Ryan Fitzmartin

 Filmmaker & Writer

My Writing

Macabre Daily •

Over 100 Years Later, “HÄXAN” (1922) Remains A Radical Sociopolitical Horror Film (Macabre Daily)

It's not often that I get the pleasure of saying "I've never seen anything like this", but tonight I did! “Häxan” is a film not like any other; it's a film essay, a history lesson, a horror film, and a fiery feminist political statement. I've mostly heard this film lauded for its monsters, makeup, and striking visuals, but it was the political and religious themes that struck me the hardest. “Häxan” is a film about witches, yes, but not really in a fun and cool way as I expected. Seeing it on th...
Macabre Daily •

Gold Teeth And Greed In The Great Depression: “The Devil's Luck: A Hailstone Story” #1 Review ( Macabre Daily)

Dentistry has never been so dangerous as it is in “The Devil’s Luck: A Hailstone Story #1.” Rafael Scavone and Eduardo Ferigato’s vicious new crime story brings darkness to a snowbound small town of Hailstone, Montana. This is Scavone’s second trip to the town of Hailstone; his previous series explored the town during the Old West. “The Devil’s Luck: A Hailstone Story #1” is a grubby and grim classic tale of small-town crime, and I am hooked on this first issue.WHAT’S IT ABOUT?Leopold Auberon, a...
Macabre Daily •

"The Devil's Luck #1" Interview With Writer Rafael Scavone (Macabre Daily)

Macabre Daily: The original Hailstone was set in the Old West. What motivated you to change the time period of the story to the Great Depression? Rafael Scavone: Since the first series, Hailstone was conceived to work like a horror playground where, at each volume, a new horror story is presented in that snowbound town. Once I decided to follow this path, shifting the historical time became a powerful tool for shaping different horror stories in that same place. Devil's Luck was set in the Great...
Eleven-ThirtyEight •

I Swear It’s Good Now: Why You Should Return to Battlefront II (Eleven ThirtyEight)

Is it possible to overhaul a video game so radically that it becomes almost an entirely new, better product? I think so, and I think Battlefront II proves it. After well over two years in release, Battlefront II has been revitalized with new game modes, playable characters, and skins. The wealth of new content is a shot in the arm that’s resulted in a completely changed game. 


I don’t really play a lot of online shooters. I’ve dabbled in Battlefield and Call of Duty as much as any other gamer...
Macabre Daily •

Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Man Interview With Artist Jesse Lonergan (Macabre Daily)

MD: How did you come up with those complex and original overlapping and curving panel layouts? Was that in Mike Mignola's writing or did you decide to design those early pages that way?JL: I think one thought leads to another, so on page 4, there’s an evolution sequence, and circular panels felt like a good way to convey the passage of time, echoing the sun traveling across the sky, the cycles of the moon and the orbits of the planets, circles within circles, showing different passages of time....
Macabre Daily •

Hellboy Ventures Into The Fog! Hellboy and The B.P.R.D. The Ghost Ships of Labrador #1 Review (Macabre Daily)

The first sign that a reader is in for a good time with a Mignolaverse comic is seeing Laurence Campbell’s name on the cover. Of all of Mignola’s various collaborators over the past 25-plus years of Hellboy comics, few are as evocative as Campbell. Campbell’s scratchy art is some of the creepiest and most haunting to ever grace a comics page, and his work on The Ghost Ships of Labrador is no different.As Hellboy and Abe investigate the unfortunate town of Red Bay, the fog and mist seem to float...
Multiversity Comics •

Captain America: The Winter Soldier A 10th Anniversary Retrospective (Multiversity Comics)

“Whose strong and brave, here to save the American way? Who vows to fight like a man for what’s right night and day?” These are the opening lyrics to “The Star Spangled Man,” the in-universe Captain America theme song from a glorious era of swashbuckling, swastika smashing, do-gooder action. In the 1940s, the bad guys were obvious –right and wrong never seemed so clear. It hasn’t been quite the same since. The modern world is a complex, difficult place, and those 1940s ideals seem outdated. Or a...
Multiversity Comics •

Blade II: A 20th Anniversary Retrospective (Multiversity Comics)

