer Fun Time Reading!
It's summertime and all the happenin'
sites have advice about bikinis, manscaping, quick cool meals and
reading lists. I have no idea what to tell you about beachwear, other
than you do look cute in that, but I do have some reading
suggestions.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is perhaps the worst epic fantasy I have ever read. Where are the dragons? The violent decapitations with a magical sword? All the author seems to care about is witty rich people making smart remarks to each other.
This last month at the Gutter, we've been mixing things up, with the editors writing outside of their usual domains. This week, instead of romance, Chris Szego will talk about movies or comics. Hey, wait! How about movies AND comics? Or rather, comic book movies?
Recently, the theatre’s been a good place for comics. Not just because amazing special effects are possible and seamless, but because there's something else at work: studios are beginning to value the kind of stories comics tell. Okay, it's probably more accurate to say that studios value the immense returns on good comic book movies, but still. Working together, writers and actors are seriously raising the bar when it comes to bringing comics to screen. Which is a good thing (Anyone out there besides me ever see Captain America? If you said no, count yourself lucky).
Surrounded on all sides by awesome monsters, monstruos and kaiju, Eegah, Tabonga and Rodan do the only thing they can. They make groovy mp3’s sampling monster movie soundtracks from all over including Hammer, Toho, American International and anything a go-go or defeated by Santo.
Kazuo Ohno has died at 103. He was a great performer of Butoh, a Japanese dance drama form, and even if dance is not your thing, Japanese horror movies and possibly contemporary supernatural horror wouldn't be the same without him.
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Tor.com has a trailer for the animated version of Shaun Tan's children's book, The Lost Thing. There are both rivets and tentacles.
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Hope Larson knows what girls like. She knows what girls want in comics--because she asked.
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Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill! was stranded in the jungle for the month of May. Enjoy Todd's reviews of jungle adventure movies, including a lot of South Asian films and guys dressed up as gorillas.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is perhaps the worst epic fantasy I have ever read. Where are the dragons? The violent decapitations with a magical sword? All the author seems to care about is witty rich people making smart remarks to each other.