POP-CULTURE COLUMN: The Inequality of the TV Renaissance
POP-CULTURE COLUMN: The Inequality of the TV Renaissance By Dan Brown I don’t know why fortune smiles on some old TV shows, and lets the rest go free. Why have a new generation of viewers warmed to the likes of Friends, Gilmore Girls, and The West Wing via streaming, while such shows as That ’70s Show, Northern Exposure, and Seinfeld enjoy no such renaissance? I don’t know the answers. That’s why this column is more of an observation than an argument. I work with young people in both my day jobs, and I can’t tell you how shocked I was when one of them asked me something along the lines of, “Have you heard of a sitcom called Friends? I’ve watched all 10 seasons and it’s my new favourite show!” Other productions they enjoy watching include The Office, New Girl, and even Breaking Bad. Keep in mind, the folks I work with were children when some of these shows originally aired on network TV. The phenomenon of kids watching old productions isn’t new, of course. When I was a tyke growing up in the 1970s, I couldn’t avoid reruns of duds such as Gilligan’s Island, which had stopped airing before I was born in 1968. In a universe of limited channels, it was just what was on. The difference is young people today are seeking out Friends and its ilk on their own, they aren’t being force-fed the same old slop over and over, like my generation was. Thanks to streaming services such as Netflix, today’s viewing audience has a virtually unlimited library of content from previous decades at their fingertips. According to different studies, as much as 60 per cent of their viewing time is spent watching comedies and dramas from the past (that is, when they’re not on TikTok). But why do they gravitate toward certain offerings, but not others?Have they heard or read that Friends, for example, was really popular in its day? Were their parents or older siblings fans of Gilmore Girls? Streaming companies have an endless hunger for content, so it could be a case of the younger generation watches whatever is available, and whatever is being promoted. That might explain why no twentysomething has come to me and said, “I love The Drew Carey Show! It’s so great.” After all, there are 233 episodes of that thing! Even a huge hit such as Seinfeld gets no love now. Viewer's couldn't care less about House, as well, even though it once had a diehard following. It’s enough to make me believe the old saw about television is actually true. In the Before Times, the theory that explained why a telecast was popular went like this: Viewers made a show popular because they enjoyed spending time with its characters at the same time every week, thus those characters were regular visitors in the collective living room. Perhaps in our crazy post-postmodern world, hanging out at Cheers with Sam, Diane and the rest of the gang is the ultimate comfort food. Do you have any theories that would explain why certain shows transcend their era, yet others have no success at doing so? I would love to read them 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.
More Jokes About Absolute Batman Would Help
By Dan Brown Mad About DC is a new one-shot comic that parodies DC Comics and characters in the style of a Mad Magazine issue. It’s the brainchild of ubiquitous comic writer and artist Chip Zdarsky (DC owns Mad, which makes the collaboration possible). When Zdarsky and his contributors aim quips at themselves, this comic is at its funniest. When they aim them at DC characters and long-standing comic traditions, they are funny, but not quite as much. When they make comic fans their target, they aren’t funny at all. But I guess it must feel edgy to bite the hand that feeds you. In his opening letter from the editor, the Canadian creator calls himself a “comic-book auteur,” a winking way to indicate he knows he’s not too cool for school. How disrespected are those in the comic industry? People are excited to meet Zdarsky since they assume he writes superhero movies for a living. They’re stunned to find out comic books employ actual writers, he tells the reader.. Only one publication is lower on the prestige ladder, and that’s Mad Magazine. Hence this special edition, which features parody stories about well-known DC characters like Superman, as well as such lesser lights as Matter-Eater Lad. Most of the chapters run a page long, the longest stretches to three. The one that made me laugh out loud was a parody of Wonder Woman penned by Joanne Starer with art by Joe Quinones. This creative team poses such eternal questions as, if Wonder Woman has bracelets that deflect flying bullets, why doesn’t she have an entire costume made of the same material? Is there really any reason for her bathing suit-style outfit? “We’re trying to sell comics here,” the Amazing Amazon explains. There’s also a nod to the fact the heroine doesn’t really attract compelling villains: “Great Hera, grant me the strength to find a more popular rogues gallery!” The same piece has the Dark Knight himself suggesting she stock up on sidekicks because “They expire quickly,” a reference to DC killing off one of Batman’s many Robins, Jason Todd, back in 1988. In one panel in an earlier story, Mad mascot Alfred E. Neuman wears a “New New 52” button, demonstrating the publisher isn’t afraid to laugh at its own habit of perpetually rebooting the DC universe. A Kelly Sue DeConnick contribution contains descriptions of the different kinds of comic enthusiasts, like the “Near-Mint Collector.” He’s the fan who is healing his “inner child with first printings and original art.” Or, the “Mint-Condition Fan” who lives to hear someone say, “Sure, Dad, I’ll read those with you.” My feeling is Zdarsky should have shed sections like this, and expanded the Skottie Young-drawn gag about Absolute Batman: “ABSOLUTE is ABSOLUTELY crushing the entire industry in the sales department and you know what they say, WHEN IN DOUBT, ABSOLUTE IT OUT!” The accompanying illustration shows Absolute Batman, only the Caped Crusader’s pinhead is replaced by Neuman’s face wedged into the cowl. But here’s an idea. Instead of DC poking fun at itself, why not do a crossover that involves their biggest competitor? That way, Marvel creators could make jokes about DC’s stable of characters, and the DC roster of talent could take a run at the likes of Wolverine, Spidey, and Deadpool. Readers would be the winners, since this switch would surely inspire some savage comedy. Who knows – someone might even be brave enough to make a joke about how Stan Lee didn’t contribute much to all those characters he worked on with artists like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Note: Mad About DC (comic-sized) is not to be confused with Mad Spoofs Superheroes (magazine-sized), a treasury edition of Mad parodies on store shelves now. 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: 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.
