The Many Stages of Building LEGO as a Grown-up
By Dan Brown Last weekend I put together a LEGO set. It was a time. Here, for the benefit of readers, are the 12 steps one goes through as an adult while making a LEGO Mars Rover. Just in case you’re thinking of doing the same thing. For the record, I built the smallest, cheapest Rover that goes for less than $20, not the other massive Mars vehicles the Danish toy company sells for hundreds of dollars. I thought the small one would be easy. STEP ONE: Carried along by memories of boyhood fun with friends and your brother, you eagerly rip open the plastic package, being careful not to lose any of the pieces that spill onto the coffee table in your living room. “Really?” you think, “That dinky little toy has so many components? There’s gotta be a thousand of them.” Regardless, you still look forward to what you anticipate will be, at most, 20 minutes of mindless fun. STEP TWO: With your spirit bolstered by pure enthusiasm, you pull out the construction instructions to unfold them. It dimly registers that there are 18 stages, printed on both sides of a wide glossy sheet, plus a large number of those stages have sub-stages. That’s a lot of work for a vehicle that’s not much bigger than a baseball! But you are not daunted. STEP THREE: Mashing a few small pieces together, you begin to suspect LEGO instructions are kind of like IKEA furniture-building directions. Since LEGO is a global brand, despite its origins in Denmark, the instructions are necessarily vague pictograms you are finding less and less helpful as the afternoon stretches on. In particular, you curse the colouring as you try to make the small pieces fit together, noting you can’t tell the difference between black and grey components on the instruction sheet. There are a lot of each colour. STEP FOUR: You stare at the instructions, your eyes growing blurry. Damn, this is more difficult than you thought it would be! STEP FIVE: You feel your thumbs growing raw from handling the tiny, unforgiving, sharp-at-the-corners plastic pieces. Your mind wanders. You find yourself pondering the length of time it takes for calluses to form on your fingers. STEP SIX: You run your rough hands over the pieces on the coffee table, once more trying to sort them by shape and colour. Not for the first time, you swear the makers of this particular package of LEGO must have left out that one crucial component you’re searching for. Desperate, you ask your wife, seated beside you on the couch reading a paperback romantasy, if she can see it anywhere on the table. STEP SEVEN: Just as you run out of hope, your feeble eyes spot it. Like every other time you swore a piece was missing, it was not. You decide it’s time to take a break. Your shoulders have begun to ache and you feel as though you’ve been hunched over for a couple hours – because you have been. You know you will benefit from getting some mental space. You go into the bedroom to play with your two cats, dozing without a care on the bed. STEP EIGHT: Back from the bedroom, you lock a few more pieces into place. You fear making this tiny toy is slowly, inevitably becoming a career for you. STEP NINE: Time for a booze break! You ask your wife if she will join you for a shot of something strong. She chooses a whiskey from the nearby liquor cabinet that is infused with the essence of black walnuts. You scarf the shot down, hoping it will fortify you with courage until the LEGO building is done for the day. Back at it. STEP TEN: You’ve pretty much given up consulting the instructions. Instead, you rely on the photo plastered on the ripped-open package for guidance. Your wife notes one of the key pieces you added 20 minutes ago is in the wrong place. You take this in stride, knowing your marriage is built on a solid foundation of love, respect, trust, and walnut whiskey. STEP ELEVEN: You throw in the towel for good, letting your wife know she is welcome to complete the final stages of this particular LEGO build. Sweetheart that she is, she seems to have little trouble doing so, finishing up in short order STEP TWELVE: Staring at the six-wheeled model in your hand, you realize you also bought two other LEGO sets, which are waiting patiently in their packages to be assembled. Does it ever end? 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.
