POP-CULTURE COLUMN: Beware the Movie Marketed On the Strength Of Its Low Budget
By Dan Brown A movie’s ultra-low budget is not a good enough reason, on its own, to see it. It’s a legitimate reason for the entertainment press to talk about the movie — because in 2026, a low-budget, microbudget, or no-budget film that takes the box office by storm is a novelty. The latest examples of the Hollywood media buzzing over films with minuscule production costs both happened this spring. May 15 saw the release of the horror movie Obsession. Made for about US $750,000, Obsession has grossed more than $427 million worldwide. Two weeks later, the horror film Backrooms – budgeted at roughly US $10 million – debuted in cinemas. To date, it has made over $365 million globally. These two films have prompted hundreds of headlines along the lines of: * “How ‘Obsession’ became an unprecedented box office horror hit – and one of the year’s most profitable movies” (Variety) * “Backrooms and Obsession: How two low-budget horror films caused a Hollywood earthquake” (BBC) * “‘Wildly unpredictable’ low-budget horror hit fans are flocking to the cinema to see” (Yahoo) * “Small-budget horror is the winning ticket these days” (Darden Report) If you know one thing about these horror hits, it’s that they were cheap to make. What you don’t know from reading the blanket coverage is whether they’re actually worth the trouble of schlepping your butt to the local multiplex, then buying a ticket. Despite all the column inches, the minutes of airtime, the bandwidth, we don’t know if they’re any good. Readers with long memories have seen this movie before. When it came out in 1993, it was called El Mariachi. That Mexploitation flick’s remarkably low budget isn’t in the first sentence of the film’s Wikipedia page, but the fourth: “The US $7,225 production was originally intended for the Mexican home-video market, but executives at Columbia Pictures liked the film and bought the American distribution rights.” As I recall, every time the picture appeared in the media back then, some talking head would inevitably mention, “Did you know Robert Rodgriguez made that thing for $7,000?” The focus of the coverage wasn’t on whether it was worth seeing, but rather the fact that a guy had made a whole feature for such a scant amount. It happened again five years later, when The Blair Witch Project received the attention of journalists and industry experts who fixated on its original production budget of US $35,000. Imagine that! (Midbudget movies don’t garner much press attention because, by definition, they aren’t newsworthy.) Now, it’s true Hollywood filmmaking has always been a battle between art and commerce. No question. But in the commotion surrounding these low-budget oddities, the art part gets left out. It’s all about the business aspect. And it’s still happening. That’s why I’m always cautious when its low budget is the first thing I learn via the web, newspaper or TV about a soon-to-release motion picture. It’s true, in the hands of an imaginative director, less of a budget can mean more of a movie. I do believe that. However, those cases are rare. And you wanna know a secret? I don’t care about a film’s production cost, be it low or high. It doesn’t enter into my film-watching experience. At all. After all, no one walked out of the theatre in 1994 after seeing Clerks (which cost Kevin Smith a mere $28,000 to make), and said, “I hated that movie, but I’m just glad they didn’t spend a ton of cash on it.” Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
John Byrne Returns to X-Men, Sort Of
GRAPHIC-NOVEL COLUMN: John Byrne returns to X-Men, sort of By Dan Brown John Byrne’s X-Men: Elsewhen will appeal most strongly to Gen X fans of the “Strangest Super-Heroes of All.” The first of three volumes, it’s not quite fan fiction (Byrne actually worked on The Uncanny X-Men back in the day, so he’s hardly a regular fan), and it’s not quite an official Marvel release (since it’s being published by Abrams ComicArts). I’m a huge Byrne enthusiast, so it lived up to my expectations. If you’re not a fiftysomething X-Men fan like me, consider it a pleasing summer distraction. But be warned, those who didn’t live through the 1970s might find it confusing. Byrne wrote these comics as a pet project, not intending for them ever to be published, except on his website in breakdown form (ie. unfinished art). The collection answers the question, “What would have happened to the X-Men if Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix didn’t die in 1980?” That’s the starting point for this continuity. Many fans were hungering for a reunion of Byrne and his former