Anthony Morris

The best Frank Miller Punisher comic is Punisher 2099

Yeah, I really think there wasn’t enough substance/backstory for Miller, even then - almost from the start with his superhero work he’s into messing with the status quo and with The Punisher what you see is all there is to get

The Punisher is so obviously a Miller character, he doesn’t need Miller - the goal is for other writers to aim for a version of Miller when writing him. Even Ennis, the best Punisher writer to date, is clearly channeling Miller a little (and then building on that) with his MAX run

And DKR works because it’s pushing against (and recovering) decades of Batman, whereas The Punisher even now has next to no backstory, supporting cast or setting. Batman has Gotham City, The Punisher has a van

But (again, thought a lot about this), a Miller story featuring The Punisher would only work if we’re talking DKR Miller, where he really has a bee in his bonnet about urban crime - after that he’s off to Hollywood writing about robots, and when he returns he’s doing weightless parodies in Sin City

This is something I’ve considered way too much and my take is that in the early 80s The Punisher was as popular as Kraven the Hunter - he’s a character with nothing but a logo and a gun, and by the time The Punisher was going solo at Marvel Miller could sell his own vigilantes if he wanted to

The Punisher was pretty far down the B list at the time (the Daredevil story really boosted his profile), and Miller stopped working on other Marvel characters after he left Daredevil the first time. But yeah, The Punisher does very much feel like a Miller character despite all that

Unfortunately my usual go-to for this kind of thing - "I saw Brett Ratner's underpants" - has become increasingly plausible in recent years

Anyone who read any of the later League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books knows that a story that's overtly referencing a whole lot of pop culture really needs to be discussed in ways that go beyond "check out all the pop culture references!"

Time to once again point out that what a film (or book, or whatever) tells you it's about isn't always what it's actually about, and a review that just lists references and influences isn't telling you much about what it is you're actually seeing

I just need to figure out how to turn that into an eight week course that costs subscribers $1500

My only writing advice is: If you don't entertain yourself you won't finish writing your book - if you don't entertain your readers they won't finish reading your book

I think it’s meant to pre-date the gold rush, and there’s only a handful of buildings that old anywhere in Vic. There are a couple near me and they really stand out - not size-wise or anything, it’s just a completely different look to anything that came after

Supposedly Melbourne’s oldest pub, which may be of interest to @beanisacarrot.bsky.social

Pretty impressed you found a Cashies that shelves their blu rays in alphabetical order spines out rather than the preferred “at random in racks so you have to flip through every single one to see what’s there” system

I was wondering why this movie (made in 2025) was set in 1988. Turned out it was so Lang could be a Vietnam vet because his entire approach to cleaning up the town is “we had to destroy the village to save it” - I haven’t seen a film like this with so many dead civilians in ages

Currently watching HELLFIRE, in which Stephen Lang plays a drifter who cleans up a small town so dirty even eating lunch is illegal. Local crime boss Harvey Keitel is introduced playing the piano to let us know that this is a sequel to his 70s classic FINGERS

If you’re worried that DC superhero comics are going to lurch to the right after Paramount takes over their owner Warner Bros, I have some disturbing news for you about the history of DC comics, and superhero comics… and the whole damn industry really

I inherited this place and my biggest fear is some major repair bill I can't afford to pay so fuck you backyard neighbours for making me freak out over something that's 100% not my problem, your kids now have to wait 24 hours before I throw their balls back over the fence

But yeah, the previous neighbour never had any issues, then this guy dug down at least a metre into the side of the hill and now is like "where's this water coming from?", after turning his back yard into a swimming pool. The ground here is clay! When it rains we get instant rivers everywhere!

In between there's been three council inspections, cameras down the sewer pipe, the surprise revelation that I have a storm water drain running near the back fence, and a number of people going "mmmm" while looking at the massive gum tree growing right where the sewer and storm water pipes overlap

Before Xmas my new neighbours (downhill from me, new build) complained to council about water run off from my place. I told the inspector "I bet they didn't do the retaining wall properly", then spent months worrying about $5K drain repairs. Just saw the builders are back re-doing the retaining wall

Flashback Friday 👇

'How I punk'd the Twitterverse' Nobody likes being insulted, especially by a lame film. But that's how I felt about 10 minutes into Scream 4.

It's only fair to give JS a right of reply by linking to what is possibly the most bizarre "explanation" The Age ever published. Three words "punking the twitter-verse": www.smh.com.au/entertainmen...

Some context for what was one of the more hilarious self-owns in semi-recent critical history: www.crikey.com.au/2011/04/19/j...

Just remembered I saw Jim Schembri at the preview for SCREAM 7, which was pretty brave of him considering his film reviewing career at The Age was one of Ghostface's more high profile kills

Yeah this feels more my speed

I’m trying this whole “touching grass” deal and it’s kinda freaking me out tbh

He started out as a writer / artist, so presumably he's got an attic full of unseen drawings keeping his hair alive Dorian Gray style

We need to take that "this situation is totally fucked up, there are no simple solutions, hot takes from uninformed random chumps are useless" energy some people are bringing to the discourse around the BAFTAs and apply it to pretty much every big social issue of the day