Superman Takes on Spider-Man
By Dan Brown Who would win in a fight between Superman and Spider-Man? That question for the ages, surely argued over by many a comic fan, was settled in 1976. That’s when DC and Marvel joined forces to publish the first of what would grow into a long line of industry crossovers that continues to this day. Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man was a landmark comic. And now the fans of 50 years later – many of whom weren’t around in the 1970s – can re-live that moment in comics history by purchasing a reprint of the special issue, which came in giant treasury size and has the two heroes squaring off above the Manhattan skyline on the cover. Even though I’ve got a worn copy of the 1976 original, I picked up the reprint last weekend at L.A. Mood. The version I got features a painted variant of the famed Ross Andru cover. Andru also did the interior art, which looks crisp in the newly published version. The two companies did a really good job of making the story look fresh again. Stalwart Gerry Conway was assigned writing duties. The opening splash – which stretches over two huge pages and depicts a giant robot plowing through buildings in downtown Metropolis – pulses with energy. Printing has come a long way in the last five decades, the paper here is white, not the dingy brown of yesteryear’s newsprint. The continuity it takes place within echoed the timeline of each company at that moment in world history. So in this story Clark Kent is not a Daily Planet reporter anymore, but a TV anchor about to cover the national political conventions of 1976. Peter Parker, meanwhile, is about to graduate from college while freelancing for J. Jonah Jameson. After they meet in prison, Lex Luthor and Doctor Octopus embark on a partnership to ransom the Earth’s environment for $10 billion, which is of course peanuts these days. Cue your best impression of Mike Myers as Dr. Evil not grasping the implications of decades of inflation. By means of a frickin’ laser mounted on an ultra-secret satellite, Luthor is able to kick the planet’s ecology out of balance, finally creating a 200-mile-wide tsunami that threatens to destroy the East Coast. What I love about this retro comic is how it includes devices you don’t see in modern mainstream comics, such as thought bubbles and sound effects: RIPP! KRONG! THOOM! And now, a word about the superhero battle of the century. Any comic fan worth their salt knows the answer to who would win in a tussle between the title characters. There is an obvious power imbalance, and even with the proportionate powers or a spider, Spidey wouldn’t last a minute against Superman. It’s not even close. There is, of course, a ham-fisted way the creative team gets around this fact. Unknown to either party, Luthor infuses the wall-crawler with red-sun radiation, which in DC lore can rob the Man of Steel of his invulnerability, thus making it a fair fight. But if Superman’s nemesis can do such a thing, why doesn’t he ever do it over in the regular DC Universe? Such are the exigent plot devices of DC-Marvel crossovers! 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.
Pop Culture: Will 2026 Be the Year It All Happens?
By Dan Brown Like a cornered she-wolf protecting her pups, the New Year is upon us. This week, I’m in the mood to look ahead and ask – what’s going to be the biggest thing in pop culture in 2026? What event, person, or product will define the next 12 months? Will movie theatres sell even fewer tickets? Will Taylor and Travis tie the knot? Will people continue to exit social media? What will the song of the summer be? What will the most-popular film, meme, TV series, book, and podcast be? Only someone who is deluded or dangerous would give answers to those questions with 100 per cent certainty. So while I don’t have an all-powerful crystal ball, I do have some thoughts. For starters, AI. If last year is any indication, the advocates who are pushing artificial intelligence on the rest of us will crack on. Their goal: Making the general public think AI is inevitable. But from what I’ve seen so far, I’m not impressed by tools like ChatGPT and Gemini. I’m a skeptic on this one, so the question for me is: What are the odds the AI bubble will burst before 2027 a la the dotcom downturn of the 1990s? Merriam-Webster Dictionary got it right when their editors chose “slop” as the one word that defines 2025. If present trends continue, perhaps the word of 2026 will be “crap” or “crud.” At the movie theatres, people are buying fewer tickets. The entertainment data firm EntTelligence, quoted in the Los Angeles Times this week, says there were 800 million theatre tickets sold in 2024, but 760 million sold in 2025. (Those figures are for the U.S., I’m assuming.) Even the higher figure doesn’t match pre-pandemic levels. There may be more people watching movies this year, they just aren’t watching them at the multiplex. One motion picture that I am looking forward to seeing on the big screen is Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey, which is not a prequel to 2001. It arrives July 17. It could be interesting. As for the much-memed Avengers: Doomsday, I’m still on the fence. Other questions on my mind: Which entertainment figure will the Trump administration go after, as the U.S. President did with Jimmy Kimmel last year? What effect will Trump have on the proposed sale of the venerable Warner Bros. studio to Netflix? (He’s already said he will be involved in the federal government’s approval process.) You also can’t discount the stuff that happens in any given year that nobody saw coming. The obvious example from last year would be the December slaying of director Rob Reiner, whose filmography included one of the best motion-picture comedies of all time, This is Spinal Tap, as well as The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Stand By Me, and Misery. What will the big concert tour be? Which comedian will survive being cancelled? Will a seeming generation of stars – last year it was Robert Redford, Diane Keaton, Brigitte Bardot, and Ozzy Osbourne – pass into history before our eyes? Will something as simple as an album cover provoke controversy, as Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend did last August? Whatever happens, I will be here to document it all. And here’s hoping 2026 brings us more happy surprises than tragic ones! 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.