inking partner, Terry Austin. The two of them perfected the look and vibe of the X-Men from 1977 to 1981, making the gifted students one of the most-loved superhero teams of all time. That reunion didn’t happen. The art here looks more like late-career Byrne, as seen in books like X-Men: The Hidden Years. The artist/writer does a solid job of balancing single-issue stories with longer arcs. One of those plots is the return of the Sentinels, the giant mutant-hunting robots, only this time they aren’t programmed to avoid hurting humans. Pulling the strings of this evil mechanical army is Hellfire Club boss Sebastian Shaw. Byrne being Byrne, there are lots of guest stars in this volume. If you’ve yearned to see the Fantastic Four or the Avengers rendered by the sometime Canadian one last time (he’s billing Elsewhen as his artistic swan song in interviews), you’ll want to check it out. Also back are hallmarks of the Bronze Age like thought bubbles and the narrative voice. For some reason, the X-Men also go back to the Savage Land at one point. I just do not share Byrne’s love for the secret hidden jungle, but it’s clearly one of his favourite settings to use. And if you’re wondering about Grey, she was lobotomized to get rid of her evil half. She has the mental capacity of a five-year-old in this tale, and it looks as though the Phoenix isn’t as dead as the Shi’ar empire intended when they wiped Grey’s brain. One of the things I love about Byrne is he has never tried to hide his admiration for Jack Kirby. He is a Kirby partisan from way back, even praising the King when it wasn’t cool to like his pioneering style. For me, this book is worth the price just to see Byrne again emulating Kirby’s way of drawing advanced technology in the background of a handful of panels. Come for the Byrne, stay for the Kirby homage! If you’ve read Elsewhen already, please share your thoughts in the comments. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
POP-CULTURE COLUMN: The Summer Angine de Poitrine Exploded
By Dan Brown DC, the venerable comics publisher, wanted the warmer months of 2026 to be the summer of Supergirl. FIFA, the international governing body of the so-called beautiful game, wanted this to be the summer of soccer. But the way June and July have unfolded so far, 2026 could go down in the history books as the summer of Angine de Poitrine instead. That’s right. I’m saying an obscure math-rock duo from Quebec is more important to the cultural conversation right now than Superman’s cousin, and even footy. Plus, I predict the buzz around Angine de Poitrine is only going to grow. If you haven’t heard of this band until now, consider the following an explainer written by someone who only recently discovered them himself. Angine de Poitrine is approximately what you would get if you added Cirque du Soleil to Pink Floyd and then multiplied by Monty Python. It’s no wonder their two members come from Saguenay, because Quebec is the land where prog rock never died. La belle province has always gone its own way musically. And Canada is fertile ground for new and weird approaches to pop music, being the nation that produced both RUSH and Men Without Hats. Angine de Poitrine excites, confuses, and scares me all at the same time. It’s an intoxicating mix. They claim they’re really from outer space and don’t actually communicate in French, or English, or any other Earth language. That’s right, their discography is entirely instrumental numbers. Their songs have names like Sherpa, Fabienk, Ababa Hotel, and Sarniezz. Their name translates very roughly as “chest pain.” And no, they’re not a cult. The gimmick is the way they specialize in microtones and looping. YouTube music guru Rick Beato says he was fully expecting this kind of experimentation with tones when the internet exploded as a platform for making and marketing new songs. Now, I’m no musician, but to my untrained ear, they sound a bit like Greta Van Fleet. At least one expert I saw online calls them an experimental jazz band. I’ve also seen a guitar teacher in an online video throwing up his hands while trying to explain how they get those sounds from their instruments. The two members are named Khn and Klek. Khn plays a double-neck fused guitar and bass. He wears a black top with white polka dots. Klek plays drums, and has the opposite outfit. He looks a bit like a Knight Who Says “Ni!” The two of them both have huge costume noses, fashioned by means of papier mache. What does it all mean? I don’t know. But remember how I said it’s an intoxicating melange? The proof came late last month when they closed the Montreal International Jazz Festival with a performance that