Science fiction, fantasy, comics, romance, genre movies, games all drain into the Cultural Gutter, a website dedicated to thoughtful articles about disreputable art-media and genres that are a little embarrassing. Irredeemable. Worthy of Note, but rolling like errant pennies back into the gutter. The Cultural Gutter is dangerous because we have a philosophy. We try to balance enthusiasm with clear-eyed, honest engagement with the material and with our readers. This book expands on our mission with 10 articles each from science fiction/fantasy editor James Schellenberg, comics editor and publisher Carol Borden, romance editor Chris Szego, screen editor Ian Driscoll and founding editor and former games editor Jim Munroe.

Graphic novel.

In these twisted tales of the Old West, Hex battles a doctor determined to transform him into a zombie, joins up with Buffalo Will's (yes, Will's) Wild West Show and learns the dark secret behind the existence of a demonic baby, and discovers an ancient race of man-eating worms from beneath the earth.

Attract comic book collectors like a magnet Packed with nearly 100,000 classic and contemporary comics and more than 1,000 illustrations, collectors will find updated listings and prices for Acclaim, Classics Illustrated, Dark Horse, D.C., Marvel and much more. Special sections are devoted to the highly collectible Golden Age, Color Comics, Black & White Comics, and Underground Comics. Each listing is cross-referenced and includes issue number, title, date, artist and current collector value in US dollars. Collectors can accurately evaluate and value their collections with the grading guide, current market report and tips for buying, selling, and preserving comic books.

Focusing on twenty-first century Western films, including all major releases since the turn of the century, the essays in this volume cover a broad range of aesthetic and thematic aspects explored in these films, including gender and race. As diverse contributors focus on the individual subgenres of the traditional Western (the gunfighter, the Cavalry vs. Native American conflict, the role of women in Westerns, etc.), they share an understanding of the twenty-first century Western may be understood as a genre in itself. They argue that the films discussed here reimagine certain aspects of the more conventional Western and often reverse the ideology contained within them while employing certain forms and clichés that have become synonymous internationally with Westerns. The result is a contemporary sensibility that might be referred to as the postmodern Western.