What I read on my Christmas break
By Dan Brown I’m one of the lucky ones who got some days off at Christmas. It won’t surprise you to learn I spent much of my time away from work reading graphic novels. Here’s the rundown on the books I finished while going through my TBR pile. Ginseng Roots by Craig Thompson: You may know Thompson as the American comic creator behind the landmark book Blankets, in which he chronicled his turning away from religion as a teen. In this new volume, published last year, he again covers his youth, but this time he uses his childhood jobs on Wisconsin farms as the launching point for telling the story of ginseng. I will be honest with you, I wondered how the writer/artist would be able to fill 448 pages with details about a single plant. That didn’t sound like a workable premise to me. Surprisingly, he pulls it off wonderfully. I found the thick graphic novel engrossing. His lines are lush and this is the kind of book that reviewers call “expansive.” His scope is wide – really, it’s not about farming, it’s about life. Thompson is clearly at the peak of his storytelling powers. Drinking at the Movies by Julia Wertz: New York cartoonist Wertz relates how she came to live in the Big Apple after leaving her childhood home in San Francisco. Her autobiographical mini-stories revolve around Wertz’s struggle to understand her own motivations as she enters young adulthood. If Mimi Pond is among the comic creators you enjoy, you should check this one out. Based on this collection of Wertz’s strips, I plan to read more of her comics. Various by Jeff Lemire: I’ve been meaning to do a deep dive on the Southwestern Ontario creator, and finally got a chance over the holidays. I read stuff he wrote and drew himself (Fishflies, Minor Arcana Volume One) as well as titles on which he wrote and collaborated with another artist (Plutona, Primordial, Phantom Road Volume One). I would say the highlights for me were Plutona and Phantom Road. The former is about a group of school kids finding the body of a superhero (shades of the movie Stand By Me), the latter about a long-haul trucker who is transported to an alternate dimension where zombie-type monsters roam the landscape. As always, I don’t recommend Lemire for those who want pat explanations like you might get in a mainstream Marvel or DC comic. He likes to keep things mysterious for his readers. Ashes by Alvaro Ortiz: This thin volume is akin to a road movie in which a group of friends reunites after many years to carry out the wishes of a departed buddy who has been cremated. It has a fairy-tale quality to it, and I enjoyed the sweet ending. DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke: This Compact Edition, featuring almost all of DC’s roster , didn’t move the needle for me. I think that’s because I don’t know enough about the DC universe to understand the significance of how its heroes behave here. It seemed derivative of previous comics, such as Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, and borrowed elements from movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey. What can I say? I grew up a Marvel fan. Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale: I understand this book is much loved by DC fans. The art is evocative, and it was a cool take on the origin of Two Face. Again, I read the Compact Edition. Did you get any time to read over the holidays? Did you get any graphic novels as gifts? I would love to hear about it 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.
Deliver Me From Nowhere
By Dan Brown As 2025 comes to a close, a belated book review of sorts. I recently finished reading Deliver Me From Nowhere by Warren Zanes. I loved it. This book is a commanding piece of music journalism about the making of 1982’s Nebraska, the first solo album from Bruce Springsteen. It came out in 2023 and was made into a motion picture – with The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White playing the famous singer – which landed in theatres this October. Got all that? Deliver Me From Nowhere is an exhaustive account of the emotions Springsteen put into Nebraska, which is a curious album. In Springsteen’s discography, it lands between The River and Born in the U.S.A. He was poised for mass success at that moment, and although Nebraska was loved by music purists, it didn’t get much attention from the public even after he became a megastar in 1984. When Nebraska landed in record stores, the place we all got our music in those days, its release coincided with an emotional breakdown the Boss suffered. Zanes covers all of this. Springsteen participated in both the writing of the book and the making of the motion picture. Nebraska remains an oddity for a number of reasons. For one, Springsteen didn’t really know he was making an album – he was just recording demo tracks while living alone in a rented house in New Jersey. It became a solo project only after he and the E Street Band tried to record full versions of the demos. After many flat takes, Springsteen came to a decision: The demos ARE the album. That’s why it has a stripped-down sound. Like I said, many music diehards consider it the last gasp of acoustic honesty before MTV became the primary pop-music tastemaker in North America. Springsteen had recorded the demos on a primitive four-track machine. Even the music snobs who don’t like Bruce’s brand of rock and roll, like Nebraska. I recommend Deliver Me From Nowhere to anyone with an interest in pop culture. The author, Zanes, is a musician by trade – he was a member of the Del Fuegos in the 1980s and once played with Springsteen on the same stage. He has also written a biography of Tom Petty and other volumes on music, and regular readers will know that I love thinkers who take pop culture seriously. Zanes has a tendency to wax poetic, which I didn't mind because Nebraska is that kind of album. But if you’re looking for a scholarly reserve, you won’t find it here. Zanes has mountains of respect and affection for the Boss, which makes sense: Why else would he devote a big chunk of time and effort to chronicling the making of one Springsteen album? I have yet to see the movie version of Deliver Me From Nowhere so I can’t tell you if it’s worth the watch. But I will certainly be looking for an excuse to catch it on streaming in the New Year. If you are one of those freaky folks like me who devours pop-culture information, you should check out Deliver Me From Nowhere. It’s readable, and Zanes is a wise and funny writer. 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.