saw the city’s streets flooded with more than 200,000 fans. Since then, other upcoming festivals across Canada have promoted them from side-stage oddity to main-stage draw. From afar, their success might seem unlikely. Their vibe is strange and chaotic. But that’s their old-school charm. Just as a performance in a puppet show will always feel more human than CGI movie effects, they bring a weird warmth to the stage. Maybe it makes no sense. They follow no formula I can discern. In an age of slick packaging and cold algorithms, that’s why they stand out: They are as far removed from AI as you can get. The much-hyped Supergirl bombed at the box office. And the World Cup is great, if you can look past the corporate overkill that infuses every minute of every match that’s broadcast. I don’t know who will emerge as the best soccer team on the planet, however I’m betting we’ll look back years from now on 2026 as the moment when Angine de Poitrine shook the world. Agree? Disagree? Am I on the money? Have I called it wrong? I’d love to read your thoughts and counter-predictions in the comments! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
GRAPHIC-NOVEL COLUMN: The Madness of the U.S.A.’s Bicentennial
By Dan Brown As you likely heard, our neighbours to the south celebrated their country’s 250th birthday over the weekend. That got me thinking about a comic that came out the last time the U.S. had a big anniversary – 50 years ago. The 1976 bicentennial was approaching fast. To capitalize on the occasion, Marvel – the comic company that tried to cash in on every trend or craze, no matter how silly or solemn – published a seven-issue arc of Captain America revolving around a plot to destroy the country. Jack Kirby – who had invented the Marvel Universe in the 1960s, then fled to DC to create the Fourth World, then returned to Marvel – was the artist, writer, and editor of that storyline. I also remember the Captain America letters columns at the time explaining how his bosses were allowing Kirby a lot of leeway with how closely he adhered to the Marvel continuity of the day. So Captain America: Madbomb reads like it was always meant to be digested as a single graphic novel. It collects issues No. 193 through No. 200 of Captain America and the Falcon, one of the first extended comic story arcs I would read as a boy. The climax was published to coincide with the July 4 festivities of 1976. The plot: A group of conspirators led by modern aristocrat William Taurey believe that “America’s outmoded Constitution” should be thrown on the scrap heap. “So that’s their new America – soldiers and workers in the service of a ruling elite,” the Falcon, Cap’s soaring sidekick, thinks at one point. These traitors have already created a microcosm of their new society in a sprawling secret underground complex under the Badlands. The device that will allow these Royalist Forces of America to overthrow the federal government is the Madbomb. When triggered, the Madbomb sends out sonic “brain waves” that drive ordinary citizens insane, reducing them to gibbering crowds of animal-minded rioters pitted against their neighbours. “A simulated brain, encased to broadcast madness. It’s a frightening weapon!” one of cap’s allies, General Argyle Fist,” declares.Steve Rogers, as you may know, is America’s super soldier who was injected with a secret serum during the Second World War that turned him into a one-man wrecking crew. He was frozen for decades in suspended animation at the close of the war, and I especially like Captain America issues that emphasize how he is a man out of time. Kirby, who co-created the character back in the day, doesn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on that aspect of Cap’s backstory here. More than once in this book, Cap compares the traitors to the Nazis he (and Kirby in real life) fought in Europe. And if you’re looking for parallels with the current political situation south of the border, you’ll find them: The bomb is hidden in the Taurey Towers Building in Philadelphia, for instance (shades of Trump Tower). And I’m sure extremists on either side of the political spectrum in the U.S. would argue followers on the other side are unthinking nutbars. That’s the thing making the Madbomb itself feel like an outdated sci-fi plot device from the past: Does anyone hoping to harm America in 2026 even need a fanciful explosive to drive the country’s residents crazy? In the modern world, can’t reason be defeated just as effectively with online propaganda alone? That sure feels like the lesson of the past few years to me. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
POP-CULTURE COLUMN: Oh, Canada!
