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Imagine pitching this idea: Teach children how to behave through a series of cautionary tales in which each young protagonist dies. In one a little girl plays with matches and burns to death. Then in another a parent cuts off his son’s thumbs… Continue Reading →

The post Shockheaded Peter And Killing Kids For Their Own Good appeared first on Dread Central.

Marvel Comics

When you put on a costume, give yourself a colorful code-name and fight crime on a regular basis, you’re going to draw attention to yourself. That’s part of what makes superheroes so interesting. Despite most of them taking measures to protect their identities, superheroes are flashy individuals. Their adventures and exploits are often made public, and they develop a following. It goes with the job, unless you’re one of those few characters who has managed to stay out of the public eye. In that case, good for you.

However, just because your feats are extraordinary, this doesn’t make you less humble. On the contrary, many heroes have managed to remain modest. Sure they feel passionate about fighting evil and protecting the innocent, but they also know that they’re not perfect. They’re just trying to make a difference in their own special way…...

Do you ever find yourself sitting down to a movie, faced with a sinking feel that the filmmakers involved missed a trick by making it far more serious than it ever needed to be? I’m getting that feeling a lot these days, given that we seem to be living in a time where movie-goers crave darker, less optimistic stories, for reasons that I’m not really quite sure of – it’s all about the bleaker side of things now, apparently, which is fine when it’s appropriate, but what about when you just want to go to cinema and stare at the screen with an unashamed grin on your face?

That’s not say that a movie has to be fun to be good, but good old-fashioned adventures or movies that play into our adolescent fantasies seems to be sorely lacking of late. Where’s the sense of wonder...

Everybody loves a bad guy. They usually get the best lines, a great entrance, and a hell of a death scene. But our love affair with the dark side is no secret, and as much as we might love the bad boys, we all enjoy a good 'comeuppance', which is usually where our heroes come in. Hell, probably one of the biggest reasons most of us love the world of make-believe is that at least there, the good guys can win. Occasionally, though, you find a villain with qualities that go a little beyond being the 'man/woman you love to hate', and before you know it, that monster has managed to win you over before the credits have rolled -- which isn't always good news for our heroes.

Now this doesn't mean that I think these villains are model citizens, because well, I'm not that psycho. But when these guys are on screen,...