OVERWORD is a series of six essays that chart my fascination with certain comic books and their creators. It’s comics criticism and commentary, as I thoroughly get into the history and context of the subjects. They originally appeared over the span of several months on my Patreon page, where I have written several other posts about my own process and what further inspires me. OVERWORD was a massive undertaking for me and now that I’m on the other side of it, I’m happy I did it. My hopes are that these post are found useful, informative, and, at the very least, entertaining.
1 · TEEN TITANS Part One – My need for colorful, clean-cut super heroics and my habit to hunt back issues in bulk met at the intersection of Wolfman & Pérez. They were the best choice.
2 · TEEN TITANS Part Two – My enthusiasm for the TT franchise was destroyed by troubling story elements but was resuscitated by the excellent Titans Hunt storyline. My devotion never fully recovered.
3 · JSA/ALL-STAR SQUADRON – A Roy Thomas appreciation. Character archaeology as expression, especially to pin a moment in time. This led me to “map reading” info-dumps.
4 · JUSTICE LEAGUE of AMERICA – A Mike Sekowsky & Dick Dillin appreciation. Two underrated workhorses who defined the adventures of the world’s leading superhero group for decades.
5 · QUASAR & SQUADRON SUPREME – I applied new lessons to my immersion into a couple of Mark Gruenwald masterpieces. A positive reappraisal of a cult classic and an unjustly dismissed passion project.
6 · MARK GRUENWALD – Singing the praises of a legendary storyteller by getting to the root of my own obsession.
4 replies on “OVERWORD Archives”
I am so impressed with your deep dive of Mark’s work. He always loved when his fans got what he was attempting to accomplish. Thanks for being a tru Blue Gru advocate.
Oh, I’m glad he did! That’s awesome to hear, and I deeply appreciate you letting me know. It’s made my world.
Michel, I just want to say that ever since a friend of mine introduced me a couple years ago to your work and your essays, you have become a great inspiration to me.
You and I are close in age, and we have common ground in having spent key formative years in South Florida.
I am about to embark on my own equivalent of your Overword project, but I am going to wait until it all the essays are complete before I start posting the on Patreon.
And I guess the only other thing I can say is: Thank you, Michel, I think you are One of the True Forces of Good in This World.
The six Overword installments just about covers all the material I wanted to discuss; though I’m always discussing titles and creators, these posts all fit to make an overall point. So have at it — and even if there’s some overlap, I’d still love to read other takes on these topics.