By Dan Brown I love Canada. A lot. There are, of course, things I would change about our homeland if I was in charge. I’m guessing you feel the same way. For instance, I wish we flew the maple leaf all year around, not just on our national birthday which I like to call by its old name, Dominion Day – see, I told you there are things that bug me! I wish Canadians weren’t so hesitant to celebrate our shared national culture. I wish we did more to promote our values around the world. Canadian values are good values, and we shouldn’t be ashamed about trumpeting what we believe in to the rest of humankind. I’ve even heard some people are ashamed to make patriotic gestures like flying the flag, even on July 1. I started noticing this a few years ago. People would say to me, “________has co-opted the flag,” meaning a group or movement or organization or political party or individual they didn’t agree with. So these people won’t display the maple leaf because they see it being flown on pickup trucks. And other people won’t display it because they see flags in parades with the red parts replaced with a rainbow. I’m here to remind you it belongs to all Canadians. That means the folks on the right, folks on the left, and those of us who don’t identify with either of those positions. If you think the red-and-white has been taken from you, and you want a way to fight back, the way to do that most effectively is to hoist the flag yourself. Fly one on the front door of your house. Put it on your car. Get a maple-leaf T-shirt. Strap a miniature version on your dog. Trust me. You can’t offend me because I will never tire of seeing it. This column is scheduled to be posted the day after Canada Day, but I would love if we could make a national habit of displaying the flag proudly all year long. Don’t take your Canadian flag down when this column goes up. Oh, and let me know how you spent your Canada Day in the comments. Also, let us know what aspect of Canada you love the most. Is it the landscape? The Rockies? Cottage country? The people? Your neighbours? Our amazing writers and other artists? Canada’s talented athletes? Maybe it’s hockey, or poutine? Is it Wolverine? RUSH? Something else? As I write this sentence, the hottest musical act on the planet right now, Quebec’s Angine de Poitrine, is playing on YouTube. The duo are from Saguenay, Quebec (or possibly another planet), but to me they represent the kind of culture and daring attitude that could have only happened in this country. They’re kind of like the Cirque du Soleil of rock music. Purely Canadian. They are just the latest example of our nation’s creativity and excellence. We are a young dominion, bursting with natural resources, that is home to a resilient, forward-thinking people. If we play our cards right, the future will belong to us. All the best to you, my fellow Canadians! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
Supergirl is New To Me
GRAPHIC-NOVEL COLUMN: Supergirl is new to me By Dan Brown I don’t know much about Supergirl. If you’re a regular reader of her adventures, then you likely know more about the venerable character than I do. How unschooled am I on Supergirl? I haven’t yet seen the new movie starring the Maiden of Might, which opened last weekend. And although I’ve had decades, I haven’t ever watched the 1984 feature film that stars Helen Slater in the title role, either. I do remember Supergirl being killed off in 1985 in the legendary Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries that rebooted the DC Universe. And I did greatly enjoy Canadian writer Mariko Tamaki’s attempt to relaunch Superman’s cousin in 2018 in Supergirl: Being Super. More on that in a moment. So in an attempt to learn more about the Woman of Tomorrow, I picked up the DC glossy magazine that features four “acclaimed” Supergirl issues, each one representing a new stab at bringing the hero back to prominence. One story has the flavour of a vintage sci-fi novel a la the John Carter of Mars books. Another reads like a Twilight Zone episode. In the third tale, she was reintroduced as a secret-agent type operative. And in the concluding instalment, she’s basically a plot device in the relationship between Superman and his frenemy Batman. The multiple efforts to freshen up Supergirl point to an unavoidable conclusion: Comic fans may not find her all that compelling. It’s not like she was the first “Super” spinoff. That distinction goes to Superboy, who appeared in 1945, seven years after Action Comics No. 1 landed. Kara Zor-El wouldn’t depart Krypton’s Argo City until 1959, in the same era when DC introduced a dog, cat, horse and other super-powered survivors of Krypton. Each time, the publisher diminished what made Superman’s origin so poignant. His claim to fame – being the last son of a doomed planet, sent to Earth where its yellow sun would make him invincible – wasn’t so unique anymore. He wasn’t so special. So if you want a collection that tries to square the 1950s/1960s DC weirdness with the current continuity, as well as appeals to modern readers who would rather their comics be grim than silly, check out this magazine. I do love reading regular comics on a larger page. Now, if you want what I consider a superior Supergirl anthology, pick up the afore-mentioned Supergirl: Being Super. In my (admittedly limited) experience, it is the best Supergirl story out there. It effectively evokes the mood of what it would be like living as an alien teenager attending high school in a small American town. In one scene, Kara pops a zit on her chin. A minor problem we’ve all experienced, right? Just temporary grossness. Yet since she’s from Krypton, the zit explodes all over the bathroom, coating walls, floor and ceiling in thick green extraterrestrial slime. As if coming of age wasn’t bad enough. Even better, Being Super is pencilled precisely by Joelle Jones. If anyone reading this column has seen the new motion picture, I’d be grateful to hear your take. Is it good enough that I should see it while the movie is still in theatres? I understand the flick takes many of its cues from the John Carter-tinged Supergirl tale I mentioned above, and its structure mirrors not any comic property, but the classic movie western, True Grit. Is that the right combination of elements to turn Supergirl into a vibrant movie property? And maybe entice readers to seek out her comics? Let me know your answer in the comments! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
