Static Thoughts - X-Files: The List

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As I write this, the largest prison strike in US history is currently going on and is getting almost no media coverage.  It comes on the heels of a year of major push back against what’s come to be called the prison-industrial complex; the system by which states prisons have become a massively profitable business and proliferated mass incarceration throughout the US.  

Earlier in the year Obama actually made a visit to a US correctional facility and spoke with prisoners there and later he officially closed down all 13 federal sanctioned for-profit prisons.  It’s a major issue that seems to have sprung up over night alongside the rampant police fascism that’s been in the news since 2014. It’s tempting to consider these to be new problems facing society and while that’s partially true past had its fair share of misconduct by the justice system, that’s where the X-Files comes in.

Panel Vision - Soviet Super Soldiers #1 Review

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Edited by Robert Beach

As globalization continues to be the dominant force of the 2010s, the first major foreign superhero film has finally gotten off the ground. This was relatively inevitable as foreign markets have always looked to America for inspiration. With superheroes, things were a little trickier. The Superhero is a quintessentially American art form. While there are superheroes from other nations, they’re rarely as common or as widespread. 

This first entry into the genre from a major outsider comes from Russia in the film The Guardians. It looks pretty fun; at the same time, it’s eerily reminiscent of another Russian superhero group. I’m not sure if this is a case of The Guardians borrowing from what already exists, or Marvel just being really good at encapsulating the Russian heroic aesthetic. Either way, it’s given me excuse to showcase on of my favorite culture artifacts: Soviet Super Soldiers #1.   

Panel Vision - DC Universe Decisions

Edited by Robert Beach

In case you don’t live in the US, we’re in the midst of gearing up for one of the most overblown and ludicrous election cycles in recent memory. To be fair, the last 2 US Presidential elections have been fairly larger than life in their own way. In 2012, the election was dominated by the heroic confluence of Mitt Romney memes and jokes, and in 2008 the whole world seemed to have caught Obama fever. That latter one is also probably owed to the election falling smack dab in the middle of 4 years of major technological and cultural upheaval. 

At the time, stuff like Facebook and iPhones were supremely new and the crossover of Internet culture into mainstream culture was in its earliest stages. Combine that with the introduction of an all-new Presidential administration ushering in a new political ethos and lexicon and everyone and their brother were desperate to link themselves to the election in some way. As you’d expect comics quickly got in on the act and none were more bizarre or embarrassing than today’s topic: DC Universe – Decisions.