Dec 2014 – bigtallwords

Dec 22, 2014Dec 22, 2014

“If you can read this, LEAVE!!!” Storytelling in Left 4 Dead and Zone One

Post-apocalyptic fiction continually attempts to project itself into the future by resisting endings; each ending becomes instead an opportunity for continuation. Storytelling is the main method by which post-apocalyptic fiction attempts to resist closure, and this method can be traced back to the roots of the genre itself. Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, published in … Continue reading “If you can read this, LEAVE!!!” Storytelling in Left 4 Dead and Zone One

Dec 16, 2014Dec 22, 2014

Rail Ways, Crop Rows and Line Mates: Masculine Isolation in Jeff Lemire’s “Ghost Stories”

Jeff Lemire’s Essex County explores numerous aspects of rural Ontario life, but perhaps none more than the ways that masculinity separates men from one another and prevents them from experiencing healthy relationships with one another. The examination of masculinity is particularly important to book 2 of Essex County, “Ghost Stories” which follows the diverging lines … Continue reading Rail Ways, Crop Rows and Line Mates: Masculine Isolation in Jeff Lemire’s “Ghost Stories”