In May 2002, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man would see release, becoming the first film to open to a $100 million dollar box office in one weekend. The film industry would never be the same. Superhero movies in the mold of Spider-Man would go on to dominate the industry. Marvel would soon become the biggest name at the box office; Spider-Man would change everything. A few months earlier though, in March, a smaller Marvel film was released. An R-Rated, gritty vampire action film, with a black leading acto...
Eleven-ThirtyEight •

The Case for Mid-Budget Star Wars (Eleven ThirtyEight)

Star Wars is at a crossroads. While The Rise of Skywalker’s worldwide box office will gross over a billion dollars, that’s a far cry from The Force Awakens’ two billion. ROS will end up below every Avengers film, both Jurassic World films, and even its predecessor The Last Jedi. Perhaps most shockingly, the finale to the Skywalker saga could well end up with a lower total gross than DC’s Joker. Uncertain, the future is.


Imagine it’s 2016, and someone says to you an R-rated psychodrama would m...
Eleven-ThirtyEight •

How Lucasfilm Games Can Be a New Era For Everyone (Eleven ThirtyEight)

After eight years and five new games, the divisive era of EA Star Wars exclusivity has come to its conclusion. On January 11th, Disney signaled a change, launching the “Lucasfilm Games” brand, and promising “a new and unprecedented era of creativity”. Two days later Ubisoft announced a new open-world Star Wars game was in development, confirming that EA’s grip on Star Wars gaming had ended. The death of EA’s monopoly was long awaited and long called for by fans and prominent gaming personalities...
Multiversity Comics •

Blood City Rollers: Graphic Novel Review (Multiversity Comics)

Do you like your sports with a side of the spooks? Do you think that competitions of strength and skill could be improved with a splash of the supernatural? Well if the idea of Vampires and Witches playing Roller Derby sounds enticing, then “Blood City Rollers” could be for you! This inventive teen-targeted graphic novel takes a typical underdog sports story, and adds in a healthy dose of the undead. The result is more comedy than horror, and things never get too gruesome.Cover by Tatiana HillWr...
Multiversity Comics •

In Memoriam: David Warner (Multiversity Comics)

There are no small parts for some actors. There are those of such strong talent that adding them into a movie in any way increases its quality tenfold. David Warner was one of those actors. We lost this Emmy-winning, BAFTA-nominated titan this year at the age of 80. Warner was a prolific, highly visible actor with literally hundreds of screen and voice credits to his name. He played a vast variety of genre roles. He portrayed everything from Klingons and supervillains to vampire hunters and seri...
Multiversity Comics •

Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham Film Review (Multiversity Comics)

Something evil lurks in the shadows, a greater horror than any Batman has ever faced. After decades of facing a plethora of horrors on screen, Batman finally finds himself locked in battle against H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Christopher Berkley and Sam Liu direct this adaptation of Mike Mignola, Richard Pace and Troy Nixey’s comic, with a script by Jace Ricci. It’s DC’s latest foray into the horror genre, and it’s a fascinating effort to take Batman into new territory.The story does a terri...
Multiversity Comics •

Dredd: A 10th Anniversary Retrospective (Multiversity Comics)

“America is an irradiated wasteland,” a voice gravely intones, as the camera swoops over the dystopia of Mega City One. This is the striking opening to Pete Travis and Alex Garland’s vicious, gritty and violently over the top Dredd. Set in a dystopia, fascist future where supercops function as judge, jury, and executioner, and gangs rule the street, Dredd stars Karl Urban as Judge Dredd. It was unloved upon release ten years ago, but it’s a phenomenal film and deserves a second look.The initial...
Multiversity Comics •

The Wolverine: A 10th Anniversary Retrospective (Multiversity Comics)

Editor’s Note: As a site founded on the idea that X-Men Origins: Wolverine is good, actually, it seemed fitting to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its sequel. Thanks to Ryan for stepping up to the task and reevaluating this second standalone Wolvie outing. For those craving more Wolverine film goodness, we’ve got you covered.When talking about Wolverine movies, the first movies that comes to mind are the Oscar Nominated smash-hit Logan, or the infamously derided X-Men: Origins: Wolverine. The...
Multiversity Comics •

Noir Burlesque: Graphic Novel Review (Multiversity Comics)