The Year in Comics, 2025 Edition
By Dan Brown Another year gone! That means it’s time again to pick out the highlights from the last 12 months in the comics and graphic-novel world. As I always say when introducing the annual list, the categories are entirely my own invention, the choices reflect my tastes and no else’s, and I would love to see you chime in with your own picks! Best graphic novel of the year: Contenders include Jeff Lemire’s 10,000 Ink Stains (more of a memoir than a graphic novel, I know), Guy Delisle’s Muybridge and David Petersen’s Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe (yes, I know it will be several weeks before it appears in collected form), but I am going with D. Boyd’s Denniveniquity, which recounts the creator’s misadventures growing up in 1970s New Brunswick. I was transported back in time to a different Canada, and the book’s central character made me laugh! Best comic of the year: I’m going to say the J.Michael Straczynski-written Doctor Doom & Rocket Raccoon No. 1, in which the Latverian ruler drafts the genetically engineered rodent to help him travel back to a time before the Big Bang to understand the purpose of the universe. It includes a Jack Kirby-inspired collage, which got me excited. Local comics coming on strong: With offerings like Scott Wojcik and Jeff McClinchey’s Probed and Loaded, as well as Jeff McClinchey and Scott Brian Woods’ Black Helm Saga, it was a strong year for local creators. Speaking of which, Byron comic creator Jeff Lemire took over art duties on Skottie Young’s I Hate Fairyland this year! Best graphic novel I read this year not from this year: The second volume of Chip Zdarsky’s Public Domain came out in February, collecting previously published issues. As I wrote, “it’s a sophomore collection that enriches the storyline of an ongoing comic series, putting the characters in new and surprising situations.” Best comic adaptation of the year: The Sook-Yin Lee version of Chester Brown’s Paying For It came to London in 2025, and it stayed with me long after I saw it last winter. Brown himself sat a couple rows over. Most underwhelming comic adaptation: This is a tie between this summer’s Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps. There, I said it. These movies were popular for about one second, and consider this: The best character in Superman is Krypto, the superdog. The most intriguing character in Fantastic Four is Doctor Doom, who is in the thing for like half a second. Blerg. Comic adaptations still hanging in: Despite all the talk of superhero fatigue, there were four such motion pictures in the domestic box office’s Top 12 for 2025: Superman (No. 3), Fantastic Four (No. 7), Captain America; Brave New World (No. 10), and Thunderbolts (No. 12). What was cool for comic fans is that for Superman and the FF movie, magazine-sized digests were published showing the stories that inspired each movie. Most confusing comic marketing: As part of the industry crossover involving the two biggest comic companies, DC released the one-shot Batman Deadpool and Marvel released Deadpool Batman. Got it? These were two different things. Creators involved with the making of these titles had to take to social media to combat the resulting confusion. Best local comics-marketing move: Joe Ollmann helped put together Bonk’d Volume 1, which collects work from Hamilton-based and -connected comic creators (Ollmann also has The Woodchipper coming out next year, his latest collection of short stories, which I am eagerly anticipating). Comic villain of the year: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith took aim at graphic novels in school libraries, particularly the ones depicting LGBTQ relationships. I thought we were done with comic witch hunts in the 1950s, but apparently not. Biggest comics-adjacent development of the year: Netflix’s animated movie K-Pop Demon Hunters has caused quite a stir, although I have yet to see it. Now, it’s over to you! Tell me in the comments about your picks for this year! 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.
