Welcome to my writer’s blog, where I share my thoughts on various topics such as books, film, games, culture, society, and more.
A week or so after I saw James Gunn’s Superman, I stopped by the Forbidden Planet Megastore in London to pick up the latest Absolute Batman comic (which I’ve been following religiously). Once I arrived downstairs, waiting impatiently for the crowded bottleneck to disperse, I had to do several double takes. I took my headphones off, stepped back, and watched the masses flock to the ‘Superman’ section.
The overarching metaphor of a ticking clock, a chronic crisis building to a boiling point, is what makes Watchmen’s inclusion of the real-world Doomsday Clock so effective. It’s also why it feels as though the seminal graphic novel could have been released just yesterday.
Often, superhero fatigue is dismissed as a market dip or creative slump. At worst, it’s wielded smugly like a cudgel against geeks—“Wait, you still like these movies?” We’re not just seeing the decline of a genre, but a reflection of broader cultural exhaustion, and our complicated relationship to stories that once made us feel powerful, hopeful, or seen.
What makes Sinners such a hypnotic cinematic experience is how deeply music is embedded within the soul of the film—not as soundtrack, but as metaphysical force. ‘I Lied To You’ and the performances at Smoke and Stack’s Juke Joint are a celebration of black music and culture in its multi-generational forms, able to transcend time and space to unite all.
There is nothing scarier than a loss of self. Cosmic horror’s real teeth don’t come from Cthulhu tentacles or eldritch gods; it’s the realisation that reality is just a thin membrane over a terrifying, alien truth, and that the only answer is madness, or a (voluntary or otherwise) state of cosmic bliss: a nihilistic acceptance that there is no other way. Such is the inevitable descent into madness in “The Lighthouse”.
So, you’ve decided to sit down and write your novel — great! But first up, you’ve probably guessed that writing a full-length book is so much more than grinding away at a computer for hours on end (though this may well be what most of your time is taken up by). Before you do that,…