“Noir Burlesque” is a gritty story of murder, mayhem and gangster’s molls. Dangerous men and seductive women fill the pages of Enrico Marini’s brutal story about mob violence. It’s a dark and grimy tale, sometimes to the point of verging on parody. Enrico Marini is clearly in love with the world of “Noir,” and he crafts a story that while effective, sometimes feels too much in love with its own grittiness. The story isn’t as grim and bleak as something like “Sin City,” but all the tough guy talk...
Multiversity Comics •

Extraction 2: Film Review (Multiversity Comics)

Action heroes never truly die, and despite the ending of the first Extraction film, Chris Hemsworth is back again as Tyler Rake. The world’s greatest expert on getting people out of dangerous places is back. This Rake is smashing his way through a Georgian prison. For fans of the first film, Extraction 2 provides all the same shooting, punches, kicking, and car smashing. Extraction 2 is loaded from start to finish with virtually non-stop top-notch action, although whenever someone pauses for dia...
A Place to Hang Your Cape •

The Top 10 Freakiest Hellboy Monsters! (A Place To Hang Your Cape)

The pages of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy comic are full of weird and wild monsters. For twenty five years, Mignola and his collaborators have come up with some truly strange and creepy creations. The key to how real these monsters feel is how fleshed out they are. Rarely does Mignola create a flimsy and dull creature and toss it away. He paints his creatures in three dimensions, giving them minds, motivations and often eloquence. Drawing on the rich tradition of gothic horror, many of his creatures a...
Multiversity Comics •

Light Carries On: Graphic Novel Review (Multiversity Comics)

What if death wasn’t the end? What if we got another shot at living, a second chance to find happiness and meaning? Ray Nadine’s supernatural drama “Light Carries On” explores queer romance and the meaning of life and legacy with tenderness and warmth. The Chicago set story is a moving dive into the emotional roils of a life unfulfilled, and a death unresolved. It’s a slow-moving but engaging walk through the life of one person and the afterlife of another. “Light Carries On” is a poignant and h...
Multiversity Comics •

Multiversity’s 2022 Holiday Wishlist for the Mignolaverse (Multiversity Comics)

In a lot of ways, the holidays are about tradition. Everyone’s got ’em. It might be a family latke recipe, or getting together to watch Die Hard, or arranging the Christmas tree ornaments so the cats don’t knock them off the lowest branches. Here at Multiversity, we have an annual tradition of looking at shared comic book universes and politely ask them to do something differently. It’s one part new years resolution, one part gift giving- to us, every one!Today, we’re looking at the works of Mik...
Eleven-ThirtyEight •

Shadow Fall: Where Will Alexander Freed’s Starfighter Story Go From Here? (Eleven ThirtyEight)

The novels of Alexander Freed focus on the trials and tribulations of frontline soldiers in the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Both his original works and his novelization of Rogue One center on characters’ experiences on the periphery of main galactic events. His latest novel, Shadow Fall, Part II of the Alphabet Squadron trilogy will be released next month. This piece will take a dive into what I’m expecting from Shadow Fall based on the contents and themes of Freed’s previous novels, Twilight Company...
Multiversity Comics •

The Killer: Film Review (Multiversity Comics)

Is there a director more suited to telling the story of a cold, calculated killer than David Fincher? The man who has so expertly turned his eye to countless serial murderers takes his vision to those who slay for pay in The Killer. Fincher’s vision is ruthless, tight, and thoroughly planned to the minute detail. Fincher and his team take a rather boilerplate revenge tale, and make it tremendously thrilling.The script, adapted and condensed from the French comic of the same name, is your standar...
Multiversity Comics •

Kali: Graphic Novel Review (Multiversity Comics)

Violent, energetic, and frenzied, “Kali” is an erratic whirlwind. Thinly scripted but heavy on extreme violence and gorgeous action, Kali comes from the Mad Max: Fury Road or Crank school of storytelling. This is a comic that is loud, aggressive and in your face. Writer Daniel Freedman and artist Robert Sammelin have crafted a tale of post-apocalyptic desert revenge. “Kali” is vivid, brutal, but it’s also strongly lacking in good characters or interesting dialogue.Cover by Robert SammelinWritten...